Design an Effective Banner Ad

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Obtain higher click through rates (CTR) – and resulting sales by following these tips to designing banner ads…

These days, banner ads make up most online advertising. Yet designing effective banners ads can be an elusive task. To help you out, I convinced Wix designers to share their tried & tested banner ad design tips.

Following these basic guidelines can dramatically increase your banner ads' effectiveness:

  • Use a strong call to action

You have limited space. The use of a clear and concise call to action is proven to increase click through rates on your banner ads. Placing a "Click here" or "Submit" button on your banner can significantly improve your CTR.

  • Link the banner to a specific page

When people click on your banner, make sure they go directly to the page on your website that has the information they want, don’t make them look for it!

  • Color on Banner Ads

a. Banner colors and target audience culture Check what colors mean in the culture you’re targeting. If you are targeting a specific country not all colors mean the same thing. For instance, the color orange is associated with royalty in the Netherlands, while white is associated with death in Eastern countries, it is associated with purity in Western cultures.

b. Use bright colors and high contract Use colors that provide a high contrast. Black and white are the two colors that provide the highest color contrast, but white banners tend to have the lowest click-through ratios (CTRs). Blue, yellow, and green banners have a more positive click-through-rate (CTR) than black-and-white banners. Though no color is bad, we recommend you use red the least.

c. Banner colors and ad placement Where you are placing your banner ad? Banners placed closer to the top tend to have better results. But where you put it you want to make sure that it both blends in well with the page as well as interesting enough to be eye-catching.

  • Text on banners

a. Use key words like free: Some words grab attention more than others. "Free", “surprise” “secrets” and "special offer" all help to grab the attention of readers and keep them interested in what you are offering.

b. Keep the message short. Simple banners have higher click through rates.

c. “Would I be interested?” A cool technique: pretend you are reading your banner for the first time: Are you interested would YOU be interested in or excited about what it offers? If not, then most people probably wouldn't be either.

  • Use animation.

An animation can significantly increase your banner’s click through rate.

  • Be careful to make sure the animation matches your ad’s goals: *Make the animation subtle: The animation should be subtle enough to attract attention but should not so ‘loud’ that it clashes with the page design. *Make sure it has a quick loading time. (Wix does this automatically). You can do that by making sure you animation it smaller.

Test & Change your banners: Because we've made designing banner ads so quick and easy, we suggest you make 3, using different styles and messages. Test each for a few weeks. Then measure the results: compare the click through rates (and sales). Look at what the more successful ads have in common and then refine your ads and test them again. (Try not to make too many changes per test). The banner designs that result in the most sales should be the types of banners you use for your banner campaigns.

Follow these tips and you’re on the path to the ‘elusive perfect banner’ – the ad that has both a high click through ratio AND yields high sales.

See also

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