Contributed by Banner Advertising
Expert Scott Covert
Today I’m going to share with
you 5 facts that you probably didn’t know about Banner Advertising...
Fact #1: Banner Advertising
is actually still highly profitable!
Fact #2: Banner advertising opportunities are everywhere...
just avoid the big banner networks and extremely high prices!
Fact #3: Banner advertising offers fantastic growth
opportunities!
Fact #4: It’s incredibly easy to learn which banner
ads are losing you money and which are making you money!
Fact #5: Banner advertising isn’t just for big business!
My partner and I spend over
$60,000 every year on banner advertising, putting highly targeted
banner ads in front of over 6,000,000 people... and earning
over $1,200,000 in online sales!
For every dollar I spend, 100
extremely targeted potential customers view my banner ad!
I regularly design banners that
pull click-throughs between 4% and 6%... and higher! That’s
pretty impressive when you consider that the industry average
is about 0.8%.
How do I do it?
Well, without giving away ALL
of my trade secrets, I will tell you that I design banners
that don’t look like ads. My banners appear as part of
the web site... so when people click on them, they have no
idea that they’re clicking on an ad!
The truth is, the standard 468
X 60 pixel banner ads just aren’t making the grade anymore.
People are starting to "filter out" that specific size of
graphic on web sites they visit... especially when they appear
at the top of home pages. If it’s colorful, animated, and
flashing, visitors are sure to ignore it.
After 30 months of research
and testing, I’ve discovered that banner ads which look like...
- radio buttons
- checkboxes
- hypertext links
- dropdown menus
- "Click Here" buttons
... and other "natural" parts
of web sites pull a much better response than the standard
468 X 60 pixel banner ad.
Go to http://www.marketingtips.com/newsletters/issue35_banner_popup.html
to check out a few banners that have a "natural" look and
feel.
As web site owners become more
comfortable including advertising on their sites, opportunities
to profit from this unique form of banner advertising are
everywhere.
However, I advise you to stay
away from large banner advertising networks and focus
on individual web sites. By lacing your ad on sites that specifically
relate to your target market, you will be guaranteeing yourself
a significantly higher click-through rate!
For example, I deal only with
stock trading web sites. I contact their web site ad manager
and work out the deals on an individual basis. I’ve found
this to be way more profitable than dealing with the Internet
ad agencies!
I should also tell you that
you don’t have to waste your money on ineffective banner advertising.
You can easily track and test the success of each of your
ads, pulling the failures and rolling out the profitable ones
to earn the highest returns.
Tracking the success of your
ads is really very simple...
Rather than have your banner
ads link to your home page, have each ad link to a special
"separate entry" page which collects the visitors’ e-mail
addresses and then lets them enter your home page. These separate
entry pages are invaluable for tracking the success of each
individual ad!
(Corey provides some really
good information about developing your own tracking system
in an article found on this "Web Promotion Tips" page at http://www.marketingtips.com/newsletters/index.php?article=art_july99)
Then, once you’ve done your
homework and developed a killer banner ad that really pulls,
you can switch from campaigns of 1,000 and 10,000 banners...
and begin doing batches of 100,000 (or more) banners! By tracking
your ads, you’ll know what works so you’re almost guaranteed
to make money!
Obviously banner advertising
isn’t free - you should expect to spend between $500 and $1000
to get started. But done correctly, it can be a great way
to reach highly targeted potential clients for relatively
little cost!
Final Tip: Capture the
e-mail addresses of these highly targeted potential customers
as they enter your web site.
By doing this, you will guarantee
yourself a second chance at marketing to them and maximize
the power of your banner ads!
NOTE FROM COREY...
Scott’s work is pretty impressive...
I’ve used him to design some of our banners because the truth
is, his ideas are raking in the coin. Scott will design 15
banners for you that are, in my opinion, just "killer". He
normally charges his clients $2000, but we have negotiated
a deal with him to offer his services to our subscribers for
$1500. If you need banners built, I would definitely recommend
checking this guy out.
I know this might sound like
a lot of money to spend on banners, but it’s really nothing
when you see the sales conversion rates his banners pull.
It’s a small price to pay for the kind of profits they generate!
And before I forget, I should also mention that he’ll not
only build your banners for you, he’ll also set you on the
right track in terms of choosing where you should advertise
and how you can capture visitors’ e-mail addresses. Just call
him and mention my name and he will honor the $500 discount
for our subscribers." Phone 1-705-749-2225 and say Corey sent
you, or e-mail stealthbanners@marketingtips.com
