There are several ways to effectively use banners on the
web. Traditionally, a banner is displayed in an email, a newsletter or any form
of media that has a wide audience. It aims to call attention to a specific
product or an event – such as a sale or a promotion. It works similar to an ad
you’d see in printed media such as newspapers and magazine due to its graphic
nature. They come in different shapes
and sizes, from banner headers to skyscrapers and even smaller ones called
buttons. For more information on sizes, you can check out the Internet
Advertising Bureau site (http://www.iab.net/)
Over the years, banners have evolved in its use and is now seen more often in different forms of media as well as in the website itself. Today, we’ll discuss how to market your products using banners. This is particularly important for high-ticket items that you would want to move faster due to its high profitability.
On your ecommerce storefront
- A full or header banner is a great way to convey what your service is all about. These occupy the topmost part of your website, right after the logo and before (or after) your horizontal navigation bar. It could include anything from top products to animated text that speak to your service offerings.
- Product banners are square banners found on the side bars that highlight top products you want to sell fast. It should include the price as well as compelling copy that would encourage visitors to visit the product page
- Promotional banners highlight items that are currently on sale or up-coming bargain events for your store.
On sites that allow advertising
- Some websites allow directly posting your banner on their site. They usually define what they charge you – either in CPM or cost per thousand impressions or CPC or cost per click. When choosing to directly advertise with banners on website, find one that matches your niche market.
- Affiliate programs are another way to get your banners to display in content publisher sites. This is a more cost-efficient way to use banners to advertise your site as it is paid on a cost per action. In other words, your affiliates only get paid when you make an actual sale. In most instances, for affiliate programs, you get to choose the commission you pay them. The only downside, the set up fee can be costly, depending on which affiliate networks you join. But choosing the right affiliate program platform gives you access to millions of publishers willing to put your banner up on their site and removes the hassle of tracking the performance yourself and issuing checks for performing affiliates.
- Google PPC also allows advertising with banners. This goes in their content network with websites like About.com, SourceForge, New Your Times and so much more. Search networks are also evolving now to show a variety of advertisements other than the text links. Soon enough, they will probably be featuring banner ads on search results as well.
On forums and other social media websites
- Use a small banner as your profile picture to convey that you are running a business and you want people to take a look at your website.
- Some forums also allow a small banner on the signature portion, which can link back to your website.
It may sound as if banner advertising has been around for a while people are already ignoring these. But don’t be deceived, banner advertising can still bring in the dollars. All you need to do is be creative in the way you use it.
Speaking of banner ads, Shopster is currently offering a banner package for $99.99 where you can get as much as three banners for your homepage.
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