"Banner Ads" page 153 in the Schneider/Perry book 3rd edition

"Most Advertising on the Web uses banner ads... Banner ads are versitile advertising vehicles - their graphic images can help increase awareness, yet users can click them to open the advertiser's website and learn more about the product. Thus, banner ads can be both and informative function and persuasive function".

• Informing 
• Persuading 
• Reminding 

WTGR

Banner Advertising Statistics  "Measuring the Effectiveness of Online Campaigns" by Charlie Morris previously the managing editor of The Web Developer's Journal

This article is in five parts: 
 www.webdevelopersjournal.com/articles/banner_ads/banner_advertising_statistics.html
                       1.Introduction 
                       2.Comparing Clickthrough Ratios 
                       3.Comparing Costs 
                       4.Comparing Conversion Rates 
                       5.Comparing Your Stats to the Averages 

 

KEY POINTS

Often what happens when people try a new technology or process is that they adopt it and hope it will be successful - without having any certain way to verify whether the particular innovation actually adds to the effectiveness of what they are trying to do. In considering new forms of advertising online - it is important to deal with the issue of measuring the effectiveness of the various new methods to be able to clearly verify what works and what doesn't - and, this verification should be done soon in the campaign so you don't waste millions of dollars on something that doesn't work..

Morris says "Online advertising is in fact an easy thing to measure and quantify. The Internet can provide a level of detail that no other medium can ever hope to. The online advertising business is a more mature one than many people realize, and the tools to measure the effectiveness of banner ad campaigns are there for those who know how to use them."

"Banner ads, as far as we're concerned, are sold by the page impression - each time a user views one Web page is counted as one impression. Prices are quoted in "CPM", a holdover from print ad days which means "cost per thousand". For example, if the CPM for a particular campaign is $20, then it would cost $2,000 for 100,000 impressions."

Morris explains "Banner ads yield two benefits. 

First, they may entice users to click on the banner and go to the advertiser's site. Each time this happens is called a "clickthrough", and the number of clickthroughs divided by the number of impressions is called the "clickthrough ratio" or "click rate". This is easy to measure, and provides a direct measurement of a banner's effectiveness.

The second benefit of ad banners is building brand recognition. Despite ad agency claims to the contrary, this is almost impossible to measure."

"Measuring Web audiences is more complicated because of the Web's interactivity and because the value of the visitor to an advertiser depends on how much information the site gathers from the visitor".

 

KEY POINTS

Some websites, like the New York Times, ask people to register. The registration is free, but it helps the newspaper obtain some demographic info on the people looking at its content. WTGR

Most e-business that is being build in 2002 is by small and medium sized enterprises, the big companies have all got their web sites up and running by 2000.

The e-business that is developing in 2003-2006 is mostly from smaller sized companies with more limited marketing budgets - and these are companies that are wary of the mistakes made by some of the big dot.coms in 2000-2002.

The question we will deal with in this following article, also by Charlie Morris, is if you decide to spend money on online ads, what is it that you should do?

"Sell ads on my site?" by Charlie Morris  previously the managing editor of The Web Developer's Journal

Morris begins by stating that "thanks to the huge number of ad networks and affiliate programs out there, practically any Web site, no matter how small, can sell advertising. Thanks to  the lubrication of computer networks, the world economy has reached a point at which you can buy or sell almost anything in any quantity, large or small."

The reason that it is helpful to look at this particular article by Morris, is because of the useful list he compiles of the downsides to having ads on your site.

Morris says "the tiny amount of cash you would receive from selling ads isn't worth the drawbacks"
These are some of those drawbacks noted by Morris

• It takes a certain amount of work to get them set up and keep them running,  although with an ad network, this work is minimal. 
• Like any other graphics, banner ads take time to load, thus making your pages slower and discouraging some visitors. 
• Ads clutter up your pages. Who wouldn't rather have a page without ads? 
• Ads send a certain number of visitors away. Many of those who click on a banner ad won't return to your site.