One of the most important things to think about when you start a web banner advert campaign is: where should you place your advert? Banner placement – which websites your banners appear on, and where – can make the difference between success and failure for your website promotion strategy.
Targeted banner advertising yields results
As a general rule, the more relevant the website is to what your business does, the better the results.
For example, if your business sells hillwalking and hiking equipment, you’d expect to find more potential customers on a website aimed at walkers than on a general sports website.
How can I place my banner ads?
There are a number of ways you can find websites to display your banner ads:
- Approaching websites yourself – this can be time-consuming as you’ll have to do your own research, but gives you total control over where your adverts appear. It can also be cheaper, especially if the website doesn’t attract a lot of other advertisers. Be aware though that a more specialist site might charge higher fees, as the audience is more targeted – although this could mean better results for you.
- In a banner exchange program, you agree to display a number of banner adverts on your own website, in return for yours being shown elsewhere. This makes it a free way to get your banner ad shown. However, you will usually have to display more adverts on your own site than they will post for you – perhaps 2 to 1. You’ll also lose some control over where your adverts are placed, and which adverts you have to place on your own website.
- Banner ad networks work in much the same way, except that you pay a fee to have your banner ad displayed on other websites. The drawbacks are much the same, in that you’ll lose control over where your advert is shown – so you should always shop around to find the right network for your needs and budget.
- An advertising agency can help you run your entire banner ad campaign, from creating the adverts to finding host websites and negotiating the best prices. The disadvantage is that advertising agencies usually only work with large accounts – so it might not be suitable if you’re running a small campaign.
