If you want to increase traffic to a website, you’ve probably thought about placing banner ads, so you’ve probably wondered how to do this and if there are any steps you can take to make sure your banner is effective.
Indeed, in order to make the most of the benefits that banner ads bring to both the site they appear on and the brand they promote, it is important to build a strategy and follow some key steps.
In this article we will give you the basic tools for an effective and useful banner.
1. Identify the target audience and their needs
As with any advertising campaign, for your message to be effective you need to identify your target audience and what their characteristics are.
Here are some examples of questions that can help you do this:
- What needs of the public does the promoted product satisfy?
- What messages have worked in the past?
- What type of design is my target audience attracted to?
2. Create an effective landing page
Getting the user to click on your banner is not enough, you also need to make sure that the page they are directed to is effective for your purpose, whether it’s buying goods or products or signing up for a newsletter.
Keep in mind that the banner must be visually matched to the landing page and vice versa, consistency is key.
3. Make sure your banner is compatible with mobile devices
Many users stop accessing the ads in these banners because they are not viewed properly on mobile devices, and let’s not forget that most of us access websites and online shops via our phones.
Also, “bombarding” users with such ads is not only ineffective but also counterproductive, so consider setting pop-up ads only for newer users.
4. Establish a consistent colour scheme
If you want to create a banner that doesn’t use the brand identity colour scheme, make sure you use one that is consistent and works well visually. To achieve this, you can use one of the colours from the basic brand identity scheme.
Also, study colour psychology to help you use these concepts in choosing your colour scheme.
5. Choose an easy-to-read font
Because space is limited and very small in a banner, it is important to choose easy-to-read fonts that don’t clutter the design and help the message reach the user simply and easily.
6. Creative placement
Familiarise yourself with the different sizes of banners so you can figure out what type of banner is appropriate for your location. Use the information on banner sizes, as well as your creativity and intuition, to find the best placement for your design.
Test different sizes and placements so you can figure out what works best for your design.
7. Follow the brand manual and visual identity guidelines
As I mentioned before, consistency is very important. Follow the main directions of the brand’s visual identity to have a consistent and visually pleasing look.
Of course, creativity is welcome, for example, you can use just one of the brand’s identity colours, but it’s important to make sure that the chosen colour palette harmonises well.
8. Add animations
Animations can be useful to draw attention to your creative and message, also an animated banner gives you extra space for messaging compared to a static one.