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What is a banner?

Banner ads, or banners for short, are image or multimedia-based advertisements and a very popular form of Internet advertising on websites. The aim and purpose of this type of advertising is to induce visitors to the host website to go from there in turn to the advertisers site. Banners advertise companies, products, services and brands.

  • Is advertising displayed on a website
  • Can be static or animated depending on technology
  • Brings users to the advertisers target page
  • Should generate traffic and generate conversions

Functions and objectives of the banners

Everyone who has been on the Internet will sooner or later come across a usually rectangular or square banner on various websites. Such an ad consists of an image (e.g. .jpg, .gif, .png etc.) or a multimedia object (e.g. created with Flash). These banners can therefore be either static or animated, depending on the technology used to create them. All banners have the same basic function: the user clicks on this image or multimedia object that he sees on the visited website, and the Internet browser then takes him to the advertisers website or target page. The skilful presence of banners on the web can make a big difference for companies and brands. It works in exactly the same way that a physical poster, display or flag in front of a store would often cause people to enter that store in real life. The banner could say, for example, that there is a big discount on a certain product or that it has this or that new product on offer, which also arouses curiosity. Analogously, this also applies to online banner ads. When creating and publishing a banner ad, there is usually one main goal: these ads are intended to generate traffic to a website by linking to it. From there, in turn, one tries to make a purchase or contract.

Banners are advertising with visual content

Banner ads are used to encourage potential customers to buy certain products or services. Of course, you always have to see what works best on the particular website where the banner is placed, in the specific context and in relation to the target audience. Web banners work just like traditional print media advertising: they inform, inform about a (new) product, attract attention, increase brand awareness and so on. Banners generally serve to increase traffic, because a banner ad encourages visitors to go to an advertisers site by clicking on it. The ad can be paid for in many ways (CTRs, impressions, etc.) What is important is not only the right context but also the right placement. For the banner ad to be relevant and effective, the ad placed on a particular page must be linked to the niche and also provide an answer to the question of the user who has landed on that page. In addition, it is always a matter of attracting the attention of the customer. Capturing this attention from people can be quite a challenge these days, especially in a fast-paced digital environment with a lot of competition, where it is all about being more creative than others. Do you want an animated ad, for example, or a noble font on a serious background? Special sales and discounts are a good way for companies to increase sales. And what better way to reach potential customers than through banner advertising? These ads can be themed (e.g. Black Friday). Banner ads are a large part of the visual advertising world on the web. They work because people often respond better to visual content or a message. However, one aspect often stands in the way of the banner ads success: so-called banner blindness. Because they are exposed to a large number of ads every day, consumers have developed a certain immunity to them and have learned to focus exclusively on the information that interests them. But this is far from the conclusion that banners would not work. Just as with commercials, you always have to make an effort with your brand to stand out, be creative and find out what sets you apart from the competition, and what makes the audience engage or respond to the ad.

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