What Is Banner Advertising?
Banner advertising refers to the use of a rectangular graphic display that stretches across the top, bottom, or sides of a website or online media property. The horizontal type of banner advertisement is called a leaderboard, while the vertical banners are called a skyscraper and are positioned on a web page's sidebars. Banner ads are image-based rather than text-based and are a popular form of online advertising.
The purpose of banner advertising is to promote a brand and/or to get visitors from the host website to go to the advertiser's website.
How Banner Advertising Works
Internet advertising has gone from an uncertain bet to serving as the primary platform for most companies’ marketing. In the U.S., the growth in digital advertising continues to grow by double digits on an annual revenue basis, with 2020 revenue report at $138.9 billion.
Banner advertising, also called display advertising, consists of static or animated images or media and is usually placed in high-visibility areas on high-traffic websites. Banner advertising is attractive because it can help create brand awareness, generate leads, and re-target an audience (such as giving a visitor a chance to sign up for a newsletter or free trial before they click away).
Banner advertising functions mainly the same way as traditional advertising; however, the method by which the advertiser pays the host can differ greatly from traditional ad space sales. The host is paid for the banner advertisement through one of three methods: cost per impression (payment for every website visitor who sees the ad), cost per click (payment for every website visitor who clicks on the ad and visits the advertiser's website) or cost per action (payment for every website visitor who clicks on the ad, goes to the advertiser's website and completes a task, such as filling out a form or making a purchase).
Traditional banner advertising has expanded to other forms, such as Facebook Ads and Instagram Sponsored Ads. Facebook is estimated to account for roughly 42.5% of online display advertising spending in the U.S. in 2022. The trend in online advertising has seen digital display ad spending (including banner ads, video, rich media, and sponsorships) continue to grow. As of 2020, 31.5% of all online ad spending goes to digital advertising, which includes banner ads.
The first banner advertisement was deployed in 1994, on the website of wired.com (then called HotWired);. The banner read "Have you ever clicked your mouse right here? You will," and the ad then sent the user to a campaign for AT&T.
Banner Advertising Technology
Ad networks are in charge of matching advertisers to websites that want to sell advertising. They keep track of what advertising space is available and match it with advertiser demand. The technology that enables ad networks to do this is a central ad server, which selects specific ads that are tailored to the website's visitor based on keywords from the visitor's search and website viewing behavior or based on the overall context of the host website content.
Banner advertising, and virtually all online advertising, currently utilizes real-time bidding technology known as programmatic bidding, which allows approved companies to bid on ad space during the time it takes for a banner ad to load.
Trends for content marketing revolve around personalization—the ability to make consumers feel as though you are speaking directly to them. As a result, targeted banner ads have gotten ever more common.
When it comes to advertising there are many avenues that you can take. There are billboards, flyers, email marketing, and banner advertising just to name a few, and each has its own set of distinct advantages. When it comes to banner advertising, the ability for this form of marketing to provide you with prime placement can be extremely beneficial to your business.
So what exactly is banner advertising and how does it work? Banner ads are also referred to as display ads and the best way to think of them is as a type of digital billboard that uses images to attract attention. The goal of these ads is to grab attention and drive traffic to your site.
A great banner ad will grab the reader’s attention and prompts them to want to learn more about what is being advertised. They are typically brightly colored, welcoming, and use images instead of text to convey their messaging.
Banner ads can consist of either still images or animated images. A still image banner ad can be a simple photo or visual element that acts just like an ad, however, you can click on the image and are then taken to the advertiser’s page.
On the other hand, an animated banner ad is typically delivered by an ad server. The purpose of an animated ad is the same as for a still image, to drive traffic. These ads are sometimes referred to as a programmatically generated display or a sequential visual, but to keep things simple we will just be referring to them as animated banner ads.
There are quite a few benefits when it comes to using this method of advertising. The first being brand awareness. You can grow your brand’s online presence by using banner advertising, helping people be able to easily recognize your products and services. Another benefit is that this type of advertising is a way to generate leads. These ads will help build your user base by enticing people to sign up to try your product or service or even to join your email list. The last benefit that we want to touch on is that they are a great way to retarget your audience. If someone came onto your website but didn’t purchase your product or sign up for your newsletter, these will work as a reminder that they should!
Banner ads are typically located on websites with high traffic volume or websites that offer useful content. However, when choosing what website to advertise you have to consider more than just traffic volume. Our team at Focused Image works with you to find websites that are within your industry’s niche to advertise on so that your ideal customer is directly targeted.
Because banner ads are visual there are a few elements that you want to incorporate to make sure the ad is effective.
A call to action phrase is what invites prospective customers to learn more about your products and or services. These are the words that get them to click on the ad. Some examples of these phrases are, “Book Now,” “Get Started,” “Contact Us Today.” Adding one of these phrases to your banner prompts viewers to click on the ad and be taken to your site.
We’ve talked about SEO and keywords before and how they can benefit online marketing campaigns.
When an ad is crowded it can become overwhelming to web browsers. The most effective ads have minimal amounts of texts, one or two powerful images, and a call to action. Sometimes banner ads don’t even have text or images, but instead just a logo and a call to action. When it comes to banner advertising your ad doesn’t have to be that simple but it doesn’t have to have as much information as you may think. Just one strong sentence is typically more than enough to grab the attention of your audience.
In order to keep your banner advertising professional all visual elements, either a still image or an animated one should be high quality. Moving images are an effective way to keep ads interesting but it is important to know that static images can be just as powerful. These photos should also be brand-related and recognizable so that the images keep your company in your audience’s mind.
It doesn’t matter whether or not you are a small company or a larger one, establishing and having brand awareness is extremely important. This is the identity that customers and potential customers associate you with. This is why including your brand colors and brand logo in your banner ad is vital to your company’s success. If you always use a light blue in your advertising and logo, you should use that same light blue in your banner ad too. If people already know your company they will recognize the ad and be more likely to click on it, which will then boost your click-through rate too!
One of the best things about digital marketing is that the effectiveness of an ad can be easily measured. With banner ads, the best way to measure the effectiveness is by looking at the click-through rate. The Click-through rate is calculated by dividing the number of users who clicked on the ad by the number of times the ad was displayed. The number that you get is often referred to as impressions.
An example of this is that if an ad has a click-through rate of 9%, that means that out of the 100 impressions delivered the banner was clicked on nine times. The higher the click-through rate, the more effective the advertisement.
Banner advertising is a great way to put your business in front of your targeted audience and our team at Focused Image is here to help! Contact us today for more information about how banner advertising can benefit your business.