The "banner science"

ygg · Jun 16, 2012

Hey fellows,

I'm about to start pretty big advertising campaign for my new project. The advertising campaign will be in some of the largest local sites so it will be only banners, no adwords at the beggining.
I want to maximize my proffits so I need my banners ot be really good and catchy. I browsed a lot of banners of big companies that advertise and I must say that some are much more likely to be clicked on than others.
Can you recommend me some books explaining or give me examples of banners that are proven to work well (you can PM me in case you have gotten a successfull advertising campaign with banners already)

In general: How to make our banner to convert better (aka to get more clicks)
I believe that this thread could be useful for a lot of people on this forum, I promise to share everything I find on the topic.

Any suggestions/tips on colors/animations/etc. will be highly appreciated.

Most of our banners will be 728x90 type because those trend to be more clickable.

Thanks in advance for the help guys, I hope I made the thread on the right place.

Cheers,
Hades

GlobalP · Jun 16, 2012

I think it really depends on your niche. I have some converting banner templates. I'll send them to ya!

the-dream · Jun 16, 2012

What's the niche? If they're only going to be on a few sites, make them specific to the site so it fits in but stands out at the same time if that makes any sense and appeal to each site's interestes.

ygg · Jun 16, 2012

This specific project is an online shop for delivering foods/drinks/alchohol to the customer's home on lower price than the local supermarkets.

Some BASIC info HERE (nothing that you can't realise by yourself)

ygg · Jun 16, 2012

ok I have found about 10 articles while surfing the net and most of them are completely useles, giving shitty advice that you can figure out yourself easily.
For now here are some tips that I believe to be worth it and some people might not figure it out by themselves.

1. ROTATE YOUR BANNERS!
In case you are going to invest money in your advertising you definitely want to rotate your banners, remember that you can use those banners on later date on different sites, etc. AFter a banner is seen 3-4 times by a customer it becomes a dead banner. Use as many different banners as possible.

2. Try putting your banner on the spot you are going to advertise on.
Just place the banner on the spot you are paying for. Imagine you are a casual surfer...
- Does your banner stand well on the background of the site you are going to advertise on? - If the site background is white, use some colors that stand well on white background - yellow, orange, blue, etc.

3. Use call-to-action!
Words like "free", "click here" should be "flashed" so they call the surfer's attention.
Also use short and catch headlines, summerize the information to the customers, don't give them useless information.

4. Make your banner's size as low as possible so it loads quick.

5. Use graphic banners, not static
I believe most of you should know that, but who knows

Yet I haven't found any information about colors/positions and anything pointed directly on the topic on how to make your banner converts well, will keep on looking and will let you know

Cheers,
Hades

skittles · Jun 17, 2012

2DHades said:
5. Use graphic banners, not static
I believe most of you should know that, but who knows

Hades

What you mean graphic not static ? I am confused on that one. Looks good thanks for the tips

ygg · Jun 17, 2012

That means to use animated banners that move and flash and have a higher chance of catching the surfer's eye.

partymarty4870 · Jun 17, 2012

some banner rotate code for you

Code:

   <p align="center"><SCRIPT language=JavaScript>
 var img_width = "468";
var img_height = "60";
var img_title = "Support our Sponsors";
  var ad=new Array()
//insert here your images src
ad[0]='http://www.xxx.com/images/banners/XXX.gif';
ad[1]='http://www.xxx.com/images/banners/XXX.gif';
ad[2]='http://www.xxx.com/images/banners/XXX.gif';
ad[3]='http://www.xxx.com/images/banners/XXX.gif';
ad[4]='http://www.xxx.com/images/banners/XXX.gif';
ad[5]='http://www.xxx.com/images/banners/XXX.gif';
ad[6]='http://www.xxx.com/images/banners/XXX.gif';
 var links=new Array()
//insert here your links
links[0]='http://www.XXXX.com';
links[1]='http://www.XXXX.com';
links[2]='http://www.XXXX.com';
links[3]='http://www.XXXX.com';
links[4]='http://www.XXXX.com';
links[5]='http://www.XXXX.com';
links[6]='http://www.XXXX.com';
 var xy=Math.floor(Math.random()*ad.length);
 var xy=Math.floor(Math.random()*ad.length);
document.write('<a href="'+links[xy]+'" target="_blank"><img src="'+ad[xy]+'" width="'+img_width+'" height="'+img_height+'" alt="'+img_title+'" border="0"></a>');
</SCRIPT>

partymarty4870 · Jun 17, 2012

A Famous cartoonist once noted that yellow grabs people's attention - and then Bart, Lisa and Homer were born

skittles · Jun 18, 2012

Does anyone know how to create animated banners that look like they were animated on flash but still remain as GIF... like with cool fade in effects, etc.

Fastviews · Jun 18, 2012

skittles said:
Does anyone know how to create animated banners that look like they were animated on flash but still remain as GIF... like with cool fade in effects, etc.

You can do that with photoshop also.

skittles · Jun 18, 2012

Fastviews said:
You can do that with photoshop also.

Yeah but takes too much lol I am talking in terms of a software

something I can type a text and boom generates the cool effect

kralcx · Jun 20, 2012

http://www.flashvortex.com/banners.php

SYAWEDIS · Jul 2, 2012

I watched a video talking specifically about banners,and I remember him mentioning how bright neon colors may bad but they convert really well, supposedly. I guess it's because they really stick out or something?

monk13 · Jul 3, 2012

It's not specifically about banners
the site is written by an expert on usability
quite a few of his published papers are about banner ads, banner blindness and how to counteract it
http://www.useit.com/

the author is Jakob Nielsen, Ph.D., is a User Advocate and principal of the Nielsen Norman Group which he co-founded with Dr. Donald a Norman (former VP of research at Apple Computer). Before starting NNG in 1998 he was a Sun Microsystems Distinguished Engineer.

manolo12399 · Jul 3, 2012

Coupons and promotions, written on the banner, probabily the highest CTR, you can get

tdeuce · Jul 3, 2012

skittles said:
Yeah but takes too much lol I am talking in terms of a software something I can type a text and boom generates the cool effect

if you have a mac - livetype does this for video and i'm sure you can export it out as frames if there isn't already a gif option.

though it's really not that hard or long in photoshop

SYAWEDIS · Jul 9, 2012

skittles said:
Yeah but takes too much lol I am talking in terms of a software something I can type a text and boom generates the cool effect

Let me know if you find it , because I use PS for that and damn is it tedious! What a nightmare if you need to change something later, too xD

williamk · Jul 10, 2012

One of the trick that is working right now is to make them unique and outrageous. You might want to check POF blog for some case studies.

The "banner science"

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