Are Banner Ads Worth It? The statistics tell the tale.

By A. Joelene Orlando
Posted Tuesday, July 6, 2004

Most people on the Internet today simply ignore banner ads and move on to other things. Why so much skepticism in the media about Banner Ads? Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but Web Banner Ads are a proven thing. If you don’t believe me, check out the hard facts over at Ad Resource
(http://adres.internet.com/stories/article/0,1401,7561_182441,00.html). Web ads are a $2 billion per year business!

There are several reasons why people won’t consider having a Banner Ad campaign for their business. The Internet in general has been such a runaway success that anyone who can build up a somewhat convincing rationale as to why all things that go up, will come crashing down, will find many willing ears. (Seriously, don’t hang out with pessimistic people.) The second reason why public perceptions about banner advertising are so much at odds with reality has to do with the nature of the Web. The “Web-ads-will-never-pay” articles all start off by pointing out that of the 50 million or so web sites out there, only a tiny fraction have been able to attract any ad dollars. This is factually true, but no more so of the Internet than of any other medium. Think of it this way, most of the world’s several million budding artists will never be good enough to sell their art work, and great writers will probably never publish a book in their life time. That’s just the way it goes.

So, between the statistics and of course, my opinion on Banner Ads, it’s a great thing, just not as a traffic-building tool for a small business Web site. It’s just that Banner Ads work a lot better at building brand recognition than they do at generating click throughs, and running really effective campaigns require a hefty bank account. These factors make banner ads a great advertising deal only for larger organizations that have the budget and the long-term commitment to make banner ads successful. It’s pretty well known in the PR and advertising industry that the click through rates of a particular banner ad starts high, and the longer the banner stays up, it declines rather rapidly. This is where the money starts going out the window, is when you introduce new banner ads into the rotation. To maximize the results of Banner Ads, new banners need to be updated and rotated, and generally, a dozen or more banners should be on ‘stand-by.’ Starting to sound expensive? With the cost of the number of banners, agency fees and the sites to advertise on, requires a very healthy budget to run a very effective banner ad campaign.

So, what do small business owners need to do, to capitalize on this $2 billion piece of pie? Just have a diversified advertising plan, and make sure that you do your research on Banner Ads, as well as other effective marketing techniques, and as your business starts to grow, you can take advantage of the wonderful world of Banner Ads. Don’t start of your small business throwing all your money into Banner Advertising. You’ll sink before you’ve even started. Just a thought to keep in the back of your mind when considering Banner Ads, “Everything in moderation is a good thing.”

About the Author
Joelene Orlando is a Web enthusiast and a staff writer/consultant for eMarketing Answers with a broad knowledge of topics covering Internet marketing and communication strategies for both consumer and small business owners. (http://www.emarketinganswers.com) is dedicated to providing free, comprehensive emarketing resources and online promotion tools.