When you browse the internet, you must have come across many ads. There are some ads that appear in a rectangular or square shape. These ads are usually placed somewhere near the content of the website. These are known as banner ads. 

Banner advertisement or display advertisement is a form of digital advertisement. They are used by many brands to have more leads and CTRs. 

These ads are more image-based rather than being text-based. This means that in these ads, companies add images of their products. They can also add any general image. As long as the image is representing something positive, it works for the brand. 

This doesn’t mean that the text is less important. The text is equally important in these banner ads. You just try to say more with a few words. A simple CTAA CTA is a phrase or word designed to get an immediate response from the reader. As the name suggests, it's usually something that involves a precise action performed by... of “click to play” creates more impact than “click here”. 

The advertisements don’t have to be static, though. You can also use animation for these ads. You may remember that many of these ads that you’ve seen were animated. 

Animation does nothing but add a fun element to banner advertisements. If you think about it, people do find ads annoying. So, if you use a simple animation for your ad, it may look better to your customers. 

Did you know the first banner ad was created in 1994? It was posted on hotwired.com, which is now known as wired.com. These ads used to be very simple back then. More than 20 years later, brands want these ads to be simple, informative, and enticing. 

In this article, we have explained the meaning of banner advertisements. You would also read about some of the best practices and tips. Use these for your banner ads, and you’ll see the difference in your CTR. 

What is Banner Advertising?

Banner ads, also known as display ads, are those advertisements that are similar to digital billboards. They are of different sizes and colours. They also have different fronts on them. All these factors are important because people pay more attention to creative ads than dull ones. 

These ads are placed on those web pages with high traffic on them. This way the brand makes itself aware of people and also gets leads and purchases. Making a banner ad is easy. You just have to think from a buyer’s perspective. They may click on something that is helpful and informative. 

Banner advertisements don’t need much text or colours on them. Just the right combination can do the trick. These words can be some feedback from other customers. 

The cost of a banner ad depends on various factors. It can change because of the ad size, the popularity of the website, and what platform you use to make it. Usually, there are two different price models for banner ads. 

One is the CPM or cost per mile model wherein the price is for 1000 impressions. Another model is CPC or cost per click where the price is for each click. Brands can decide which model they want to use. CPC helps in better conversions, whereas CPM helps in brand awareness. 

When you’ve decided on the pricing model, you should decide on the size of your ad. The right size of banner creates more impact on people. Here are some standard banner ad sizes.

• Skyscraper: 120 x 600
• Small Square: 200 x 200
• Square: 250 x 250
• Vertical Banner: 120 x 240
• Full Banner: 468 x 60
• Half-Banner: 234 x 60
• Portrait: 300 x 1050
• Medium Rectangle: 300 x 250
• Large Rectangle: 336 x 280
• Mobile Leaderboard: 320 x 50

How to Create Banner Ads 

When you’re creating a banner ad, you need to pay attention to the following: 

• Right Keywords: When you use the right keywords in your banner ads, you optimize the ad for search engines. It also means that browsers will find more of your ads. When they see your multiple ads, there is a chance that they’ll click on the ads.
  Use the right words and place them correctly on your banner. If you’re writing for CTA, then find those words that have more impact. Obviously, you will need to do some research to find the keywords. 

• Plan it: Don’t fail at planning your banner ad. Many marketers put all their time into designing the banner. They forget that they must do some planning before they start with designing. When you do the planning, you know what you’re expecting out of this ad campaign. 

• Ad goals: Another reason why planning is important. It helps you realize your goals. Think about the goals of this ad campaign. There are times when you don’t need many CTRs, but you need to increase brand awareness. When you’re creating banner ads, be clear on your goals. 

• Your resources: There are many tools and resources you have with you. Use these resources to make better ads. Decide what tool you’ll use to design the ad. Think if you want to do it yourself or by hiring a designer. Also, decide on the application you’ll use for making the ad. 

• Colours: When creating a banner ad for your brand, go through the colour emotion guide. If you want to build better trust with your consumers, then use blue. If you want the campaign to be optimistic, then go with yellow colour. 

Best Banner Ads Templates

If you’re looking for best banner ads templates, you should definitely check out these websites:

• Graphicriver.net: This is one of the best sites to get a banner ad template. On Graphicriver.net, you can get a template for as little as $3. They have a wide variety of templates to choose from. All their templates are professional and captivating. 

• Creatopy.com: If you’re looking for ads that look professional and engaging, then this is the site for you. On Creatopy.com, you can create ads that actually covert. In addition, they have templates for banner ads as well as social media ads. Moreover, their free template collection has something for everyone!

• Template.net: If you lack basic graphic designing skills but still wish to create a highly engaging ad, then you should see their templates. Template.net offers all types of templates such as Business ad templates, Investor ad templates, fashion ad templates, etc. 

7 Best Banner Ads Examples 

If you want some inspiration to create your banner ad, here are some successful examples. Go through these examples, understand what they did. You can utilize similar techniques for your ad campaign. 

• McDonald’s: McDonald’s in their ad campaign didn’t market their product. Instead, they asked the customers to make a better burger for themselves. Through the ad, they introduced the new quarter-pound burger. In the CTA, they asked people to make a better version of it. 

• Fanta: Fanta used similar colours as the drink for their campaign. Fanta created some fun banner ads by including games in them. They made the campaign entertaining for people. For their CTA, they used “Play now”. 

• Final Straw: Final Straw made a creative and funny ad. They included their product in the ad. In addition to that, they added a customer review. The review was funny and other customers found it relatable. They also paid attention to the colours. They kept it simple in the background and let the product display itself. 

• Vimeo: Many brands use animation in their ads, and Vimeo is one of them. For their banner ad, Vimeo used calming colour tones to grab people’s attention. The design of the ad was informative and didn’t look too pushy. 

• Cisco Umbrella: Cisco Umbrella had one goal for its banner ad campaign. It was to provide comfort and safety to their users. For their ad, they stayed relevant and also provided a solution to businesses. 

• Framery: This brand lets its product do the talking. They used one of their colourful office booths for this campaign. They also paid attention to their CTA by writing “Find Happiness”.  

Tips and Best Practices

Here’s a list of tips and best practices to make your banner ads compelling:

• Multiple formats: Don’t just pick one format for your ad campaign. Use more than 3 formats at least. You can find 40 different display ad formats on Google Networks. The more ad formats you’ll use, the more opportunities you’ll have. 

• Add a logo: One of the main aims of these banner advertisements is to raise brand awareness. Thus, do include your logo in the ad. Sometimes in a hurry, the designer or you may forget to add the design. So recheck the banner before you decide on publishing it. 

• Creative CTA: As you have already seen in the above-mentioned examples, CTAs do play an important part in these ads. Add catchy, interesting, and funny CTAs to your banner ads. Think about what’ll make a consumer click. What do they want? What interests them? 

• Add a frame: Doesn’t matter what colour you choose for your design, add a frame to it. The frame will make the ad look clean. It’ll also distinguish the ad from the website content. 

• Know your fonts: Lastly, use good fonts in your ads. Use distinctive fonts for your main headlines. Make the fonts bold, so people pay attention to them. One of the most used fonts is sans-serif, you can use it too. 

In Conclusion

Display ads or banner ads are square or rectangular-shaped ads that many businesses use to market themselves. These ads make use of images, colours, texts, and animation to increase a brand’s awareness. 

To create an ad, you need to plan first and then think about the design. Use the right keywords, so your ad optimizes on the search engines. Think of your goals with the banner ad campaign. According to that, choose your pricing model. Use a great banner maker to create and enhance stunning banner ads.

You can use many other banner ad examples to find the inspiration that you need for your brand’s ad campaign. If you don’t know how to get started, Mailsenpai is there to help you. Contact us, we will be happy to help you!