Have you ever bought anything of the internet from a banner ad link?

Are hosting banner ads effective?

:rolleyes: (Thinking)

Let Us Know

:)

No, I personally do not like banners.

I've never bought anything clicking on one. I've *very* rare;y ever clicked on one (I think maybe twice and I spend quite a bit of time on the computer), but I do look at them from time to time, most aren't that interesting, nor eye catching.

I actually watch tv ads (what a bad habit) for some odd reason. I like seeing how they are marketing, and judging if I think it was effective or not, etc., heh...

Only once have I clicked on an ad and bought something. But it was about 2 months after I clicked on the ad... and guess what? I was hosting!

you have to remember that banner ads arent hugely targeted at generating sales (by and large)
they are there to provide brand recognition
for instance, say Company A has a banner ad, Company B doesnt.
When the time comes and you have to decide between those 2 companies, you will likely decide on the more reliable seeming company. Because you know Company A's name, but have never previously heard of Company B, Company A is likely to get your service.
Hence, the banner ad worked.

I have, no lie, clicked on only one banner ad in my entire life, and my internet life pre-dates 'the browser' by a number of years...

I can't for the life of me understand how they became popular. Impressions, eyeballs, click through - I guess others must be clicking on them or the house of cards would never have been built.

Being on a slow connection I dont ever click em as it just takes to much extra time.

;)

Sometimes I will click banners ads just to see different sites. I like to just check out some of the advertisers. I hate pop-ups, but banner ads are alright.

Jim

Never bought anything....clicked on one once to see what would happen. ;) I do agree with tagalaxy that even if you don't realize it name/brand recognition plays a factor.

I have never bought anything from a banner ad but I have clicked on them to see the sites. I think that 95-99% of a banner ads purpose is for brand recognition and of course if you make a sale (even 1) then the banner has done more than enough.

In all of our marketing efforts we've only used banner ads as brand recognition tools.

The big webhosting companies spend big $$$ on banner advertisment? I wish I had the money they had to give!

;)

Banner Advertising is a hard market.

Spend BIG MONEY or you don't get results.

Its basicly "Go Big or Go Home"

Thanks

I have never bought anything because I clicked on a banner, though I did buy one program, and did see a banner for it after I purchased it (bout 3 months)... I however never even think about, thinking about even purchasing anything that is shown in a pop-up/under, or those nasty layer ads that cover the text you're trying to read...

Back to the question I could answer..
Have you ever bought anything of the internet from a banner ad link?

Nope...

Guys,

You have to design your banner ads to get high CTR's. Mainly blinking things like "click here" or the price of the services blinking etc, those kind of things tend to help. Now since your banner is going to be generating lots of clicks, you'd want to get your self into the CPM program, and with the ad banner industry a it's lowest levels ever, you can get in for like $0.40 for 1000 views, where as you can get at least 5% clickthroughs.

So far it's working for us, work with a lot of smaller sites, and don't focus on big ad networks too much. If you are making tons of $$$, then you would have to problem going to bigger ad networks.

Just my $0.02

All of those people that say that they haven't bought anything from banner ads probably have indirectly but don't realize it. You might not click them, but you see them. Banner ads are effective in getting your name out, not for direct sales.

Here's my two cents on effective use of banner advertising.

Banners should be integrated into web pages. i.e., if the background of the web page is a sand color, the banner should fit in with the color scheme, maybe maroon. This gives the ad a more aesthetic appeal to viewers.

In adition to 'scheme' integration, ads should also integrate with the theme. i.e., a page about mountain biking should have information about biking and other outdoor rec. The ads should be designed to 'help' the user. Rather than the "CLICK HERE CLICK HERE CLICK HERE" ads, which instantly tun me off), they should offer a solution, pose a question, or provide a convienience/periphrial.

THa, in my opinion, would create a better advertising solution. WHY? Because we, consumers, like things to be aesthetically pleasing. When you watch a DiTech ad, it sure doesn't make you want to refinance with ditech.

A good number of banners I see today are actually those that don't actually scream out the name of the company they are advertising. Seems like they plan to entice you to click on it just to satisfy your curiosity.

I've monitered the banner ads on one of my websites - each of them see around 400 views per day (2 different banners only, so they see around 800 views per day in total). But so far, after close to 4 months, only ONE click resulted from BOTH banners...

Hmm... Food for thought... ;)

I know most of you just want to bash the banner ad, and it's a joke to everyone how they don't work. I disagree. I am coming from a webmasters perspective, I use them because I need to make money from my site, since I offer free content that is one of the only ways to generate income. I believe that most people who say banners ads are ineffective don't use them correctly.

Banners ads DO work. However, you need to have a few things:

1) Targeted audience
2) Creative, yet simple Ads
3) Sell a product.

I would not use banner ads to drive visitors to my site, since my site is a free content site. I would use them if I sell a product or service such as web hosting.

I will never use pop-ups on my site, I hate them, and NEVER click them, especially since most are for the X10 camera. I will keep the banner alive.

A Banner ad can only be a success in two main respects

1. It helps to get your name out their
(But if one pays attention to banner ads it does the opposite of this)

2. You make back what you spent of it


Thanks what I think
;)

I find banner ad campaigns to be very ineffective. I am not knocking banner ad's but it is a fact the view/click ratio is stupidly low.

Me personally - I cant remember when I last clicked on a banner, let alone buy as a result.

That doesnt mean that I will never do it in the future though - but I dont know what would inspire me to do so!