Display AdvertisingThe Ultimate Web Marketing Guide by Michael Miller (Ch.16)

Display AdvertisingDisplay advertising is a type of web advertising that isnt a text ad; that includes banner ads, image ads, video ads, even those ads that creep down or across the page of their own choice.

On the Internet proper, the first clickable ad was a 1993 banner ad on the old GNN (Global Network Navigator) site, promoting a Silicon Valley law firm.

Sizing the display Ad MarketThe Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) estimates that display advertising represents about a third of the $20 billion or so online advertising market in the U.S., or close to $8 billion in revenue. During the economic downturn of 20082009, many advertisers switched from relatively expensive display advertising to lower-cost PPC text ads. With the economy returning, advertisers are shifting some of their dollars back to display ads.

Effectiveness of Display AdvertisingDisplay advertising appears to be increasing in popularity, it also appears to be decreasing in effectivenessat least as measured by click-through rates.Some potential customers remember an ad without clicking it; it has impact from being viewed without necessarily being clicked. Studies have found that merely looking at a display ad increases the likelihood that a viewer will later search for the brand or make a purchase. To that end, many display ads are aimed solely at building brand awareness; for these image building ads, clicks are relatively unimportant.Quantifying this, a Yahoo! study found that 78% of the sales effect from display advertising comes from those who view but do not click display ads. Only 22% of the sales come from those who do click the ads.

When to Employee Display AdvertisingDisplay advertising can be used to drive direct sales of a product or service, its better used to raise awareness of a product or brand. That is, display advertising is primarily a brand-building vehicle.You can use display advertising to push a higher-level brand or product message.Use display ads to build or reinforce your brand or to introduce new products or product lines

Choosing a Payment ModelPaying for impressionsthe CPM modelhas been the most common model for display advertising.Goal of display ads is to get the ad in front of as many eyeballs as possible, which means you want to pay for impressions. Thats the CPM model.This shift to the CPC model may reflect advertisers movement toward higher accountability; they want to be sure that people are actually viewing their ads, so its natural to push for a click to register some sort of action. That action doesnt have to lead to a sale; you can simply ask viewers to click to learn more, to download a brochure, or whatever. The key is to ask for action and then register (and pay for) the click.

Setting an Ad BudgetDisplay advertising isnt for small advertisers. To get sufficient reach, you have to pay for a large number of impressions. That typically means buying space on high-traffic websites that charge a high CPM.Budget depends on a lot of factors. Youll pay more for larger ads, for better (top of fold) position, for higher-traffic websites. And of course you pay more for running your ad more often.That said, a top-of-page banner ad on a high-volume website like AOL.com can cost you upward of a half million dollars.

Rich Media AdsDisplay ads can be image ads or rich media ads. Rich media is anything that moves or plays or that delivers dynamic content to the targeted audience. These ads may offer Voice narration or musicVideo playbackAnimated elementsFrame-breaking construction, where elements of the ad break out of the traditional ad frame and move across the underlying pageExpandability, where the ad itself shrinks or grows dependent on some actionDynamic content, such as live Twitter or blog feeds inserted into the adUser interaction

Rich Media AdsImage ads are also typically interactive ads. Theres something that happens when the viewer clicks the ad. Maybe a video starts to play, or the animation changes, or there are additional options, such as more photos or things to download or such. In any case, you use the rich media to engage the customer. Rich media ads can really pull viewers into your message. Watching a character walk across the web page while talking directly to the viewer can be a compelling experience. And some people will always stop to watch a video on any web page

Rich Media AdsThe real benefit of rich media ads is their effectivenesswhich is measurable. By most accounts, rich media ads typically have a CTR two to four times that of simple image ads, which means moving from a 1% (or less) CTR to something in the 3% range.

Choosing a Display Ad FormatDisplay ads can, of course, be horizontal banner ads. They can also be vertical skyscrapers or smaller square or rectangular ads. In fact, the IAB has compiled a list of 18 common web ad formats of various shapes and sizes. You can employ different formats on different sites or even place multiple ads in multiple formats on the same page. This particular approach can be effective; if you dont get their attention with a top-of-page banner, the smaller rectangle ad further down the page might just do the trick. Or, even better, the two ads work together to reinforce your message. Its an increasingly popular approach.

Standard web display ad sizes, as recommended by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

Creating Effective Display AdsChoose the Best Ad formatwhen it comes to advertising effectiveness, bigger is better. It should come as no surprise that wider ad formats tend to outperform narrower formatseven if the narrower ad is also taller. Its all about readability.Keep it smallNeed to consider the file size of the ad & the size of the image or video or Flash file that loads when the ad is displayed.

Creating Effective Display AdsChoose the best PositionThe best position for a display ad is nearest the pages core content that can be seen without scrolling. That typically means near the top-middle of the page, either above, to the left, or below the main content.To help you determine the best ad position, Google put together a heat map of possible ad positions and ranked the different positions in terms of click-through potential.

Choose the best PositionIts important to place your ads near important content; you want visitors to see the ads when they view must-read content. That points out another good position for adsdirectly after the end of an article, blog post, or other editorial content. You also get a good bang for your buck by positioning ads between other elements, such as between articles or blog posts. Also good is placement near navigational elements, such as menus and back/up buttons.

Google Heat Map for choosing the best position for ads on a webpage.

Creating Effective Display AdsBlend Inthe color scheme of your adIts better to blend it with underlying page The contrast with the page would draw eyeballs to your ad. you dont always know what the color scheme will be of the pages where your ads will appear.But if you have the choice, especially if the underlying page has a light background, manipulate your ads color scheme to blend in with this background. That said, many advertisers have found that bright colors in their ads result in higher CTRs. To that end, blue, yellow, and green are better colors to use than simple black or white. And you should use red only sparingly; it attracts attention, but not in a good way.

Creating Effective Display AdsInclude a Call to Actionif you want the reader to click your ad, you need to make that clear. Include some sort of call to action, such as a submit or click for more information button. Keep it ShortIf you have an animated display ad, keep the animation relatively short. Surveys show that viewers spend less than 10 seconds looking at the top of a web page

Link to a landing PageCreate a landing page specific to each ad that continues the ads experience when he clicks your ad; it should be a continuation of the path started when the customer first viewed the ad.

Where to Purchase Web display AdsDirectly From the SiteIf you have the staff and the experience and you know precisely where you want your ads to appear, theres. no harm in asking those sites for direct ad placement. If you can go direct, itll probably cost you less and put more money into the pockets of the host websitesDisplay Ad Networks and ExchangesDisplay ad space is purchased via some sort of ad network or exchange. The big three PPC ad networks all have space advertising arms; there are also a number of other large display ad networks that would be glad to help you get your ads placed.

Where to Purchase Web display AdsThe advantage of going through these networks is that youre likely to have a prior relationship with them, and its easy to extend from your PPC ads to include display ads to the mix.Purchasing Remnant InventoryThe remnant inventory is the same exact space as a sites premium space; its simply space that is left over after the primary space has been claimed. It sells at discount and could be a good buy for your advertising program.

Where to Purchase Web display AdsThere are ad networks that specialize in selling remnant inventory. These networks buy up the unused space from a variety of websites and then package it to their advertisers.For the host websites, selling remnant inventory is a lot better than leaving the available space empty; they get a little bit of income, and they dont have to leave white space on their pages. For advertisers, the benefit is purely monetary; you get your ads out there for less than you would if you purchased premium space.