Use Banner Ads to Sell Anything!
Posted in Banner Advertising
There is a never a dearth of good business opportunities available. Once you find something that you can sell, the only thing that remains is getting the word out about the products you are selling. Advertising is not necessarily a formidable issue. In fact, making use of the right media is all you will need to sell your products.
The Internet has unbelievable reach. A simple way to leverage its power is through the use of banner ads to sell anything online.
Banner Ads and EDM’s – These can be prominently displayed right on top in electronic direct mailers (EDMs), newsletters and any form of correspondence that goes out to a wide audience. These ads will generally bring the focus of the reader to a specific product or service that is being offered. However EDM’s are not the only place that banner ads have thrived.
Banner Ads and Your Website – Having your own website on which you place your ad is also a natural step, and placement of the ad is again very important when it comes to garner eyeballs for the ad. Extensive research has been done on this and a simple internet search will quickly show you the best spots.
Banner Ad Location – Typically the most powerful spots are the center of the page, where square ads do well, and the best spots are the top of the page, near the center and down the right side. When the right side is used it is also a banner ad but they are termed ‘skyscrapers’. All ads, whether banners, box, rectangle or skyscraper also come in large, medium and small sizes. They are measured with a universal system called pixels. A medium size banner ad is 468×60 pixels.
Taking up a large portion of the masthead space on your home page is a very effective means of catching attention and communicating details about your product or service. Placed above your site navigational bar they become difficult to ignore. You could also consider a square ad that can be placed on the sidebars of your site. Here you can place products in the hierarchy of their popularity.
Banner Ads With Google – You can ensure maximum viewership for your ad in other ways. Using Google you can put your ad on sites in exchange for a small fee. The charge to you will be in cost per thousand clicks (CPM) or a cost per click (CPC). Ideally choose a site that is complementary to the product or service you are advertising.
Banner Ads For Income – Interestingly they can be a source of income in addition to being a selling tool. A tried and true method is to get into affiliate programs called CPA or Cost Per Action. This way each time there is a click or expression of interest on your ad and the reader leaves an email address, you will receive a fee. If your ad is well placed on a busy site thousands of visitors can make you quite wealthy.
Banner Ad Exchange – It never hurts to think outside the box and another method is a barter system of sorts. You contact a business that is complimentary to yours, you place their ad on your site, while the same is done for you. If you team up with major search engines such as Google, their Google ads program will also give you space on their content based websites ensuring a wider viewership and they can arrange for ads to be put on your site and suddenly you have another income stream.
Banner Ads and Social Networks – You can also get many people to look at your products by placing banner ads on busy social networking sites. While there may be a fee involved, it is an effective way of communicating to scores of people. Social networking sites have become a very large source of traffic in recent years.
Once you are sure of your placement, you need to settle on the information that will go on your ad.
Banner Ad Design – It should be able to communicate to a prospective customer the benefit they stand to gain. Getting their attention enough for them to click on it for more details is necessary. It is a misconception to think that graphics say it better than words. Bold text in clear fonts is in fact, much more effective.
Never Forget the ‘Call to Action’ – Also, ensure that your ads tell people what to do next. Simply gaining their attention is not enough – do they click for more information, or choose from a range of options, or simply sign up for a mailing list? This is called a ‘Call to Action’, and it’s important to be clear about what to do next.
Banner ads are an excellent tool for private sellers, especially real estate and motor vehicles. They have been around for several years now and we are just beginning to learn how to really use this simple mode of advertising effectively.
