Web banners are one of the most profuse marketing automation software used today. These are ad images embedded on web pages to display a brand or its product and link back to its website.
These are efficient, measurable, and cheap; many companies are used to increase their brand awareness. Effective designing of banner ads is about coming up with the most clickable banner ads possible.
This blog discusses the best ways to design and display your web banners.
Table of Contents
1. Come up with a strong heading for your web banner
A strong heading can instantly grab the viewer’s attention. If you are selling ladies’ clothing, a heading like “An interesting offer” will not work as well as “Ladies clothing at discounted prices”.
Lure viewers with a crisp, concise, and captivating heading. Come up with a catchy copy with words like “50% off”, “Excellent quality”, “Buy one, Get one free”, etc.
Also, use bold and varied color and size of the font to differentiate the heading text from the rest of the web banner ad copy. This will emphasize the heading better.
2. Strike the right balance between different elements of your web banner
Different elements like your brand’s logo, service, or product along with offers, and CTA (call-to-action) make up the major parts of the design. You need to achieve the right balance between these elements.
Your product/service, along with your offers and prices, should be the most prominent one. It should be the first thing to catch the viewer’s attention. Hence, it should take up the most space in your ad design.
The next focus should be on your CTA. It should have a phrase like “Buy now”, “Watch now”, “Download”, “Learn more”, etc. The final element that should be visually dominant is your brand logo. Its presence in your ad promotes brand awareness. However, make sure it is not as prominent as your value proposition or CTA.
3. Let your web banner focus on the value you offer
Nobody cares why your company is amazing. Keep in mind that we live in an increasingly selfish society where people are interested only in those things that would add value to their lives. So, ensure that your web banner ad copy tells the viewer how your product or service can make his life easier.
Consider these phrases in the ad copy of two different cosmetic brands. One reads “Our brand won an international award and ranked the topmost in …” and another reads “Soothe your acned skin with nature’s goodness”. Which one do you think will get clicked?
Obviously, the second one! That’s because it addresses the pain points of a user whereas its counterpart goes bragging about itself.
4. Create urge in your banner ad copy
The human mind is naturally pushed to act fast when there is some compelling urge in your words. So come up with a copy that includes driving words like “Offer ends soon”, “limited period offer”, “Discount today only”, etc. Ensure that it is short, to the point, and provides sufficient details. The point is to capture the viewer’s attention and then quickly deliver the message.
And as mentioned earlier, your web banner copy should be in a font different from that of the headline. Also, make sure that the entire copy, including the headline, should be in no more than four lines.
5. Use emotions in your web banner’s copy.
Evoking powerful emotions can spur your viewers into action. You can exploit the power of compelling positive or negative emotions. For instance, a site for uncovering online dating profiles and unknown social accounts leverages this by displaying these words on its banner ad- “Cheaters hate this site”. By arousing a feeling of anger towards a potential cheating spouse, it gets the viewer to click through it.
Likewise, positive emotions like happiness, humour, affirmation, etc., can effectively trigger a response in your favour. For instance, “Blast away that excess belly fat” reads the banner ad of a firm selling formulas to shed belly fat. The affirmation it gives makes anyone looking to get rid of his fat belly to click on it.
6. Choose fonts that work.
The kind of font you use defines the personality of your brand. To know which fonts you should choose for the different copies in your banner ad, you need some basic knowledge about these. So, here we go.
Font can be classified into four broad categories including:
- Serif: These are traditional looking fonts with ends attached to each letter.
- Sans Serif: These are modern looking fonts with no ends attached to the letters.
- Script: These are cursive fonts.
- Display: These are decorative texts.
You can use display fonts in your taglines and headlines, which are short. This is because these attract the attention of the viewer. For body text, choose a Serif or Sans Serif font style. Some of the trending fonts for your body copy are Open Sans, Advent Pro, Source Serif Pro, Rock Salt, Short Stack, and Sacramento.
Do not go for script fonts, all uppercase copy, font sizes smaller than a 10 pt or extremely thin font weight unless it’s a copyright notice or disclaimer.
Choose an effective standard banner ad size.
Banners come in many different sizes and shapes. Certain sizes and shapes perform better than the others. Google Adsense found the following to be the most effective ones. Use these for designing your ads.
- 336×280px — Large Rectangle
- 728×90px — Leader board
- 300×250px — Medium Rectangle
- 300×600px — Half Page
Position your banner ad right
Your web banner ad can be positioned at any one of the different locations on a page. You need to find the right position for your ad so that it can be easily viewed and clicked on. Further, it is possible to position more than one ad on a page in different positions.
Studies have shown that the most effective ad position is within the content. The other successful ones are within the heading (27.32% response), and within the left and right columns. In general, ads placed above the fold, near the content, and close to other attractive elements perform well.
Wrapping up
Web banners and popup notifications are one of the most effective digital advertising tools used today. The right design and display of your web banners can make them clickable and increase your banner ad ROI. So, do put our tips to use while you create and position your next web banner.
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