A banner ad, also known as a display ad, is similar to a digital billboard in that it uses imagery (hence the term "banner") to attract attention with the goal of driving traffic to the advertiser's site.
A great banner ad grabs the reader's attention and invites them to learn more about what's being advertised. They're bright, welcoming, and don't have much text, instead using images or multimedia to convey a message. Check out this banner ad as an example:
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Now let's look at it from the other side of the coin. Let's say you're an advertiser. You want to increase more visibility for your brand, so you want your ads to show up on high-trafficked websites that your target buyers visit. You pay the display network directly (rather than the publishing outlet) for ad placements, and you get to choose the types of websites your banner ads will display on. If effective, you get low costs per click, and this turns into real ROI for your business.
Banner ads fall into the category of digital advertising, one of the most lucrative ways to generate revenue. In fact, in 2019's first quarter, revenue from digital ads reached a landmark high of over $28.4 billion.
Because it's an auction-style system, the cost of a banner ads campaign will vary according to the display network you choose, the ad's size, how competitive your vertical is, the popularity and the nature of the website placements you earn, and more. However, according to WordStream, the cost per click for a banner ad on the Google Display Network averages around $0.58.
With this in mind, the better your bid, the easier it will be to meet your advertising goals. In many cases, the display network will help you optimize your budget and timeframe to get the most out of your ads.
Now that you have an idea of average banner ad price tags, you can imagine that ad placement and banner size have a big impact on how often your ads are seen and clicked on. Let's take a closer look at these two variables below:
While advertisers get a lot of latitude on which sites they appear on, they may not have a lot of control over where they appear on that site. On-page ad placement is in the hands of the publishing outlet. However, they do have a financial incentive to place ads in high-value locations. Remember, they get a "commission" from the display network. With that banner ads perform best when they're:
Let's say you have all the tools for creating your banner ad in place. While the actual execution of the design is up to you, it's important to incorporate these elements in your ad to make sure it's effective, and not just something that crowds up a webpage.
Some banner ads don't even have text or images at all, just a logo and a CTA. Though your ad doesn't need to be that minimalist, it doesn't need to have as much information as you may think. If your ad has more than one short sentence, it may be too much.
With the logo, an engaging call to action, and a simple design, all five points of an incredible banner ad are covered, and it's effective. For students browsing Amazon or professionals building their home office, this ad would be an excellent cater to them.
Providing all the specs of a car on a banner ad isn't possible without the ad looking too busy. Chevy chose to play with text in order to keep the information there without being overwhelming. Moreover, they chose essential information and wording to make sure the impact would be as great as it can be.
Best Buy does this exceptionally well in this banner ad. They likely knew that one barrier to buying a phone online from Best Buy is needing to activate it in store. In this ad, they assure their audience that this isn't necessary, making the implication that "Buying from us will be convenient, so shop without worry." This is particularly timely when people may be actively avoiding hectic holiday shopping.
You've probably interacted with a ton of banner ads with minimal knowledge of them. The truth is that they're a great asset to boosting visits to your site and expanding your audience. Not that complicated, right?
A growing phenomenon is banner ad networks, where websites contract with a single company to serve their banner ads and handle ad sales for them. In turn, these networks divide their sites into categories and subcategories to allow advertisers to advertise on particular sites within the network that are the most highly targeted. DoubleClick offers both highly targeted (higher price) and run of site (untargeted, lower price) options. They also offer very sophisticated tracking tools that give you lots of valuable information about who is visiting your site, and what actions they are taking.
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising only charges you when someone clicks on your banner and comes to your site. However, this approach is subject to fraud by unscrupulous siteowners. One reliable PPC network is ValueClick, which has found ways to prevent fraud. They charge advertisers 55 cents to 65 cents per click-through, and screen their network sites carefully to limit fraud. A minimum advertising buy is $5,000. The advantage of PPC is that you can better control advertising costs. If you know it costs 65 cents to get a visitor to your site, you can more easily predict the cost per sale.
This vertical banner catches your eye with a simple but effective visual of a shoe on a blue background. Allbirds uses this digital marketing campaign to attract internet users who share its vision to support sustainability and the environment.
American Express uses an animated GIF to communicate multiple messages about its account options through its one small square banner ad. The movement of this animated banner is sure to attract more eyes to this banner ad.
Using a beautiful photograph or piece of artwork is a great way to catch the eye of people browsing the web. This ad campaign for the new Star Wars series, Andor, is a great example of an advertising banner that will stand out on any web page.
Sometimes simple is more eye-catching on a busy site than an ad jam packed with information and visuals. ÅŒura uses a straightforward background, image, and font with this square banner ad to make its product stand out.
If you have the budget, take advantage of large banner sizes to get your ad noticed. This Enfamil ad put up by Walmart is able to use the higher specs of this half-page ad to include better graphics, pictures, and more information.
Depending on your industry, you may know of some niche websites that are very popular and have an advertising program. Reach out to the operators of those sites and find out their advertising rates. These sites can sometimes be the best bang for your buck when it comes to banner ads.
We recommend exhausting the first approach of building close relationships with publishers directly. If you still need more advertising spread, begin by contacting ad networks and find out which network is the most suitable for your needs.
Ensure your landing page is pleasing to the eye, easily navigable, and in keeping with your brand image. You can even display advertising on your landing page with discount offers for specific products. This is your chance to use an entire web page to continue to interest your visitors so that interest will lead to sales.
This banner ad example from Big Brothers Big Sisters demonstrates perfectly how the use of images can greatly enhance the emotional impact of your marketing materials. It sounds obvious, but this ad works largely because the images allow prospects to envision themselves working as big brothers and big sisters.
And speaking of Amazon, our next banner ad example comes from a company that helps make online shopping more affordable: Wikibuy. As you tell from this side-by-side banner, Wikibuy offers a price comparison browser extension that scans stores in search of the best deals.
Wikibuy uses a specific product to make their banner ad resonate more deeply with their prospects; UMass Dartmouth, in a similar vein, uses a specific person. This, in my opinion, is a textbook example of how you can take the satisfaction of your current customers (or students) and use it to win new customers (or students).
Here, thanks to Invisalign, we have another example of the curiosity gap. I have no idea what a smile assessment entails, but you better believe I want to find out. As Buzzfeed has proven time and again over the years, people go bananas for free online quizzes. If you can think of a way to create a free online quiz that pertains to your product or service, go for it!
To narrow down a bit, a banner ad (or a web banner) is an advertisement displayed in a web page. It can come in a multitude of formats, such as static images (JPG, PNG, GIF) or multimedia/animated objects (like HTML5 or video ads).
Google Ads is one of the easiest ways to create and distribute banner ads on sites in the Google Display Network (GDN). However, it is worth noting that this is not the only way to publish banner ads.
Banner ads are intended to generate traffic to a website by linking to it. Also, web banners can function as regular, print advertisements: inform, notify about a new product, increase brand awareness, and so on. Most banners are clickable, so the main two functions of online banner advertising are to draw attention and make people want to click on them.
Generally, banner ads are placed on high traffic websites that offer interesting or useful content. Once clicked, they will lead the user to a landing page created with the purpose to convert them: make them sign up for a newsletter, download a whitepaper, or buy a product, for example.
The main types of banners include Page Banners, Half Page Banners, Leaderboard Banners, Skin/Wallpaper Banners and Skyscraper Banners. Each type of banner has its own sizing requirements, so make sure to adhere to those.
Yes, banner ads really work. They can help you drive more brand awareness, increase sales, and drive more traffic to your website or landing pages. Compared to search advertising, banner ads have been gaining a lot of popularity in the last few years. According to the aforementioned eMarketer research, the trend will continue for the foreseeable future as well.
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