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A display ad is a graphical or rich media unit, known as a banner displayed on a website. Banners are used to create brand awareness and purchase intent. Users are encouraged to interact by rolling over, clicking to play a video, filling a form or clicking the banner.

Banners are placed on publisher's websites by an ad server. This is a server which is different to the one the site is hosted with. This enables for the easy measurement and tracking of ads. An ad server enables advertisers to rotate adverts in order to display the best performing ad based on click through rate data. If conversion rate data can be fed back into the ad server ads can be served based on conversion rate too.

Buying Ad Placements

Banners can be bought either on specific sites or on a group of sites via a network. By buying specific site banners you can target your advertising based on the demographic of the site. By buying run of network you appear on a range of sites which makes is a lot cheaper. Banner ads are usually sold on a cost per thousand views or CPM but in some instances you may be able to buy on a CPC basis.

When buying banner ads it is best to target your ads as much as possible as this will improve conversion rates. You can buy banners on sites where your potential customers may visit for example if you are an insurance provider you might want to use a site like Thisismoney.co.uk as people looking to research insurance products may visit this site for advice.

Behavioural Targeting

One way of reaching your target audience is to use behavioural targeting. This is where you profile your target audience and use data stored in cookies to determine whether your ad should be shown to them. For example if you sell cars you can show your advert to someone who has visited an auto site recently as they are probably in the market for a new car.

Ad Formats

Banners come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Typically larger ad formats have higher click through rates. Flash adverts perform better than standard gif adverts. New rich media ad formats including video perform even better than standard flash ads. Buying space for rich media banners is more expensive than buying a regular banner but the higher click through rates experienced will off-set the cost differential.

Direct Response Advertising

Banner advertising is used to when a direct response is sought. The consumer clicks on a banner which takes them to a page where the desired action takes place. This may be to purchase a product or just register their interest in a product or service.

Using banner advertising is great for raising brand awareness and research shows when used in conjunction with paid search marketing can increase the volume of searches performed for a product or company.

Optimising Banner Ads

Display advertising can be optimised based on a variety of factors including best performing advert or site. Everything is easily measured which makes working out the ROI easy. The data from the campaign is used to optimise results as the campaign progresses.

Using an internet advertising agency to optimise your banner advertising is the best way to get good results. The best thing is there is no additional cost as the display advertising agency will make their money from the website owner getting a commission from them to purchase the ad space for you. Often it will be cheaper than going direct as the internet advertising agencies get preferential rates due to the ability to provide repeat business through its client pool.