The 4 Golden Rules for Creating Awesome Banner Ads

Looking for the top Advertiser Tips to boost your ROI and increase your campaign traffic? In this article, we’ll be looking at ways for you to improve your campaign performance. This week, we’re taking a look at banner ads.

Introducing affiliate banner ads

The banner ad boom started with this gloriously terrible banner ad from AT&T back in 1994. I say terrible, but, to be fair, at the time, their goal wasn’t necessarily to generate sales, it was to see if people would actually click on this crazy new thing that was appearing in the Netscape Navigator window (remember Netscape Navigator?).

Back then, there was almost no precedent for banner ads. Nobody knew how they would perform and there were no rules to the online advertising game. But, oh, how times have changed. Now, there’s all manner of different ad formats and devices to take into account when putting together online advertising campaigns.

So, what is it that makes a good ad banner stand out from the crowd?

Step 1. Always include a good call to action

Almost every digital ad should have some kind of call to action. Something that tells the user what is being asked of them. What is it you want your audience to do? Do you want them to sign up for your service? Do you want them to complete a survey? It’s very important to tell them this in the ad itself.

To help smooth things along a little bit, you can also use buttons to make the call to action stand out on your landing page. Yes, we pretty much all know that the whole ad is clickable, but, by including a CTA that is overtly interactive could be the difference between your next lead or your ad campaign getting ignored.

Step 2. Keep your content simple

When it comes to online advertising, less is more. It’s important not to confuse your audience, by bombarding them with too many messages, call to actions, pictures, or making your banner flash rapidly and constantly.

It’s a good idea to limit your ad banner to each of the following:

One message
One call to action
One image
One brand mark

By sticking to the above, each element is given more room to “breathe”, meaning it can stand out more and ultimately making the ad itself clearer and more concise.

Step 3. Design visually appealing creatives

This one seems a bit obvious but the importance of the visual appeal of a banner ad cannot be overlooked. If you’re going to go with an image in your ad, make sure it matches the message and fully supports the overall display. The image should also allow any text within the ad to be instantly readable.

You should also remember that, on many modern, high-resolution desktop displays, banner ads can look quite small, so, with smaller formats, you may need to stay away from photo-based imagery altogether and stick with clever usage of color. And, on the subject of color; always try to ensure that whatever colors you choose, you use consistently and that they complement other elements in the ad.

Fact! Interstitial Ads have been known to cure banner blindness. Give them a try in your next campaign and up your ROI.

Step 4. Send your users to the right conversion page

You’ve put all the effort in. You’ve figured out a powerful message to draw in your customers. You’ve designed your awesome display campaign. Don’t blow it all by sending your users to the wrong page.

If your ad is asking a user to purchase a product or service. On clicking your ad they should reach a landing page with some more info about your product with a defined section to enter their information. If your ad is asking them to buy a lawnmower, they should land on a page where they can buy that lawnmower!

Another thing to keep in mind is that your landing page should work with and complement the ad format. The graphics should be the same, the messages should match up and, if you make a promise in your ad, you should explain how you intend to deliver on that promise on your landing page.

What the user sees after clicking on your ad should support what they’ve already seen and seek to move them along your conversion flow.

Next, we’ll look into useful tips to optimize your ad campaigns, so stay tuned for more! And, as always, if you have any tips, or if you find any of these particularly useful, let us know in the comments section below or get in touch via social media.