Affiliate marketing depends on several factors to be successful. Mainly, an experienced affiliate wants to influence the visitor to click on the banner or text link they have placed to refer traffic to the merchant’s site. Many factors are involved in squeezing the highest conversions out of an ad campaign. In this column, we will talk about the first point of influence over the visitor, the advertisement itself, and more specifically jpeg and gif banner ads.
The most difficult aspect of designing a banner ad is to wisely use the space you have to work with. If an advertisement is too vague, it is unlikely to convert. If it is crammed with to much information, it will never attract the attention of the visitor. With banner ads, one must strike a delicate balance between providing enough information for the visitor to know what the offer is while not cluttering it, and still leaving some information untold to entice the visitor to click and find out more. Even larger banners provide limited space to work with, and most likely the merchant would like to provide more information than is possible in the given space.
For a very simple way of determining what information one should include on a banner we can use the simple reference to who, what, why and when "Who" refers to the demographic your banner is targeted to. Frequently, you can provide this information by simply including a picture. For example, an advertisement for a multi-vitamin for the elderly may include a smiling, healthy-looking older woman, where as an ad for a fitness supplement may show a professional cyclist. "What" refers to exactly what the product is that you’re offering. By providing the visitor with this information, one can ensure a higher conversion to the sale as the visitor knows precisely what the advertisement is for, and is therefore more likely to purchase following the click. It is also advisable to provide the features and benefits of the product or service that is being offered to create the sense of a clear advantage over competing products. "Why" tells the visitor precisely why they must try this product or service. This can be supported by testimonials, guarantees, and other supporting facts that give the product or service validity and value. "When" is simply a call to action, such as "click here" and can also include a sense of urgency, such as "while supplies last" or an expiration date for the offer.
The most difficult part of creating a banner with all or most of this information is doing it in a way that doesn’t clutter the given space while maintaining eye appeal and visibility. Try to separate unrelated text as much as possible. This can be done by sectioning off the creative with an image, or by changing the color of the text and its background color.
Now we will apply these suggestions to an example. Let’s pretend the merchant is a website containing answers to common medical questions. Firstly, we’ll consider the demographic, otherwise known as the "who". For this banner, a good choice for this would be a picture of a doctor, or possibly a patient. The banner could then ask a simple question such as, "Should I get a flu shot?" For this example, we will envision this as white text on a black background. Considering the recent flu shot shortage, this headline would attract the attention of a very large audience. Just below the headline a call to action could be placed on the banner such as, "Find out who should be receiving flu shots, click here". This time we’ll use black text on a white background. The contrast of colors will separate the banner into parts, making it easier to read, and more likely to stand out to the visitor. This banner could also make reference to the overall purpose of the site, such as "Search over 10,000 medical questions and answers". Also, it is necessary for us to provide an offer related to the headline. In this case, we may be offering a free guide to conquering the flu. This creates even more incentive for the visitor to click on the banner.
It may sound difficult to include all of this information on one banner advertisement, and it is. Banners may seem simple in nature, but the difficulty comes in when deciding which information will be included, and which information can be saved for the landing page. If it is impossible to include enough information to entice the visitor to click, or if one desires to catch the visitors’ attention, animation may be used to present all of the information. Be careful though! Animation has the potential to sabotage your click conversion if it is implemented improperly. Be certain that you use your animation for only two purposes, either to capture the visitor’s attention, or to provide supporting features and benefits. At any given time, the visitor should be able to see the "who, what, why and when" and one should save the animation for additional benefits that add validity or value to the offer. This ensures that even if the attention of the visitor is only on the advertisement for part of the animation, they will still understand the offer, and will therefore still be likely to click on it. Avoid using rapid animation or continuously looping banners that do not utilize a pause of four seconds or more between cycles. Not only can these banners be annoying to the visitor, but affiliates are also less likely to deploy them.
Though the preceding guidelines are rather simple, they are of the utmost importance for producing advertisements that convert well. Even the most experienced designers can take this advice into consideration and should cross-reference all of their banner work with this simple advice.
Greg Shepard is the CEO of NetTraction, a firm that specializes in deploying, managing, and growing affiliate programs. He can be contacted by visiting www.NetTraction.com or by email at [email protected].
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