I get many people asking me, "are banner exchanges worth
it?". Why do they ask that question? It's because they see
their banner's terrible statistics, usually something like
this:
Banner Displayed 198 times
0 Click Throughs
6 Credits Remaining
Isn't that exciting? You have displayed this banner exchange's
banner almost two hundred times and have received nothing
in exchange. This is the way it is with most people. If the
exchange offers a 2:1 exchange ratio, and your banner has
a click through ratio of 100:1 click (not uncommon on the
Internet), then your statistics will most likely not look
to pretty.
The debate goes on... are banner exchanges only good for
the people who run them?
It is starting to sound like that.
Personally, I think that banner exchanges do have their
place, if you do it right. Here are some things that you can
do to optimize your banner exchange experience:
- Make sure you have a banner with a good click through
rate. Of course, click through isn't the only thing. You
want to get a good response. So, let me change that. Don't
just go for a banner that gets a good click through rate...
go for a banner that will draw visitors that are interested
in your site. It is much better to get qualified visitors
even if you have to get a lower click through rate.
FourCorners has lots of information on designing good
banners. http://www.whitepalm.com/fourcorners/
- Make sure you only display one banner on each page of
your site. I can't tell you how many times I have seen sites
that line over five banners up at the bottom of each page
of their website. Banners are annoying enough... don't annoy
your visitors more than you have to. The object of banner
exchanges is to drive visitors to your site, not to drive
them away.
- Make sure that you give the banner a good location on
each page. Design your site so that the banners are a natural
part of the design. Take my site, Promotion World for example.
I have designed it so that the banners look good on it...
in fact, I have experimented with leaving them off, and
it doesn't look nearly as good.
Webreference is another good example of a site that
integrates banners well into their site design. http://www.webreference.com/
- Make sure you join an exchange that offers good targeting,
especially if your site is on a subject that appeals only
to a very small audience. There is no point in broadcasting
your banner to hundreds of people that couldn't care less
about your site.
- Make sure that the exchange you join has a good credit
ratio. There are a number of exchanges that offer much better
ratios that what LinkExchange and others offer.
LinkBuddies is one such exchange. They offer a 4:3 exchange
ratio. http://www.linkbuddies.com
TrafficX trades click throughs instead of traffic. This
exchange works really well! http://www.trafficx.com
Finally, check out a number of different exchanges to see
which works best for you. My website, Promotion World, has
reviews and ratings of over 35 different banner exchanges
to help make your decisions a bit easier. There are also a
number of different articles on the subject of banner exchanges.
Have a look at http://www.promotionworld.com/be/
If done right, banner exchanges can be a reasonably useful
tool for getting a bit of extra traffic. Make sure, however,
that you don't rely on them alone. There are many, many other
forms of promotion available. There are lots of websites dedicated
to the subject of website promotion, and I recommend you visit
some.
May your banners be blessed with high click through rates!
Source: "Joshua Reimer. The tutorial and other great
promotion help can be found at http://www.promotionworld.com"
More Articles
