50-ways-to-make-your-first-sale

Chapter 27
Buy Banner Ads
target. If you think about it, web surfers are most likely doing one of three
things:
1 Engaging in social networking
2 Researching something
3 Trying to enjoy a video
Most ads don’t help web surfers with any of those three things listed above.
That’s why the new age of internet marketers avoid disruptive marketing and
focus on “inbound” marketing instead.
The second problem with banner ads is that they slow down website and
computer performance, which make them another drag for the web surfer.
That’s why so many people have now installed ad blocking software.
3 Easy Tips For Successful Banner Ads
The key to making banner ads that work is to understand the problems we
mentioned above and to really think about how you can get attention or help
the web surfer out with your ads. Here are a few ideas on how to do just that:
1 Only put your banner ads on relevant websites – If you plaster
your ads everywhere possible on the Internet, you’re going to be
paying a high price for poor ad performance. Therefore, only choose
websites where your target audience hangs out. The more niche the
website, the better.
2 Be creative while addressing the web visitor’s problems – It
sounds obvious, but plenty of retailers put the bare minimum of
creativity into their ad artwork. What’s going to get someone’s
attention? What will your target audience care about? This ad from
Volkswagen is both fun and creative:
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