Website Banner Design
Banner ads are small, rectangular ads that are generally simple pieces of HTML code. However, banner design and advertising are generally considered as important advertising methods for Internet websites and they are widely used.
There are many ways to earn money on the Internet and those that embody good banner design rank well among them.
Types of banner designs
Banner ads are designed in a variety of sizes and shapes. And they all function in about the same way size notwithstanding. A bit of HTML hidden in the banner instructs the server to bring-up a particular web page when a visitor clicks on the banner, which normally consists of graphics or animation and some text. In this way, banner ads do what traditional print ads can’t: bring a visitor directly to your webpage. Banner ads are also different from print ads in another way. They can stay in place on a page, but can present multiple images, include animation and change appearance in different ways.
Thus, banner ads are differentiated not only by size, but also by what they contain and this depends on what the company who owns the webpage wants to achieve. Sizewise, banner designs usually conform to eight different sets of dimensions, measured in pixels, under standards from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB). These sizes range from a large 486 X 60 pixels for a full banner to a tiny 88 X 31 pixels for a micro button banner.
Ways to use banner designs successfully
There are several well-established ways to use banner ads successfully on your web pages. These include:
- Clicks & Click-Throughs provide data on the number of visitors who click on the banner ad that takes them to the advertiser’s website. These ads are often charged to the advertiser based upon this number on a cost-per-click basis.
- Page Views are also referred to as “number of impressions”. This is important to advertisers because it tells them just how effective the banner ad is. This won’t measure the effectiveness of the banner design as a campaign, but it will tell you how many visitors saw it. This banner ad space is usually charged to the advertiser on a cost-per-thousand (CPM) basis, where M=1,000.
- Click-Through-Rate is the ratio of page views to clicks expressed as the percentage of total visitors to the page who actually clicked on the banner ad. The actual click-through rate generally averages around 1 % or less. Higher percentages are extremely unusual.
- Cost-Per-Sale is a measure of how much money is spent to make one sale. There are different ways to calculate this, which depends upon the ad and the product or service offered. Quite a few advertisers keep track of this by counting-up the Internet use of cookies, so that the advertiser can combine shopping history with data on how each visitor came to his website.
Banner design specialists are available through outsourcing
As you can tell, banner design requires some specialized knowledge. Website owners can acquire it by posting a bid on a website that permits freelancers and Internet website design groups to bid on banner design projects. This is a cost-effective way to get this work done by people who really understand the ins and outs of banner design and utilization.
