One of the most popular forms of Internet advertising is the banner ad.

Because of its graphic element, a banner ad is somewhat similar to a traditional ad you would see in a printed publication such as a newspaper or magazine, but it has the added ability to bring a potential customer directly to your web site. This is something like touching a printed ad and being immediately teleported to the advertiser's store! A banner ad also differs from a print ad in its dynamic capability. It stays in one place on a page, like a magazine ad, but it can present multiple images, include animation and change appearance in a number of other ways.

Not only will an effective banner ad campaign bring new visitors to your site, visitors you would not have had otherwise, but they also offer the effect of branding. This could mean the visitor consciously notes the content of a banner ad and decides to visit the advertiser's site at some time in the future, or it might mean that the visitor only peripherally picks up on the ad but is made aware of the advertiser's product or service.

Say you see ads on television for Brand X glue all the time. The ads don't seem to particularly affect you -- you don't leap from your couch to go buy glue -- but down the road, when you're at the store shopping for glue, they may affect the decision you make. If you don't have any other reason to choose one type of glue over the others, you'll probably choose the one you're most familiar with, Brand X, even if you're only familiar with it because of advertising.

We all know the importance name recognition plays in our business success. Banner ad campaigns can easily give your banners tens of thousands of impressions (times your ad is displayed) per month - think of the impact!

The most important things are to make visually appealing ads with interesting content and to intelligently place the ads so they are exposed to audiences that would be interested in them. Combining these qualities is a simple notion, but effectively accomplishing this is a complicated art. And like any art, advertising is constantly evolving. New approaches to banner ads pop up all the time.

Banners range in size, but the most popular is 468 pixels in width by 60 pixels in height. Most web sites impose their own limits on file size because it affects the download time of the entire web page.

Innovative Connections can custom design banner ads for you and get them placed strategically on the Internet. Please contact us for more information.