Maximum Clicks: How To Create Banners That Convert

By Author: Abe Cherian
Total Articles: 37
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How good is your attention span?

Regardless of how you score yourself, the truth is that most people tend to be easily distracted.

This is especially true online, considering the fact that there are a ton of different elements competing for your prospects' attention. Whether it be e-mail, chat programs, video sites, social media, forums, etc...

...all these things stand between getting your message across. The second you fail to grab attention, all it takes is a single click until they're gone for good.

When it comes to advertising, this first impression is critical to your success...

Although there are plenty of different advertising mediums, I'd like to give you a few tips specifically related to banner advertising. Some of these tips you may be able to apply to other platforms, but all can be associated with creating banners that convert.

The thing about banners is, they're not what your prospect went to a website to see. In other words, they're there for the information...not the advertisements.

That's why your banner should command immediate attention, build curiosity and, ...
... ultimately, give them a good reason to click.

The three key elements to any banner are:

- Visuals (graphics)...

- Colors...

- Copy (the text/message on the banner)...

Let's take a look at these three elements a little closer:

Keep Your Copy Short

Banners typically have a limited amount of space to work with, as well as a limited amount of time to grab your prospects' attention.

Keeping the copy short and using action words will help to make yours ads more effective. Words such as:

- Click Here Now...

- Start Here...

- Improve...

- Increase...

- Discover...

- See How...

- Try It Now...

Note: Studies have shown that you should make the last word of any command, instruction or sentence the strongest. In advertising, the biggest thing to consider is, your call-to-action (what you instruct your prospect to do).

Example (“now” is only bolded in this case, so you can see which word we're focusing on):

Click Here Now To Grab Your Free Materials...

vs

Click Here To Grab Your Free Materials Now...

Would you agree the second one sounds a little better?

Keep It Relevant

Targeted marketing is almost always much more effective than trying to reach as many people as possible.

Therefore, designing your banners with a specific audience in mind will help to drive better quality traffic to your sites.

Designs On A Diet

In other words, make it a point to keep your final file size as small as possible...

The larger the file size of your banner, the longer it will take to load on your prospects screen.

Slow load times are an instant way to cripple your conversions. In fact, studies have tested this and found that (on average) ever 100ms (milliseconds) worth of delay is equal to about a 1% decrease in sales!

Test, Test and Test Some More

As with any advertising, you should constantly test your banners to see which combination of elements converts the best.

You can test them by:

- Trying different sizes, color and copy...

- Keeping each one live for several days, for a decent sample of data...

- Finding which is working best and then tweaking one element at a time, to see what changes have the strongest impact...

- Trying different positions on a website (if possible)...

In Regard To Colors...

Have you ever come across any books on color psychology?

There are tons of them available, as well as many different studies related to how colors influence our moods and decisions...

As far as ads, brightly colored messages usually (for obvious reasons) get the most attention.

When it comes to the specific colors used, it really depends on what you're trying to achieve. For example...

Blue - Builds trust and security...

Red - Implies the need for attention. Creates urgency...

Orange - A buying color. Take a look at Amazon.com and note how many buttons (and the over all theme) are orange.

Black - Often represents luxury and exclusivity...

And the list goes on...

(Below, there is a link to an infographic that takes a deeper look at color psychology...)

Once They've Clicked...

Make sure your order, support and contact information are clearly available.

The more you make your visitors work to learn more about you or purchase your products, the more likely they are to get frustrated or bored and leave before they manage to take action.

Additional Resources

Banner Design Resources:

http://www.multiplestreammktg.com/blog/services/monetize/banner-design/

http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/bannerfans-banner-making-tool/

http://www.quickbanner.com/

Banner Networks:

http://www.adclickmedia.com/

http://www.valueclick.com/

http://www.bannersmania.com/

InfoGraphic On Color Psychology:

http://www.psfk.com/2010/12/how-colors-affect-purchase-decisionsinfographic.html

Abe Cherian is an Internet Entrepreneur since 1999. As the founder of AdClickMedia.com, a pay-per-click advertising network, and the CEO of Multiple Stream Media, an online Advertising and Marketing firm, Abe and his team has helped tens of thousands of online advertisers reach 'the right market' at 'the right time', with the 'right message'. To start advertising and driving traffic click here to open your free account: http://www.rent-a-list.com