How To Make Banner Ads Profitable

Banner ads are one of the first tools used in internet marketing. The first banner ad was for AT&T. It appeared on www.hotwired.com in October 27,1994. Since then, banner ads have been interesting, colorful, animated and money-making additions to websites.


The most common banner ads are pay-per-click (PPC) banners. With pay-per-click banners your payment will be based on the number of clicks that your banner ad gets. Some PPC advertising websites track IP addresses and count just one click for each computer every day. But some PPC ad providers charge for each click that the banner gets regardless of whether it was from the same computer or not. Thus, you could end paying for a large cost even when those clicks do not generate results for your business.

Some advertisers choose the cost per impression (CPM) banners. These banners are priced based on the number of viewers the ads are shown to. For example, a CPM banner that will be shown to an estimated 5 viewers can cost $10.

Another type of banner is the pay-per action banner. Pay-per-action banners are usually more expensive than PPC and CPM banners. This is because the advertiser will only pay if they get the exact results they want. For example, he will only pay if a user signs up for a newsletter, or if a user makes an online purchase.

Surveys show that the effectiveness of banner ads have waned recently when compared to its effectiveness in the past years. However, when used correctly banner ads can still generate leads and actual sales for a business.

Let’s talk about some of the ways on how you can make your banner ads more profitable:

A Call to Action. Use messages that will encourage an action. A simple text that says click here often gets positive results. In fact surveys show that people are most likely to click on a banner that asks them to do so. You can use other variations as long as it invites an action.

Add a button. Placing an actual button where users can point their mouse and click are often more effective than simply using the words “click here”.

State your message. Your banner must be able to state your message clearly and impressively. Make your message short, unmistakable and captivating.

Thought-provoking questions. You can use questions that will make the person stop and think or use a question that arouses curiosity. Studies show that banner ads with questions generate more positive results than ads with statements.

Witty and humorous ads. When appropriate, why not use a humorous quote or graphics? However, make sure that the joke is clean and without any pun or double meaning.

Use captivating graphics. People are often attracted to images, particularly colorful and animated ones. They are great tools in a person’s grabbing attention and arousing curiosity.

The right size of banners. Don’t make your banners ads too large as it will take a long time to download. People don’t have the time to wait for banners to completely download. Make sure that they’ll see your banner ads right after they open a webpage.



About the Author

Maureen Stesson is a writer and a sharp internet marketer in her own right. For years, she has mastered the art of online marketing to snowball online success. She currently shares her knowledge in order for others to learn internet marketing.

Copyright 2009