On-line advertising. Banner advertising

There is a wide-spread belief that online advertising (banners) has to be flashy and intrusive in order to grab the viewer's attention.

However, research shows that this is not quite right. An eye tracking research conducted in 2004 showed that most users tend to avoid "loud" and "flashy" online ads. Another interesting point is that banner ads that blended in the design of the surrounding page did much better that those that used loud colours and intense animation.

And guess what, text ads usually get more views than graphical ads. Whether more people click on them or not it's a different question altogether. But from the advertiser's point of view an ad is valuable not only because it can generate clicks but also because it can enhance brand awareness for the advertiser.

Another strong point made in the eye tracking research was that most users tend to be drawn by people's faces on the banner ads. For example: let's say that you're an auto dealer and want to advertise a vehicle. A banner ad creative that shows one or more people next to the advertised vehicle should be expected to be seen by far more people than a banner with just a photo of the vehicle.

Again, common belief would assume that if the banner with the photo of the vehicle is animated it would get more views. This is not necessarily true as research has shown that when online users look at pictures, or picture ads, they tend to "fixate" more on people's faces than on animation.

A banner with people's faces does not guarantee more hits, however according to the research it's guaranteed that it will be viewed more and for longer periods of time.

Is it possible that "loud" ads turn people off and make them avoid looking at them altogether? The jury is still out on this one even though most research point to this conclusion.

I guess the bottom line is what you really want your ad to do for you. Do you need it to attract more views and get your name out? Do you want it to be a "call to action"? Do you want a combination of both?

Whatever your advertising plan make sure to follow all or some of the above suggestions and monitor whether they will improve your results. From my experience they do, but I'd like to hear from other people too on this one.

e²media (e-squared media) is an internet marketing and interactive advertising company based in Edmonton, AB offering affordable internet advertising, search engine optimization, web development and corporate identity services. Over the past 12 years we've worked with many organizations mainly in the Edmonton and Calgary area. We're specialized in the automotive industry and in Internet marketing and web development in general, but we've also worked in several projects for small, medium and large size organizations ranging from website design, flash movies, databases, shopping carts, search engine optimization (SEO) to full Internet marketing campaigns and corporate identity design. For more information on any previous projects, or for client references, please click here to contact us.