Banner ads are one of the best forms of marketing used in today’s online world. All companies use them in one form or another because they’re an affordable, measurable, and effective way to increase brand awareness.

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Every day we are tasked with taking client information and turning that into effective radio campaigns. We should put just as much effort into their banner ad creative. 

Here are some tips and general guidelines for designing effective banner ads.

Stick to Standard Banner Ad Sizes:  Research has shown that wider ad sizes tend to outperform their taller counterparts.  Much of this may have to do with placement above the scroll and because it is more comfortable to read from left to right, rather than stacked text. Here are the sizes you should consider first:

728 pixels by 90 pixels leaderboard

Maintain the Essentials: Every banner ad needs three elements: Branding, message, and encouragement to click. The challenge is that you don’t have much room for this but all three of these elements are essential.

Use Only One Message Per Ad: Banner ads should never be a lengthy rotation of messages. Animated gifs can be used to grab focus but should NOT be used for displaying endless ad copy. Nobody but you and the client will read it all. If a single static ad doesn’t fully get across the essentials mentioned above, try offering the client multiple ads that rotate separately.

Include a Great Call to Action: The goal of a banner ad is to get clicked. A good call to action does this. What are users supposed to do next and what’s the payoff?

Make sure the ad design is consistent with the client’s branding: Make sure it looks consistent with the client’s branding and the landing page it links to so that their potential customers don’t get confused.

Include a Button: Easy-to-follow instructions are vital to most consumers. It does not have to be fancy.  But a simple “Shop Now” or “Click to Win” button can go a long way to getting users to make the switch from viewer to conversion.

Choose Fonts Wisely: The smaller the space, the more important fonts become. Make the most of the space provided with strong typefaces that are easy to read.

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 client’s product.

NEVER EVER GRAB AN IMAGE FROM A GOOGLE SEARCH!! If you or the client didn’t take the photo, consider it just as off-limits as including a licensed song in a radio ad. The same copyright laws apply.

Save Banner Ads Properly: Optimize your images for the smallest file size possible. The target file size should be around 30kb or LESS, depending on the size of the ad. Keep in mind that animated GIFs can get very large depending on the animation involved.

Make sure to save your banners in a format that works across the web. Common file types for banner ads include PNG and JPG for static displays and GIF for animation. Newer file types like SVG and WebP are becoming more widely accepted as well with much smaller file sizes.

Link Appropriately: If your client has a well-thought-out call to action on their banner ad, ensure that it links directly to that action item and not just their homepage. The user should not have to find the action item themselves from the client homepage.

Using these banner ad tips in an effective way will help your clients get the results they came to you for. Good luck!