Banner Ad – Alive and Kicking

It seems that every online marketer wants to know how to drive traffic to their website cost effective yet affordable. Since the inception of internet marketing, there has been one fallback tactic that has worked exceptionally well for boosting your online presence: banner advertising, especially 468 x 60 pixel graphical banners.

Yes, online banner advertising is still the foundation of many Internet marketing campaigns, as a well-designed banner can motivate users to learn more about a product and introduce a brand identity to thousands of consumers.

No longer static billboards, banners now feature animation and interactivity to engage viewers and amplify the impact of each impression. Now in direct competition with rich media, the 468 x 60 pixel banner has remained at the top of the list for online entrepreneurs.

To be successful in banner advertising, the question of relevance must be addressed. While most ad networks out there allow advertisers to customize campaigns through a fairly basic process of removing business categories they don’t want to appear in, very few advertisers actually do this. Some just want maximum exposure at any cost.

Unlike the static or slightly animated GIF banner ads typically used on the 468 x 60 banner, rich media can allow users to interact with the banner. Some popular rich media ads are created using Flash technology and may generate clicks. However, interactive advertising is often more expensive to develop and maintain and is usually out of the budget for smaller businesses.

While many online marketers are seeing the glamor of interactive advertising, banner ads remain a useful tool for cost-conscious marketers looking to increase brand awareness. The quality of the banners and the understanding of where they will appear are important in any company’s decision to implement them in their advertising campaigns.