Note From Heidi and Dave:
Since several of you have been inquiring lately about banners 
and advertising, Dave and I thought it would be helpful to 
include an article about how you can increase your banner 
click-thrus.

This informative article is provided by Internet Marketing 
Consultant Chee Wee.  Chee Wee?  Yes.  An interesting name for 
an interesting guy who knows his stuff.  Enjoy.

    10 Effective Ways to Boost Banner Click-through

Banner advertising is one of the most widely used marketing
medium on the Internet. Though banner click-throughs have
decreased to less than 1.0% in the past year, it is still
possible to achieve reasonably good click-through of 3.0% and
above.

Below are 10 effective steps that I have successfully used to
help my clients boost click-throughs on their banner campaigns.

1. Employ Action Words

Use action words like "FREE" and "Click Here" in your banners.

Offering something "FREE" in your message attracts the reader to
click on your banner. Banners with "Click Here" teasers and
similar action phrases also increase click-through.

2. Use Short and Punchy Headlines

A short and punchy banner headline makes a difference. Always
load your headline with benefit statements - offer solutions to
the challenges that your customers face. If you sell diet
products, try "Lose 10 pounds in four weeks!". Work on a winning
combination of text and graphics in your banner ad.

3. Animated Banners vs. Static Banners

Animated banners usually outperform their static counterparts by
more than 100%. Surfers are more likely to notice banners that
are animated. Example: If you have the words "Click Here"
flashing in your banner, it will perform better than a static
version.

4. Adopt Better Designs

Many of us are not graphic artists. We can create simple banners
but it is hard to match the work of a professional graphic
artist. You should engage a professional banner ad designer to
create your banners. Expect to invest $80 per banner.

The standard sizes for banner ads are 400x40 pixels or 468x60
pixels. I recommend that you design a 468x60 banner. With the
clutter of graphics on most webpages, a larger banner has a
higher chance of getting noticed.

5. Try Trick Banners

These banners resemble Windows dialog boxes, scroll bars, submit
buttons or blue-colored underlined hyperlinks. They attract you
to click on the dialog boxes and scroll bars - which you are
already accustomed to doing with the Windows operating system. If
you use trick banners with short and punchy headlines, you can
get click-throughs above 10.0%!

6. Reduce Your Banner File Sizes

Reduce your banner file size to less than 15k. The last thing a
surfer wants is a slow-loading webpage. Most websites and banner
exchanges do not allow excessively large banners.

Create a fast-loading banner right from the start. Optimize your
banner file size through your graphic software or an online
graphic optimizer.

7. Rotate Your Banners Regularly

Always have 2 or more banners to promote each product. A banner
usually burns out after a surfer has seen it 3 times. They will
ignore (if not hate) banners which they see repeatedly. If your
click-through is steadily declining, then it is time to rotate
your banners.

8. Target Your Banners

Place your banners on websites visited by your potential
customers. If you promote gourmet coffees, place your banners on
sites targeted at gourmet coffee drinkers. The quality of leads
generated are higher, and more likely to result in sales.

Running your banners on targeted sites generally yield higher
click-throughs and return-on-investment (ROI). You are reaching
people who are most interested in what you have to offer. Of
course, you can try websites with general audience if they
generate substantial ROI.

9. Monitor Your Banners' Performance

Make it a point to check on your banners' performance every few
days. Monitor the click-through rate. The click-through tells you
how well your banner performs. Most banners fetch a click-through
of between 0.8% to 2.0%. If your banner gets more than 2.0%, it
is doing a pretty good job.

By monitoring your banners' performance, you can kill under-
performing banners before they waste away your advertising
dollars.

10. Do Your Mathematics

Do your mathematics for each banner advertising campaign.
Calculate the cost-per-visitor, cost-per-sale and return-on-
investment ratios.

For example: If a website charges you $20 per thousand
impressions ($20/CPM), and you get a 2.0% click-through (20
visitors), your cost-per-visitor is $1.00 ($20 / 20 visitors).

And if 1 in every 10 visitors buys your product, your cost-per-
sale is $10.00 ($20 / 2 sales).

So if each sale of your product produces a gross profit of $15,
then your net profit per-sale will be $5.00 ($15 gross profit -
$10 cost-per-sale).

Your return-on-investment (ROI), before non-marketing expenses,
is 50.0% ($10.00 total net profits / $20 investment). This
campaign is profitable!

Try advertising on different sites or using different banners.
Find the winning combination(s) that can yield the highest ROI.
Comparing Deal A which yields an ROI of 20% to Deal B that yields
60%, your advertising dollars work three times harder (and
profitable) with Deal B!

-----
Chee Wee is a professional Internet Marketing Consultant. Visit
his website & discover the secrets to exploding your online sales
and traffic! Subscribe to his FREE weekly newsletter & get hot
marketing tips delivered to your mailbox.
Go to http://www.InternetMarketingFocus.com today!

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