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8 Steps To Profitable Banner Advertising

by Scott Covert

Don't you love to hate banners? Admit it: the moment these flashy 468 × 60 graphics appears, you develop ad blindness. If you are going to put up banner ads, here are the things to bear in mind:

1. You are buying impressions, not click-throughs. There's no guarantee the prospect will click on your banner ad and read your message. Your success will be determined solely by your ad copy and your market. A great banner to a poor prospect won't make any money, much less generate any click-throughs.

2. The key to success is using a headline that expresses a big benefit or arouses curiosity. We want to get the prospect to click through to the page so the real selling can begin. With banner advertising, the real sale is for the prospect's time. The banner ad must scream "This is more important to you than anything else you are doing right now. Click on me." Think of your banner ad as a classified where you have 3–7 words maximum to attract attention and call the viewer to action.

3. Use a "fake" HTML banner that looks like part of a web page. This design style is the best and generates the highest click-through rate. Throw graphics out of the window, really.

4. Use the same headline in the sales letter as you do in the banner ad. Keep the message consistent throughout the entire sales process. Think of your banner ad as an extension of your sales letter.

5. Track response. Have a tracking software to check the traffic coming through to your target page from the source page on which your banner shows.

6. It's often best to drive the traffic to an opt-in page. Our testing reveals the best way to use banners is to drive the traffic into an opt-in e-mail form so you can capture the contact info of interested prospects. Then mail regularly. The point is entice visitors with a BRIBE.

7. The more targeted the ads you invest in, the higher percentage of click-throughs you'll receive. Test several different targets and track your progress to see not only which campaign generates the most traffic, but rather, the most profit.

8. Start small. Banner ads aren't expensive, but you could easily spend several thousand dollars if you aren't careful about testing. Don't spend any more than a few hundred dollars until you have a proven, tested ad copy.

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