Banner Ads Don't Work, But Non-Banners Do!
by: Ernie West


Make your banner look like text on a page.

This is what I call a "non-banner" (close to "no-brainer").
If your banner looks like a banner, it gets ignored.
Conventional banner ads only pull less than three percent
on average.

Why is that? It's because we have learned to ignore
advertising. Every day we are bombarded with sales pitches
in newspapers, on the radio, on television, on highway
billboards, and so on. It becomes background noise that we
learn to tune out.

Something that doesn't appear to be a sales pitch will
receive more attention. Intelligent surfers are looking
for information. They want to find out about something and
be told how their problem can be solved. Do that properly
and you will get their click. If you try to entertain them,
impress them with graphics or bore them with your company's
features, you won't get noticed.

Your banner is pretty much a classified ad. And classified
ads work when the rules of marketing are followed. Make
your banner an attractive text ad and it will pull like
crazy. Make it look like any other flashy, hyped up banner
and it just becomes more of the clutter on a site.

If your banner will be staying at a permanent home, design
it so it looks like it is part of the site. Match the
background color, fonts and layout as much as you can. If
your banner is going through a banner exchange, use white
as a default color. At the very least your text will be
highlighted if it lands on a dark background.

Put useful information on your banner. Highlight key words
and phrases. Use a power headline consisting of your best
benefit right up front. Appeal to their "click impulse".
Make them an offer they can't refuse. Create a sense of
urgency.

Put the words "Click Here" at the end of the text message,
underlined and in standard blue. This visual is the most
underused and yet the most effective way of getting a
surfer to click. Who cares about having fancy buttons,
use what works!

Don't use animated banners. Animated banners do pull
better than static banners but they still look like
banners. Most people smile and say "That's cute!" before
clicking away somewhere else. Normal text doesn't flash
or move, so neither should your non-banner.

By following these and other simple rules for banner
design you could very well, through testing, end up with
a non-banner that generates a much higher click-thru rate
than a conventional banner.

Currently many website owners are only too happy to host
your banner and collect your money for doing so since the
banner is only pulling a little of his traffic and is
harmless to him. However, he might become concerned after
your new non-banner starts to pull a bigger chunk of his
traffic away from his site! Of course, you won't care
because you'll be on your way to the bank...

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