An overview of banner advertising for small businesses
10/04/11 | Kentucky Business Network
Banner advertising can be a very compelling or seductive form of advertising. For one, this approach to advertising is quite ubiquitous or at least extremely common. It is compelling also because it is a visual form of advertising that allows for creative expression and custom messaging composed within a pictorial display.
Banner advertising may not be the most cost effective form of advertising for small businesses however. Pay Per Click advertising (especially that of Google’s Adwords program) has completely turned the advertising industry upside down. PPC ads can be hyper-targeted and easy to manage. They have a low commitment for small business owners and marketing companies, which gives advertisers flexibility to create, study and learn from their campaigns–ultimately making the format more appealing. It should be noted, that banner advertising has been adopted into the Google Adwords program.
Statistically, banner advertising is the most expensive of all common forms of customer acquisition. From a cost standpoint, it can exceed even traditional media.
Niche Banner Advertising Deals
A gem in the rough
On the other hand, there can be some great deals for banner ads from small websites and newsletters, which may contradict the general stats. For example, smaller website owners or webmasters running their own banner advertising programs may provide interesting deals or access to a unique and useful market, which could be helpful to a small business advertiser. Such gems can be challenging to find and can take quite a bit of time researching. One idea would be to find websites or blogs that have the right quality and kind of traffic but currently do not carry advertising. Make an offer to the website owner.
Finding a banner ad network
For established banner ad websites, consider using a banner ad network. Examples of such networks include: AdCritic, Adotas, DoubleClick, Google AdWords, or even the WebbyAwards.
Formats
Paid online advertising can come in a variety of forms, including:
- Static banner ads — in a variety of sizes
- Animated GIF or Flash ads
- Rich media, which could include sound or video
- Pop-ups and pop-unders ( boooo, these can be very annoying to users)
- Interstitial — appear as user links between pages
- Expandable or take-over ads – ads that grow or cover content on a page
