How to Create More Clickable Banner Ads
Banner ads are one of the most prolific forms of marketing used in today’s online world. All businesses use them in one form or another because they’re an affordable, measurable and effective medium to increase brand awareness.
Here is a list of tips and general guidelines for designing banner ads to create a banner ad that will bring in those clicks.
1. Use the standard and most effective banner ad sizes
According to Google Adsense the most successful sizes are the:
- 336×280 Large Rectangle
- 300×250 Medium Rectangle
- 728×90 Leaderboard
- 160×600 Wide Skyscraper
Ideally, you will have bought space on a website, where your design will be featured above the fold and close to the main content of a webpage.
2. Maintain hierarchy
First and foremost, banner ads are designed to increase brand awareness and drive traffic to your website.
They have 3 basic components:
Your company logo
Your company logo must be included to build brand awareness. Make sure that it’s visually dominant but not as dominant as the value proposition and the call-to-action.
The value proposition
The value proposition showcases the service/product your brand provides and calls attention to itself with attractive products, special offers and prices, i.e. “High Quality”, “50% off”, “Limited time offer” or “Free!” It should take up the most space in your ad and be the first thing that you viewers’ eyes are attracted to.
The call-to-action
The call-to-action is usually made of text or a button with phrases like “Click Here”, “Learn More”, “Watch Now” or “Register Here”. It should be a standout focal point of the ad, prompting viewers to click on it.
3. Keep the design simple
Keep the design simple visually and contentwise. Viewers are probably only going to glance at your banner for a second.
4. Use buttons appropriately
Depending on the type of banner ad, buttons are known to increase click-through rate, aka CTR. If you’re going to use them in your ad, place them after your copy, on the lower right side, in tastefully contrasting colors, and keep them looking consistent throughout the set of ads.
5. Make sure your banner has a clearly defined frame
People’s eyes are naturally drawn to a subject inside a frame. So make sure that your banner ad has a clearly defined frame by extending the graphics right to all the edges of the box. If your ad is white, it’s a common practice to put a 1 pixel gray border around the ad. If it’s not white, you can still use subtle borders, which make it pop just a little more.
6. Make your text instantly readable
DO:
Make the headline and body copy different sizes. Make the headline and body copy 4 lines or less each.
DON’T:
Use cursive fonts, script fonts, extremely thin fonts, all uppercase copy or smaller than a 10 pt font – unless you’re including a disclaimer or copyright notice.
7. Make sure the design is consistent with the company’s branding
Your banner ad is going to link to a landing page about the offer in your ad. Make sure it looks consistent with the company’s branding and the landing page it links to, so that potential customers don’t get confused.
8. Use the correct file formats
JPG, PNG or GIF files are going to be your working deliverables, and you’re going to be working with Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop to produce them. Avoid Adobe Flash banner ads, as they are not supported on all devices. Instead, produce your banner in GIF format, so you won’t miss any potential clickers.
9. Keep your file sizes small
The smaller the better, under 150 kb, according to Google Adwords. Your ad needs to load fast on that webpage before viewers scroll down and miss it.
10. Use imagery well and only when you need it
Choose relevant images, graphics or photos that enhance your message and that are directly related to your product. No abstract concepts here. Nevertheless, it’s not always necessary to use photos or images in your ads. Text ads with some killer copy and nice typography can be just as effective.
11. Instil a sense of urgency
Bring a sense of visual urgency to the text by using contrasting, bold colours. Web ads are not always meant to be subtle.
12. Choose appropriate colours
All colours have different associations, so it’s important to consider what types of emotions you want to evoke in your viewers. Your colour choices have to be on point, because the colours are the first thing that viewers notice in an ad.
Colours can also be subjective and have different associations in different cultures. So make sure to study your target audience when selecting your colours. Read about using colour psychology in web design here.
Finally, when designing your ads, make sure you’re designing in RGB colour mode. Your banner ad is only ever going to be displayed on-screen.
13. Consider using animation
Animated ads usually outperform static banner ads and can be very effective in banner design. But you have to make sure that they don’t distract from the message of your ad.
Use simple animations that last no more than 15 seconds and make sure that they don’t loop more than 3 times. Also, the last frame of your animation should be a call-to-action.
14. Make your ad complimentary to the background website but also stand out from it
If your ad visually blends into the sites that it will be featured on, you’re more likely to earn your viewers trust. However, don’t make it blend in too much. The ad still needs to be visible and clickable.
SOURCE: 99 Designs
