When a consumer is surfing the Internet, he or she may come across pages that have advertisements displayed across the top, bottom or sides, which are called “banner ads.” Web banner advertising is a popular online advertising method used to promote services and products. There are a lot of reasons why a company would choose to use this type of advertising over another, as well as a variety of looks in order to attract a wide consumer base.
Web banner advertising has become very common over time because it is generally less expensive than TV, radio and print advertisements. These banners can also be customized and changed very easily, and they are placed strategically on the web so that those most likely to be interested will see them. This is called “targeted advertising” and allows a more narrow focus than blanket advertising. The prices are so low in most areas that even brand new and small businesses can afford to advertise their goods and services to quickly return a profit.
There are a number of ways a company can design its banners in order to attract customers. Web banner advertising is essentially an image, JavaScript® program or multimedia object that has been embedded into an advertisement. They can have animation, sounds and videos in order to make them more appealing to the eye so that they will attract the attention of consumers. The overall goal of any web banner advertising campaign is to get consumers to click the banner and go to the merchant’s website.
Web banner advertising has evolved very quickly since its emergence on the Internet, becoming more obvious and eye-catching so consumers cannot ignore the ads. Some say banner ads can be very annoying and distracting on pages, but various eye and recognition studies suggest that more aggressive banner tactics are necessary. As they have become so common, many banner ads are ignored on a subconscious level as consumers' eyes are literally trained to block out those areas of a webpage. Results from these studies have driven online marketers to make banners bigger and flashier, and some advertisers are choosing new locations on the page to place the ads.
The world of web banner advertising has become almost as specialized as the world of media advertising, giving birth to all-new career positions. There are several new companies and freelancers who offer their services as web banner experts to businesses that wish to make the most out of new campaigns. Likewise, new software programs have been developed to help a business test and track the many elements of a new campaign in order to find what works for any given market.
