Small file
This is one of the most important things
you've to get right when designing a banner, if the .GIF or .JPG file is large it will
take a few seconds to download and by then the visitor might have scrolled down the
page meaning he or she doesn't even get to see your banner. If people don't see your
banner they definitely aren't going to click on it. Therefore make sure your file stays
below 10K, 15K at the absolute most, it's sometimes hard to do but if the others can do
it, we can do it too.
Call to action
This is one of the easiest ways to
increase the CTR (click through rate) of a banner, on this all the experts agree. Using
a call to action simply involves having the words 'click here' or some other words such
as 'sign up now' or something similar which urges to viewer to do something.
My thoughts on why using a call to action
increases the CTR so much include the fact that there is so much advertising off-line
such as TV, Radio, billboards etc, etc. With advertising on these off-line mediums
target audiences are generally just required to watch or read the ad. All ads online
have a link and the purpose is to get people to click on the ad and visit the
advertisers website, however with the world being so used to off-line advertising many
people just see banners and think that's it, they don't realize that they're actually
meant to click on it to find out more. That's way having click here or another call to
action improves the effectiveness of a banner.
Animation
Banners with moving elements attract the
eye a lot more than static banners do. The whole idea of designing banners is to grab
the attention of website visitors, using small animation helps to do this. I say small
because I don't want you to go overboard and fill a banner with lots of animation as
this is a bad idea because one it increases file size and two it's generally annoying
to people after a while especially when they're trying to read an article or tutorial.
If your banner annoys them they'll most likely just leave without clicking on
it.
Good ad copy
This one is kind of a given but you should
always include good ad copy in your banner, lots of fancy animation and pictures won't
entice them to click, elements such as these only look after grabbing the attention of
the visitors. It's the actual text that will get people wanting to check out your
product. Try to emphasis the benefits not features of your product or service. Tell
people how your product will make their life easier. Keep your wording short and
concise, if you can use words that have been proven to attract people such as 'free',
'proven' and 'secret' do.
Fake factor
Many of the very successful banner ads of
late have incorporated some kind of fake elements in them. There are various fake
elements banner designers can use such as fake scroll bars, fake text links, fake
selection boxes, fake text boxes and fake submit buttons to mention just a few. Banners
with fake elements perform so well because people think they're clicking on a link to
go to another page on the current site or they think they're clicking on a button but
in fact they're actually clicking on a banner with a picture of a button and text
link.
These fake banners are made using the
Print Screen button usually found on the right side of any standard keyboard. Simply
open a webpage or application and press 'Print Scrn' then crop the image around the
button or scroll bar area (the area you want to fake) and then paste it into your
banner and that's it you have fake elements in your banner. Alternatively designers
simply draw buttons, scroll bars etc. using their graphics program.
Conclusion
Well there you have it, the five most
important banner design tips to remember when size="3">designing banners. I'd normally end an article like this now but before
we end I want to talk about targeting your banner.
Always always place your size="3">banner on sites that cater for your target audience (ie - the people
most likely to buy your product). There's no point putting a banner for a new golf club
you sell on a site dedicated to software, visitors to the site simply aren't going to
be interested and you're just wasting your money. You should be aiming to place the
golf banner on golf related websites, this way you're much more likely to make money.
If you're not exposing your banner to your target audience none of the above tips and
tricks can save you.
