One of the most popular forms of Internet advertising is the banner ad.

A banner ad is simply a special sort of hypertext link. The How Stuff Works article,
"How Web Pages Work", describes how a basic text link works. An HTML code instructs a
Web server to bring up a particular Web page when a user clicks on a certain piece of text.

Banner ads are about the same thing, except that instead of text, the link is displayed
as a box containing graphics (usually with textual elements) and sometimes animation.

A banner ad is similar to a traditional ad you would see in a newspaper or magazine, but
it has the added ability to bring a potential customer directly to the advertiser's Web site.
This is like touching a printed ad and ending up in the advertiser's store! A banner ad also
differs from a print ad in its dynamic capability. It stays in one place on a page, like a
magazine ad, but it can present multiple images, include animation and change appearance
in a number of other ways.

Banner Ad Types: The Internet Advertising Bureau (www.iab.net) specifies eight different
banner sizes (although there can be others) according to pixel dimensions. A pixel is the
smallest unit of color used to make up images on a computer or television screen.

The IAB's standard banner sizes range from 486 x 60 to 88 x 31.

Most web sites have their own limits on memory size, defined in Ks, since banner ads add to
the total file size of the page and increase the time it takes for a browser to load that page.

Actual graphic content, or creative, varies considerably among banner ads. The simplest
banner ads feature only one, static GIF or JPEG image, which is linked to the advertiser's
home page. More common is the GIF-animated banner ad, which displays several different
images in succession, sometimes to create the effect of animated motion. Then there are rich
media banner ads -- ads that use audio, video, or Java and Shockwave programming. These
banner ads, which usually have larger file sizes, are often interactive beyond their simple
linking function.

Dedicated eMail: SBR features a special trio of dedicated emails (featured emails only
on your company), followed by small business (SB) enewsletter ads, and rotating banner
ads to ensure maximum conversions of your products and services to sales.

Our dedicated enewsletters, which only feature your company, are emailed directly
to small businesses and consumers who have said they want to hear about products
and services like yours. Our dedicated enewsletters are sent to these small business and
consumer enewsletter subscribers and they are then reminded several days later by an
ad in the regularly subscribed SB enewsletter along with rotating banner ads on the website
affiliated with the enewsletter. We often will assist you with the creative for your dedicated
enewsletter, follow up SB enewsletter ad, or banner ad.

Banner Ad Objectives: Ideally, a visitor to the publisher site, the Web site that posts the
banner ad, will click on the banner ad and go to the advertiser's Web site. The banner ad
has brought the advertiser a visitor they would not have had otherwise. The banner ad is
a real success if the visitor not only comes to the site but also buys something. Failing a
click-through, advertisers hope that a publisher site visitor will see the banner ad and will
somehow register it in their heads.

This second effect of advertising is known as branding. If you don't have any other
reason to choose one type of, let's say potato chips, you'll probably choose the
one you're mostfamiliar with, Brand X, even if you're only familiar with it because
of advertising.

Here are several ways advertisers measure banner ad success:

• Clicks/Click-throughs: The number of visitors who click on the banner ad linking
  to the advertiser's Web site. Publisher sites often sell banner ad space on a
  cost-per-click (CPC) basis.
  
  
• Page views: Also called page impressions, this is the number of times a particular
  Web page has been requested from the server. Advertisers are interested in page
  views because they indicate the number of visitors who could have seen the
  banner ad. The most common way to sell banner ad space is cost per thousand
  impressions, or CPM (In roman numerals, M equals a thousand).
  
  
• Click-through rate (CTR): This describes the ratio of page views to clicks. It is
  expressed as the percentage of total visitors to a particular page who actually
  clicked on the banner ad. The typical click-through-rate is under 1 percent.
  
  
• Cost per sale: This is the measure of how much advertising money is spent on
  making one sale.
  
  
• Targeting: As we discussed in a related article on our site on Search Marketing,
  advertisers can buy keyword advertising on a search engine, such as Yahoo,
  so that their ads are displayed when someone performs a particular search.
  If an advertiser buys up keywords related to its product or service, it can probably
  increase click-through rates, because the visitor has already demonstrated an
  interest in finding sites on that particular subject.
  

The Internet is an attractive medium to advertisers, because cookies allow sites to gather
information about each visitor. Cookie is a piece of text that a web server can store on
a user's hard disk. Cookies allow a Web site to store information on a user's machine
and later retrieve it.

Effective Banner Ads:
Here are qualities that make for more effective banner ads:

• Post banner ads on pages with related Web content -- the more related, the better.
  
• Advertise a particular product or service in your banner, rather than your site
  generally.
  
  
• If you do advertise a particular product or service, link the banner ad to that part
  of your Web site, rather than your home page.
  
  
• Put banner ads at the top of the page, rather than farther down.
  
  
• Use simple messages rather than complicated ones.
  
  
• Use animated ads rather than static ones.
  
  
• Your graphic content should pique visitor curiosity, without being too obscure.
  
  
• Keep banner ad size small. If the page takes too long to load, a lot of visitors
  will go on to another page.
  

Should You Do All Three:
Dedicated Enewsletters/Emailings; Follow up Enewsletter Ads; and Banner Ads?

SBR believes that in order for banner ads to work, they need to provide enough information on the solutions that are being offered: benefits, problems/solutions; details, etc so that the customer can cash in. We like to have many reminders in front of the potential customer. Banner ads are just one part of the campaign. They help reinforce the dedicated enewsletter and follow up ad in the subscribed SB enewsletter. With SBR's emarketing program, Banner Ads, Follow up Enewsletter Ads, and Dedicated Mailings all have there own role for marketing. Dedicated Mailings are the strongest marketing tool for direct response, lead generation. They relay marketing message completely and since the subscriber has enough information on a product or service to take the next step, buy , download, or call, they usually generate very qualified clicks. They outperform enewsletter ads three times or more in response.

Follow up ads in enewsletters also accomplish traditional marketing values like banner ads
(hitting a target group more than once). Follow up ads reinforce the marketing message
relayed in the dedicated enewsletter/emailing . It goes after the fence sitters and serves
as a reminder of the previous dedicated enewsletter/emailing.

Banner ads are for building rapport and brand awareness.

Banner ads usually perform the lowest in direct response but their main purpose is not for
direct response. They are important because they create another touch to the marketplace.
Before and after the dedicated enewsletters are launched, the banner ads will work to
reinforce the message so that the recipient of the dedicated emailing will feel familiar with
your company and brand and more receptive of your message.

Over time banner ads, like other forms of media, television, radio, and magazines,
will provide good ole' branding and pay off.

*How Banner Ads Work; www.howstuffworks.com