Old Dog, New Tricks

You've seen 'em... you've clicked on 'em... Banners. They're all over the place. No matter where you go on the Net, there they are.

Some say the use of banner advertising on the Net is in decline, but consider this:

In 1998, 56% of the $2 billion invested by "netpreneurs" was exclusively for the use of banner advertising. Amazingly, another 30% of this same $2 billion pie was invested in sponsorship of Web sites.... which is also done through the use of banners. That's a total of 86% and these figures are projected to quadruple by the year 2002.

Banner advertising is, by far, one of the most popular forms of Internet advertising around... and in my judgment, it's going to stay that way for a long, long time.

So, how do YOU use this tool to advertise your site? You could dive in head first by approaching a large site offering outside banner advertising and negotiate an ad placement campaign. Some of the ISP's, such as Prodigy and AOL do this for a hefty fee of thousands of dollars per month! Or you could "get your feet wet" by using banner advertising to promote your site by joining a "banner exchange".

There are several dozen banner exchanges on the net, and they all work pretty much the same way. When you join (usually for free), you have to have typically "two" visitors to your web site in order to earn a showing of your ad on another exchange members web site. This, of course is the (in)famous "two for one exchange." Some do a little better than that... 1 1/2 to 1, 1.3 to 1, etc. But in every case, the exchange organization keeps some of the trade value so they can sell it and earn their bread and butter.

This formula has worked well for many of these organizations. In fact, some have grown to incredible heights such as LinkExchange. In their first 20 months of business, LinkExchange enrolled in excess of 250,000 members. This phenomenal growth allowed the LinkExchange owners to sell out to Microsoft earlier this year for over $300 million. Yep, you heard that right... three hundred million bucks.

There's another kind of banner organization having enormous success on the Net. They're called "advertising networks," or "click networks," and they all work pretty much the same. When you join them as a member (which can be tough to do sometimes as most of these organizations require significant visitors or impressions at your site to even qualify for membership) you are offered x cents per click-through each time one of your visitors sees and "clicks" on a network-supplied banner.

All of these organizations simply sell banner advertising to outside advertisers, and then share the revenue with the web sites who host the ads. It's pretty cool and it works, and these organizations are doing incredibly well for themselves.

But there is another formula which I recently learned of. This one combines BOTH types of exchanges. It's called the BannerCo-op, and instead of a 2 for 1 trade, it offers you a "one to one trade PLUS cash".

The method is so simple and powerful, I'm surprised no one has thought of this before. Here's how it works: You join for free, isn't that a wonderful word . Then, every time someone visits your page, they'll see a banner with two ads inside it. You can see an example of this at: the BannerCo-op Site. Look at the bottom of the page and you will see two side by side banners.

When this happens, an "impression" is logged for you and your ad is then shown elsewhere on the Banner Co-op.com network of thousands of sites. This is simply, hands-down, the best exchange that I have come across.

Plus, without doing or paying anything extra, you can actually earn cash by joining the Banner Co-op network. Of the two ads that appear in the banner on your site, one is always an ad purchased by an outside advertiser. Each time one of your visitors clicks on this "paid" banner, you get paid 10 cents. I haven't seen anything like this before.

The Co-op also offers "Partnership" positions to qualified applicants. You can actually own your own* banner exchange (without having to worry about the operations side) through their program. While there is a fee to belong to this part of their program, there are several levels of participation that should be of interest.

There is a bottom line here. If you are going to have Banner Ads on your Web Site advertising the products or web sites of others, you want the best deal you can find. In the ever changing world of the Internet, you CAN teach an "Old Dog New Tricks".

http://braintemple.org

Are Banner Exchanges Right for Your Site?

You can get banner advertising for free, but there is a catch! You knew it was too good to be true, didn't you? It works like this. You join a banner exchange service. The service will display your banner/s on other members' websites. Here's the catch! You have to earn the impressions first. You must display other members' banners on your website. Typically, you will receive one impression for every two that you give, but some new banner exchanges offer better rates.




Most business websites probably wouldn't consider using a banner exchange program such as those offered by the LinkExchange and SmartClicks. That's probably true if you are a major company with huge promotional budgets. As for most of the smaller business websites, generating publicity and attracting visitors is probably the hardest thing about running an online business.




Here are some arguments for and against you joining a banner exchange program, if you run a commercial website:

For:
Free visitors: I have often read about people's disappointments with banner exchanges. They complain about click-through ratios of about 2-3%. It may not sound like a lot, but no matter what kind of promotional campaign you run, be it direct mail, paid-for banner advertising, or opt-in mailing list advertising, marketing professionals are quite happy to achieve a 2-3% response rate. What do these people expect, a 20% response rate? Obviously these people don't know anything about response advertising.
Standard banner exchange programs offer a ratio of 1 display of your banner on another site for every 2 that you display. Some offer better ratios now, going as high as 4 for every 5 you display.
Let's say that every one out of your 100 visitors makes a purchase, then 99 of them have done nothing for you, except use up your bandwidth. If you have a banner program on your site, these 100 visitors would give you 50 banner impressions on another website, a 2 for 1 ratio. So if you get 5000 visitors a month, that works out at 2,500 banner impressions advertising your site elsewhere. If we take a conservative click through rate of 2%, then another 50 people would visit your site, who otherwise wouldn't have. Remembering that we said 1 in 100 visitors make a purchase, then you're half way to making a sale!

· Free publicity: Not all advertising is about getting a direct response from the target audience. A lot of it is to get a brand name or image across. Just look at the amount of advertising and promotions you see on TV for Nike or Coca Cola. Their name is plastered everywhere. Most of us have heard of "Amazon" and we know that they sell books. In fact their brand name "Amazon" is so successful on the net, that they could probably sell just about anything with it. You should also try get your brand name out everywhere on the web and I feel banner exchange advertising is one of the best ways of achieving this, especially as it's free!

• Real-time visitor stats report: I use the LinkExchange banner swap program on my site. And one feature they have on their site is a real-time display of your visitor stats. I know that most of you probably use some kind of visitor tracking program, but I have found that it takes time to download the log files to build the report page. Especially if you have a lot of visitors.

It shows the total number of visitors that have accessed your site in the last 24 hours, as well as on a hourly basis. It also gives you a page breakdown of your visitors. This feature only works on the pages where the LinkExchange banner is displayed. This is especially useful if you have a number of entry pages.

· It's FREE!! Need I say more?

Against:

· No real control of banners displayed: You only have a limited say in the nature of banners displayed on your website. It could be a banner from a competitor. That wouldn't be too good, would it?

• Banners can distract your potential customers: These banners might be a distraction for your visitors. If they saw an interesting offer, they might click on the banner and leave your site, thus losing a potential sale.
• Low response rate: The number of click throughs from other websites is usually low compared to the number of banners impressions that you have displayed. You should only expect a return click-through ratio of about 2-3%. And that's only if your banner is well designed and brings across the right message.

If you can't really afford to advertise your website, then a banner exchange network is a good method to generate some publicity for your site.

Michael Wong is the Editor-In-Chief of iBoost.com. He is an expert on eBusiness marketing strategies. He successfully built eBoz.com into one of the most popular Web developer sites on the Internet.

http://www.braintemple.org

Banners - Common Questions Answered

Banners Adverts - Common Questions Answered

This article discusses what types of banners are right for your site, and deals with issues you may want to consider before you sign up for any service.

I believe the Internet is still in its infancy. An interesting fact is that more people on earth watch TVs Baywatch than use the Internet (1 billion), and that can be hard to swallow.

The reality of the Internet is that no matter how great your site is, you still have to promote it. Long gone are the days when building a brilliant resource intense site meant instant traffic. Why? Because people have so many choices, and it's often difficult to filter the time wasters from what you may consider 'valuable information'.

One client of ours is mystified as to why their brand new site is only getting 100 or so hits a month. They understand the need for promotion, and spending dollars to promote the site, but like so many others they have been over exposed to various media claiming 'reach millions of people around the world with a low cost, low maintenance Web site.' Low cost and low maintenance is hardly the case, and the same goes for reaching millions of people, who in the medias eyes are just dying to see your brand new Web site. Not.

Web Site promotion comes in three major forms. First, free online promotion. Search engine registration, new sites guides, and other free links pages (I hope to compile a list of such places in the near future - keep your eye out!). Second, print media. Yes, definitely a biggie. And thirdly, banner ad promotion.

There are many issues that must be dealt with when considering banner advertising. What will it cost per impression? Is there a click thru charge? Am I reaching the right audience? What click thru ratio can I expect? What sites can I advertise on? Which sites should I advertise on? It goes on, and on. Through this article I hope to clear up a few of points.

What will it cost per impression?

This varies some what and it's good to get an idea of what you'll get for your ad dollar. Generally you'll be paying NZ$0.05 per impression (approx US$0.03). You may also be able to pay a flat rate per month with a guaranteed number of impressions to expect. Pay any more than this and you're getting a sour deal. Generally, NZ$100 will buy you 2000 ad impressions.

Is there a click thru charge?

You may be subject to a click thru charge. If there is an option to pay by click throughs, don't take it. Click thru charges are generally overpriced, up to 10 times what you pay per impression. However, if raising awareness is not your objective, then this option may be ideal for you.

Am I reaching the right audience?

This is where it gets tricky. Are you appealing to people in your country, or are you looking to go global. When choosing a site to advertise on, check where their traffic originates from. You may find that 50% of the people seeing your ad are from the US, and that's not too effective if you're advertising your plumbing service in New Zealand. Look at what sites would appeal most to your target audience, and what sites they are most likely to be visiting.

What click thru ratio can I expect?

This depends greatly on your ad. Is it eye catching? Does it prompt action by the user to click on it? Most people will tell you to expect a 4-5% click thru rate, but in my experience it stands at around 2%. Out of 1000 impressions that's only 20 click throughs. And you paid $100 for that?? Now how many of those click thru visitors are going to buy your product? 1%? Great, if you're selling high cost products. Bad if you're selling low cost products. But don't forget, your ad is also there to serve as an awareness generator.

What sites can I advertise on?

Generally any site where you see a banner ad for a company, product, or service that is outside of the site. Look for a link on the front saying 'Advertise here', 'Ad info', or something along those lines.

Which sites should I advertise on?

I may see an ad 10 times before I click on it. This is not going to be very effective if you're spending $500 a month on Yahoo. When choosing a site check the content. Is it a 'repeat visit' site, or is it a 'one off' visit site. You want people to see your ad more than once, so ask what their traffic numbers are to determine how much you're going to spend.

How do I know whether my banner is being clicked on? The site displaying your banner will most likely have a banner tracking program for you to use which will show you daily hits, monthly totals, click thru rates etc. If they don't, demand one!

Is the Link Exchange right for my site?

In my opinion, no. Leave it off you're site if you want to maintain a professional image. Ok, so what does my opinion count for? I've been using the Internet everyday for the past 20 months, and that totals a lot of hours online, so I've got the general idea. You'll find that Link Exchange banners appear mostly on personal homepage s, and that's where they're best left. You're site will definitely look like a low profile, low traffic site if you have a LE banner on it. Does Yahoo or CNN have LE ads on their pages? No. Another point I've noticed is that new sites who grow into popular high traffic sites often start with a LE banner and then remove it as their log files grow. I once placed a LE banner on Net World. Out of 2,000 impressions I had 10 click throughs (0.5%). So how effective is that? Again, in my opinion, it's a waste of space.

Lastly, and this one is often missed. Banners hold potential on your site too. You may not have the traffic to sell ad space, but you can utilise banners on your site to advertise other sections, products, or services within your site. Of course you'll be wanting a good program to track your banner stats. We use an excellent one called Web Adverts. You can download it from (http://awsd.com/scripts/webadverts/). Note you'll need a cgi-bin or access to one to run the program.

------- www.braintemple.org