Banner Blues?

Are you one of those people who has given up on banners because they don't work? Then you are suffering from Banner Blues. Do you want to get rid of your Blues? Here's how.

First, lets take a quick look at the history of banners. When banners were first introduced as a graphic form of linking one site to another, they worked very well because they were new and a novelty. Now they are as regular as classified ads in your local newspaper and they are just as effective.

The current click through rate for banners is 1 - 2% depending on your banner, your placement and the market you are targeting. This means that 1 or 2 people will click on your banner when it is shown 100 times. In offline advertising, if you get a .5 - 1% response from a cold market mass mailing, you are doing well. So banner advertising is approximately 100% more effective than offline direct mass mail at a fraction of the cost. Are you starting to feel better? Banner advertising does work.

The proof is in the pudding, as my mom used to always say. Just take a look at one of the internet 'gurus,' Corey Rudl. This man sells over $5.4 million from his websites each year and gets over 6,000,000 hits annually. I think Cory is a good example to follow.

Does Cory use banner advertising. You bet he does! Cory has a full time employee who does links (placing banners on other people's sites) all day long. Each month, Cory's company, the internet marketing center http://www.marketingtips.com/t.cgi/649753 gets over 100,000 hits from the banners his employee has placed. So ask yourself, 'Do banners work?' Of course they do.

The next thing you have to ask yourself is how do you get your banners to create traffic for your site and cash in your bank account.

First, take a look at your banner. Does it look professional? Does it give the visitor a reason to click on it? Where does the visitor end up when they click on your banner?

Let's quickly answer these questions. First, if your banner looks 'homemade' and unprofessional, you probably aren't going to get many people clicking on it. If you don't know how to make a professional banner, it's best to spend a couple of bucks and get a banner professionally designed for you.

Second, your banner needs to scream CLICK ME! This is best achieved by giving your potential visitor the biggest benefit that you can offer. Save money, make money, stuff more hours into your day, whatever your biggest benefit is, make sure you tell them.

Third, when your visitor clicks on your banner, do they end up on a page that relates to the banner that they clicked on. If your banner says save money and your visitor lands on your order page, you've lost your visitor before you even got a chance to give them your sales information.

Finally, you need to think about your banner placement. Are you using a shot gun approach or a rifle approach. A shot gun approach assumes that anyone could be interested in your product. You place banners on any website that will put your banner up. So your banner ends up on sites selling garden tools, marketing information, automotive advice, anywhere and everywhere. This can work for some types of sites, but not very many. The best approach is the rifle approach.

The rifle approach targets your banner to your specific market. If you sell aftermarket car parts, you could make a deal with your local car dealers to get your banner placed on their sites. You can even place your banner on your competitor's sites. Why? Because the internet is a friendly place to do business. Your competitors can also be your business partners. If you are selling aftermarket car parts for luxury vehicles, you could team up with a competitor that is selling after market car parts for sports vehicles. The list is endless. Use your imagination and have fun.

Turn your Banner Blues to green. Cash in the bank. Banners are still an effective marketing tool. If your banner is professional looking, you place it properly, and you target your market correctly, you will get a response.

Good luck and God bless.

------------------------------------------------------------ Vitals: Terry Telford is the author of the popular ebook, Website Ladder, and the founder of bpc publishing, where you can pick up your FREE and almost FREE website marketing and traffic tools. Visit http://www.bpcpublishing.com today! ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------ To subscribe to this service please click on the following link ezine_articles@yahoo.com?subject=subscribe_bpc_articles ------------------------------------------------------------

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