Why Banner Ads?

Posted Posted in Banner Advertising     

Why Banner Ads?

I make a lot of money as an affiliate marketer.  I love affiliate marketing and for years I’ve been avoiding affiliate marketing through banner ads.  I’m not sure why.  In fact, it makes no sense because I’m learning that ad banners can be every bit as profitable as pay per click (PPC) advertising, with a lot less hassle.  That’s right; I’m actually promoting a return to online banner advertising.

If you’re someone just starting out in Affiliate marketing, read some articles about web banners.  The main reason I’m beginning to experiment with banners and banner software  is that I’m really kind of tired of the Adwords, et al–the PPC monsters.  I mean, trying to speak to someone at Adwords is like trying to put in a phone call to the Pope.  I’m sorry, but, I’m just a little tired of navigating the monolith.

Having said that, I don’t want to discourage newbies from getting their feet wet in pay per click advertising.  It has been a fun journey for me.  But, it has also been an expensive way to earn a living.  I see big money coming in, and then I pay half of it back out again in advertising cost.  Not to mention, the daily roller coaster of trying to figure out why the numbers are so erratic.

Anyway, back to generating and using banners and banner ads.

Affiliate marketing is about getting exposure so that people will buy the products you are representing.  In addition to PPC, you can write articles, post on blogs, get exposure on social networking sites, etc.

As with any kind of business, you need to know your target market.  Who are these people you are trying to reach?  What age group are they?  What is their education level?  Are they male or female?  If you know your audience, you will be able to better target where you want to place your banners.

Obviously, you will need to find appropriate websites where you want to place your banners.

As an aside here, if you don’t have a product to promote, sign up with Clickbank and find a popular product.  You will find Vendor Spotlight pages that will have affiliate resources.  That’s where you will find good banners for your affiliate products.  You can also purchase banner generating software.

I like to promote products that align with some of my own interests.  That way I can write articles and make blog posts about the products with some sense of authority about the subject.

Once you have a few products to promote, go to Alexa.com where you will be able to find websites where you can place your banners.  Alexa tracks all websites on the internet and gives you analytics (statistics) about each one.  You can find out how much monthly traffic the site gets.  It is absolutely phenomenal to be able to quickly analyze potential banner placement sites.  For example, if you want to promote a product about weight loss, and you find a website that has traffic in the millions every month, you will get enough exposure to pay for the banner and give you a good income flow.

When you arrive at Alexa.com, you can search by category.  So, back to our example of weight loss, you can go to “health” and then a subcategory “weight loss” and click on that.  A list of websites comes up under your subject.  The sites with the most traffic appear higher on the list, so you will know right away what sites have high traffic.

Click on “site info” to get additional information about the company and the site.   It will give you the overall World Wide Web ranking.  Often you will be able to find an advertising contact person.

You can also click on the website address and view the site.  If you see banner ads, then look for the advertising link.

Click on their advertising information.  There you will be given more statistics about why you should advertise with them.  The available spots will also be shown usually on a small, virtual snapshot with colored blocks showing available placement of your banner.  You need to advertise on the first page on the site.  Don’t even think about going with obscure locations.  It will be a waste of your money.

Usually you will be able to find pricing right on the site following their advertising links.  Don’t be afraid of huge advertising costs.  If the traffic is good, you will make money.

Quantcast.com is another analytics site.  You can check out your site choices there also.

Statistically, you can expect at least 2% of visitors to the site to click on your ad.  You can do the numbers.