Banners Do Bring Traffic!

By Author: A. T. Rendon
Total Articles: 4
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Banner advertising remains one of the most effective and
cost efficient manners of gaining targeted responses to
visit your web site.

To benefit from this form of online advertising you must
have a web page. It would also be preferable, though
not essential, if the traffic to your web page is already
established.

The reason is that banner exchange programs base the number
of times they display your banner on others web pages based
on how many times their banners are viewed on your web page.

And although a banner that belongs to someone else that
is then displayed on your web site is like an exit for your
visitor to leave, the positives far outweigh any
possible negatives.

Here are a few tips to improve your responses and increase
your visibility via banners:

1.
NEVER put a banner on your main entry page unless that
banner is yours! When that banner is clicked it will take
your visitor to another web page within your own site.

It takes a great deal of very hard work to build a steady
flow ...
... of traffic to your web site. After doing all that hard
work, does it not seem foolish to allow your visitor to leave
immediately? Especially if it is to someone else's web page?

If you must have a banner on your entry page, make it your
own banner that will take your visitor elsewhere within
your own web site. Or make it to another web site but one
that provides you with a commission.

2.
Feel free to put the banners on several web pages as
this will provide you with additional credits from your
banner service exchange choice.

3.
It is a good idea to put banners close to the top of
the web page because the banner will load faster
and thus insure that you get credit for its display.

4.
If you have access or the ability to write HTML code on
your web site, then make certain to include the
WIDTH="" HEIGHT="" BORDER="" numbers as this
allows images to load much faster.

And while you are at it, include the ALT="" tag with a
description of your banner that can then be viewed by
those running with graphics turned off or by
those, like the blind, that use text readers.

5.
Do you have access to the web page that comes up
within your own domain that shows whenever someone
types the wrong URL or if one of your pages is down
for updating?

You know the page I mean, the "Not Found 404" page
that displays by default.

If you have access, place a banner or two on this page and
increase your banner views immensely. The "Not Found 404"
web page is often one of the most viewed pages within a
given domain.

6.
Have a banner with "Animation". Studies prove that results
do increase by 26% or more over static banners. Most of the
banner exchange programs will accept them so long as you
keep within the total size limitations that they specify.

7.
Quick load time is a must. That is why most Banner Exchanges
hold their banners to a 7k maximum. People don't want to
wait forever just to see what your banner has to written on it.

8.
Your goal is for the viewer to CLICK on the banner! A
short one or two lines should be more than enough to
accomplish your goal. Keep it simply but compelling.

9.
Studies prove that using the words "Click Here" work
better than banners with the same message but without
the call for the action of "Click Here".

10.
Name recognition is great if you have it to get folks
to click on a banner. But if you are like most people you
will do better if you stir their curiosity to get them to
come visit your not-so-well known business, etc.

11.
If your URL or email is short and easy to remember,
use it on the banner. Maybe they do not want to click
and visit just then but will jot down the info for a future
visit to your web site.

12.
Test Your Banners. If one banner message or design is not
performing then try another. Keep testing different lines
of text and color combinations till you find the right mix
for your individual situation.

13.
Remember, banners with a combination of action phrases, such
as Click Here, Submit, Press Here and graphic buttons to push
are known to result in greater response.

Here are some FREE Banner Resources:

FREE Instant Online Banner Generator
http://www.crecon.com/banners.html

The FREE Banner Generator
http://www.coder.com/creations/banner/

MediaBuilder FREE 3D Text Maker
http://www.3dtextmaker.com/

Additional FREE Banner Resources via Auto-Responder:
mailto:fbr@emailexchange.org

FREE Banner Exchange Services:

Microsoft's bCentral (Formerly Link Exchange)
http://www.bcentral.com/services/bn/default.asp

Banner Swap
http://banner-swap.com/cgi-bin/adcclick.pl?fbcn

Banners-R-Us
http://www.banners-r-us.com/members/cgi/go.cgi?mem=001604

Additional Banner Exchange Services via Auto-Responder:
mailto:banner_exchg@emailexchange.org

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), located at:
http://www.iab.net/, and member companies DoubleClick,
http://www.doubleclick.com/, and MSN, http://www.msn.com/,
released their individual studies on the effectiveness of
"branding" on the Internet at a press conference in New
York City, on Wednesday, July 18, 2001.

Additionally, CNET Networks, http://wwwcnet.com/, released
information from a study done in conjunction with IntelliQuest,
http://www.intelliquest.com/, which also examined brand
effectiveness of online marketing.

Each study independently reinforces the fact that online
banner ads CAN BE used effectively for online branding.

And they confirmed that banner ads are best at 468x60.

So take advantage of these free resources to market and
promote your web site for free. Because banners do
bring traffic to your web site.
About the Author A.T.Rendon is an entrepreneur and published writer.
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