Today's Article:
How to Triple
your Banner Click-Through Rates
Today's Ask Dr. Ebiz:
Finding
Ready-Made Affiliate
Networks
Advertising Note: @Marketing Digest now using MarketBanker to Manage
Advertising
How to Triple your
Banner Click-Through Rates
By Rick Rouse,
Tek18.COM
Have you
noticed that your banner ads rarely get clicked on? Banner ads used
to be a very effective method of advertising, but the web has
become bloated with banner after banner. As a result they're largely ignored today.
But did you know there is a simple and effective way to
get people to click on your banners?
The click-through rates of text links is roughly four
times that of banner ads. Text links tend to give a prospective
customer more useful information about the link and less hype. And
with a text link you avoid the headaches that you get when staring
at flashing banners.
Of course the main problem with text links is that most
banner exchange programs and sites that sell advertising use
banners. So to advertise on most sites you have to have a standard
468 x 60 pixel banner to use in your ad campaigns.
This poses a dilemma for advertisers but there is a
simple solution: Make your banners look like text
links!
The process of creating banners of this type is a very
simple one, but there are several steps involved:
1 - Create a regular text link in HTML. You can use any
background color that you wish, but do keep in mind that a white
back-ground will blend in with most web sites and your banner will
appear more like a regular text link.
Now preview the link in your HTML editor or your web
browser.
2 - When the link looks exactly the way you want it to
look, simply press the "Print Screen" button on your keyboard. This
copies the contents of the screen (including your text link) to the
Windows clipboard.
3 - Open up the Windows "Paint" program. You'll find it
under "Accessories" on the "Start menu."
4 - Click "Edit" and then click
"Paste."
5 - You'll now see the screen shot that you made with
the "Print Screen" key. Save this as a JPEG image:
On the "File" menu, click "Save As". Type a name for
the new image in the "File Name" box. In the "Save As Type"
drop-down box, select JPEG. Now click "Save". You now a JPEG image
of the screen shot that you took with the textlink in
it.
6 - Open the image in your favorite photo editor (I use
MGI PhotoSuite). Carefully crop the image around the text link until
it measures exactly 468 x 60 pixels. If you need other banner sizes
(buttons or skyscrapers for instance), simply crop your image to the
size needed.
You now have a banner ad that looks like a text link!
Use this for your ads and banner exchange campaigns and enjoy a much
higher click-through-rate than you would receive with traditional
banners!
--------------------------------------
Rick Rouse is the owner of Tek18.COM.
He has written several articles
and
ebooks about search engine optimization
and web site traffic-building. Visit his
web site:
http://www.tek18.com
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"Dr
Ebiz"
"Are there any programs with low start-up fees that offer an existing
network of affiliates? Commission Junction appears way too expensive." --
Sergei Veinberg, Biz-Tech Software
I don't know of any
low-cost ways to secure a ready-made network of affiliates. But
don't be too impressed by companies that offer huge affiliate
networks. 98% of affiliates are worth nothing at all to a merchant.
It's the 1% or 2% that bring you any sales or click-throughs. The
rest have little or no traffic on their sites. Also, realize that if
you were to leave a large affiliate network company, they're likely
to revoke access to "your" affiliates.
To attract the
attention of potential affiliates, you can
- Recruit them
when they visit your website as I do,
- Advertise on
free affiliate program directory sites that make their money through second tier
affiliate fees,
- Advertise in
e-zines focused on affiliate marketers, or
- Engage a firm
(such as KowaBunga!
Technologies consulting
services) to recruit affiliates for you.
Some resources you
should consider include:
Copyright 2003,
Ralph F. Wilson. All rights reserved.
Used by permission.
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