CREATING A BANNER

Before you decide how your banner will be made, decide what you want it to advertise. This is something that is often overlooked. The offer itself can be just as important as the banner presentation. Banner ads seem to work well when they offer something for free or at a discount.

There are several ways to have a banner created:

1. Create Your Own This option may take some time and practice before you get it right, but anyone can do it. To keep your costs down, download a free trial of Paint Shop Pro from www.jasc.com. This program is easy to use yet produces many special effects, including animation.

2. Banner Generators. You’ll find many online banner generators available, although end results are not always desirable. It can be difficult to manipulate the text and colors to suit your needs, but at no charge, these generators will get the job done cheap.

3. Free Banner Makers. This is a more personalized way to go. Free banner services provide you with customized banners. Some restrictions may apply, such as size and animation, and generally a link back to the service is required.

4. Professional Designers. Banner designers are experienced at creating ads that are eye-appealing and effective. This option will most likely produce the best looking banners and can carry a price tag of anywhere from $20 to several hundred dollars.

WHERE TO ADVERTISE

Once your banner is complete you will need to decide where to have it be seen, and how much you are willing to pay.

1. Banner Exchanges. These services place your banner on other websites, for free. Basically, you show their banner and they show yours. Ratios vary by service and extra impressions can usually be bought. A downside to many banner exchange services is the lack of pinpointing your targeted audience, although there are some exchanges that do target, to ensure a more interested group sees your ad.

2. Swap For Banner Space. One way to get your banner shown on other websites is to create your own exchange. Certainly you can seek out other webmasters willing to trade banners, but also consider swapping your products and services for ad space on other sites. Be creative, the possibilities are endless.

3. Purchase Banner Impressions. Start small at first. Instead of heading over to Yahoo! to buy impressions (which will cost you thousands!), find smaller sites that reach your targeted audience. Send a request for ad rates to the webmaster.

Create more than one banner ad and track the success of each one. Not only should you track which banners were clicked on the most but also where they were located. Gathering this information will help you determine which banner ads are most effective.

Remember this is trial and error. If a banner doesn’t seem to be bringing in much traffic, test it on another site. If it still doesn’t work, try a different banner. Patience and perseverance will pay off in the long run.