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EFFECTIVE BANNER ADS |
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It's often very hard to come up with a Web banner ad that gets results. It is all too easy to make banner ads that aren't good for much more than clogging up bandwidth. Making banner ads that will generate traffic takes some thought and, perhaps a little luck. I can't help out in the luck department, but here's some principles to think about when you're trying to get those surfers to perform that all important action: Click.
Be Creative
The fact that Super Bowl advertisements create a dilemma for small bladder impaired viewers should not be missed by Web banner designers. Creativity can often be the difference between a 1% click through rate and a 20% click through rate. Creative design doesn't have to mean flashy graphics, either. Effectual design can just as easily mean a two word pitch on a white background as it can mean a something that will win the next animation contest.
One important aspect of design is the staying power of an ad. Even the best banner ads get old. A good ad campaign typically involves a series of fresh ideas. Not all of the ads need be similar. Mix it up. A range of approaches increases your ability to apply your message to a variety of targeted environments.
Use Animation
Animation remains one of the best ways to augment the impact of an ad. Whether it's because we have an almost animal instinct to respond to movement or because we have been trained by broadcast television to respond to motion, one thing is for sure: animation works. However, the standards for animation on the Web are increasing. Better tools, better, technology, and faster connections are increasing expectations. A cheesy animation can be a signal to a potential customer that you aren't worth looking into.
On the other hand, animations increase the file size of a banner ad. Beyond optimization (which is one of the points discussed below), one way to deal with this is by using creative looping. For instance, you might time the animated banner such that the first frame displays for a prolonged period of time, giving the other frames time to load. Conversely, looping animations can quickly become annoying causing the viewer to get a negative impression of you rather than a positive one. Therefore, you might consider having the banner loop only a few times before it stops on a key frame.
Use Good Colors
Color can be a designers best asset. A multitude of studies indicate that people respond more to bright colors, such as blue, green and yellow, or certain color combinations, such as a rich yellow on dark blue. However, certain target audiences respond to certain colors as well. For example, dark rich colors might appeal to some sophisticated set while bright yet trendy colors can grab the attention of the hip crowd. While Colors such as white, red and black have recently fallen in disfavor, they might be just the thing if they provide a level of contrast or distinction in the context of the site.
Don't Strike Out With the Pitch
Writing can make or break an ad. Common strategies for writing include posing questions (Want something for nothing? Have you been to Hawaii lately?), using cryptic messages using directives (Click here) and using cryptic messages. Questions are effective because the initiate interaction with the potential customer and some people need the little extra nudge that the classic "Click Here" provides. Avoid the false sense of urgency, the "Click here now or loose millions of dollars"-type of message. It's tacky and most surfers are too sophisticated for the used car salesman mentality.
Font choice is also important. Usually the place for all those tasty fonts is not on a banner ad. Viewers are bombarded with information and various messages on the Web, so you're lucky when they give your ad a second glance. Therefore it's best to make sure they can get your message the first time. Old tried and true fonts like Futura, Swiss and Helvetica may send you but they communicate.
Remove the Kilo from the Byte
It's remarkable how many banner ads are run that are not optimized. The faster an ad appears, the more chance it will have to be seen and read-particularly if the ad is on a page with a lot of content. If the ad loads fast and is one of the few things the viewer can see until the rest of the page loads, that viewer is more likely to look at the ad. Also, the more optimized your animations are, the more motion you can afford to add to them.
GIF animations can be optimized in two ways: by reducing the number of colors in the ad and by employing interframe transparency. Good animation programs that largely automate this include Gamani's GIF Movie Gear, Extensis' PhotoAnimator, Digital Frontier's HVS Animator Pro, Boxtop Software's GIFmation, and Ulead's GIF Animator. If you're using GIF Construction Set or GIF Builder, your banner ad animations are probably overly large. I cover advanced GIF optimization techniques in my book Effective Web Animation.
Location, Location, Location
Location isn't everything, but it's close. Early Webmaster wisdom presumed that the best place for a banner ad was at the top of a Web page. However, many site owners are finding that this may not be the best place for an ad. Many netizens are just running around the Web mentally skipping the top portion of a Web page. If you just put your banner ad at the top center of the Web page, you might be positioning your ads to be completely unseen.
Notable alternatives for banner ad placement include positioning banner ads in a small separate browser window. Of course the downside to this approach is that viewers can easily close the window before having seen the ad. Another approach is to creatively place an ad within the content. For example, if the site contains a graphics interface or navigational unit, you can integrate the ads into its design. Also, Web masters are finding that banner ads get more click through when banner ads are placed close to Web items that surfers are used to interacting with such as a web scroll bar or link to download free software.
Also, note that while the standard 468 pixel wide by 60 pixel high banner ad still dominates, other sizes and shapes are increasing in popularity. Half-sized banners, 234, 60, are becoming more popular because they are less intrusive and 100 pixel square banners are showing up in pre-sized browser window interfaces.
Conclusion
If you're going to put time and expense into running a banner ad, it pays to give careful consideration into these issues. A lame banner ad is likely to get lame click-through. Advertising agencies invest heavy resources in to ad campaigns-big teams of designers, thousands, sometimes millions of dollars, large test screenings for potential ad schemes-all for ads that don't reach as many people as some web sites. So if you want to get some results from your banner ads, it probably wouldn't hurt to give it a little extra thought when you're creating them. |
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