Are Banners Worth Using To Promote Your Business?

You’ve seen them. 468x60 usually, and plastered over every corner of the internet. But are they worth using to promote your business?

Banners have had something of a bad press over recent years. Many people say they’re not worth using. People so rarely click on them to visit your site that they’re not worth buying in the first place.

It’s certainly true that the click ratio on banners isn’t terribly high. But does that automatically mean you shouldn’t use them at all?

The truth is, banners can be a valid component of your advertising arsenal, and you shouldn’t dismiss them out of hand. There are plenty of ways you can promote your site using banners, without having to pay for them.

Try banner exchanges, for example. These work by entering into an agreement with the site that in exchange for them showing your banner on another member’s site, you will show another member’s banner on yours. The best ones allow you to choose the category of banner you want to display. Do a search to find the top banner exchanges – those that allow you to take part for free.

Some traffic exchanges offer banner promotion as well as showing your site to other members. One of the best is Smiley Traffic, which despite its unusual name is one of the best and most responsive traffic exchanges there is. Free members can display up to five different banners, and one manual credit earned through surfing gets you twenty five banner impressions, so they do take into account the fact that you won’t get as many hits as you would compared to your site being shown normally.

The click through ratio is also shown, and in my experience if you have a good banner, the ratio can be quite good – and certainly worth you promoting your banner.

So it seems a little unfair for the final judgement on banner advertising to be a bad one. Certainly, it shouldn’t be relied upon as your only means of advertising, but if you are looking for traffic exchanges to promote your site on, you’d be well advised to look for ones which allow you to promote your banners as well. The golden rule is to make sure you don’t pay for your banner advertising, as it’s probably not worth the time or effort to do so. If you can get it for free, then where’s the harm?

Finally, make sure your banner is eye catching enough to attract people to click on it. Limit the amount of words you have on it. Make each word count. The word ‘free’ is and always will be a real crowd puller. If you can make it clear to the passing surfer that there is something in it for them if they click on your banner, you are far more likely to increase your click through ratio.

And that has to be good news for your business.

Author: Allison Whitehead