Internet Banner Advertising

The Internet reaches millions every day in every country. Thus effective banner advertising offers significant potential with a 24/7 marketing campaign that never sleeps. Following guidelines to good banner creation is essential. The average user browsing the web will see an average of 4 advertisements per page loaded. Therefore, you must make your advertisement stands out from the others, capitalizes on the few seconds your ad is present, and includes a call to action.

Ads Come in Many Sizes

First, it’s important to understand the different kinds of advertisements available. The Interactive Advertising Bureau has set guidelines for creating advertisements that can be used throughout may sites on the internet. These standards are voluntary of course, but following these simple size recommendations is one step in helping you maximize your advertisement’s potential.

LEADERBOARD
The leaderboard is the most commonly used form of current internet advertising. The IAB defines the size of a leaderboard to be 728px x 90px.

BANNERS and BUTTONS
In addition, advertisements in this rectangular format come in a variety of accepted formats such as:

RECTANGLES and POPUPS

SKYSCRAPERS

This Ain’t Your Mama’s Advertisement

In addition, there are two other forms of Internet advertisements that have become quite commonplace in the past year. The first deals with the advent of Flash animation and the capabilities of advertisements that can expand beyond static images and increase their size on-screen–allowing and encouraging user interaction. This is doubly important as the additional screen space allows you to provide more information to the viewer or to possibly play a short video to peak their interest.

The second form deals with extra advertisements that exist beyond the “minimum” monitor size and resolution. Many more websites are featuring skyscraper ads on the right side of pages that do not appear in-line with normal page content. In addition, they are hidden on a monitor with a resolution size of 800 x 600, but do appear on monitors with larger resolutions. More and more organizations are making this ad space available as it allows them to increase advertising revenues without disrupting the content within the site.

What’s Best for You?

The most important thing for you or your business to consider when choosing an ad is, “What is appropriate for you?” Are you promoting a new product which you believe can take the world by storm? The medium rectangle or leaderboard with Flash expansion is most likely the best choice for you. Your ad will be placed within the content of the site and you have the ability to provide more information on the spot; be warned, however, that you can expect to pay premium prices to post these on a well-visited site. A skyscraper ad may also be a good choice but be warned that many sites will place this ad outside of the 800×600 viewing area thereby cutting off a sizable portion of your possible audience. If you are looking for name recognition, it may be preferable to focus on a large quantity of micro banners which are used on a large majority of sites and are relatively inexpensive.

Whether you are thinking of advertising throughout the web or perhaps just wanting to highlight products within your own site, the staff at Thunder Data Systems can create a professional and eye-catching advertisement for your business.