9 replies to this topic

[fred]

Hi

I have been asked if banner are still useful , I think not but I would like a second opinion.

I was asked because my client received an email from bannersgomlm dot com.

they claim to put your banner on 2.5 millions web site for a few cents, they claim to bring targeted traffic. I doubt it seriously.

what do you think of this company or other company that claim the same thing ?
what do you think of banner in general ?

honestly I don't recall personally ever clicking on a banner on a web site

thanks

[qwerty]

honestly I don't recall personally ever clicking on a banner on a web site

I haven't clicked on many either. I think the general public reached the point of ignoring banners a long time ago. That's why so many different kinds of online ads have taken their place.

From a marketing perspective, I expect banners are still CPM, meaning you pay to have it displayed. That's much harder to keep track of than CPC -- basically, you have to believe the people hosting the banner when they tell you how many times it's been displayed.

[SearchRank]

I never click on banners! IMHO the only good use for banners any more are for branding purposes and one would have to have deep pockets to be effective at it. Remember the X-10 video camera ads (both banner and pop up)? I never clicked on them but if I were to think of a small type of video camera, X-10 would be stamped in my brain because I have seen it so many times.

[addove]

I know that I never click on banners and sometimes I will leave a site if I see a banner I don't like.

[Ron Carnell]

I've never bought Viagra, had a hair transplant, or used a feminine hygiene product. I doubt that necessarily means those products can't be successfully merchandized, though.

Banner advertising, like bulk email, only continues to exist because it "can" be successful. For the right product. With the right creative. Aimed at the right audience.

[SearchRank]

I never click on banners!

Actually I take that back. I have clicked on the "Classmates.com" banners but I didn't buy anything from them. Just wanted to see what old HS classmates were up to. I think everyone has probably checked this site at one time or another.

So I guess I should say that I rarely click on banners and have never bought anything because of a banner.

[qwerty]

Welcome to the forum, addove

Ron makes a valid point. There would be no banners if they didn't work under the right circumstances. But that raises the question of who's clicking them. How savvy are these people compared to the general online public, and is it worth it to an advertiser to target that group of people if the advertiser has reason to believe that seeing a banner is going to create a bad impression in the minds of what I expect is most people? I imagine that depends a lot on the product advertised as well.

[fred]

Thanks

I tough nobody clicked on banner now I know that if they click they don't buy

same as not clicking

as for the x-10 cam I know someone who bought it , but he buys anything

[Cygnus]

I've had a lot of luck with some of our banners, but like any advertising tool, they have to be extremely targeted, and thus the click-throughs are usually only from the most complimentary of sites.

Cygnus

[Randy]

I can perhaps offer a tiny bit of relevant experience on this one.

We have two sites (one free, one not) which attract a pretty similar visitor. The sites offer totally different things, but they're loosely related in that lots of people who like what's offered on one will like what's offered on the other.

The freebie site (Site #1) does display some banners for several other sites in a rotating manner, and one of those is a banner for Site #2, and we tried to focus that banner as well as a person can.

Of course I track absolutely everything, so...

While Site #1 does manage to send through a 600-800 visitors per month on average, the conversion-to-sale ratio for those clickthrus is horrid compared to everything else we do. Maybe 1 in 500 of those finding Site #2 via Site #1 buys eventually. Now the overall conversion rate for this site is right around 1 in 120 for unique visitors. So you can tell that the banners don't pre-qualify people well.

Personally, I'll take a good article or testimonial with a simple text link anytime over a banner. Our conversion ratios on that type of link is down in the 1-50 range easily. My philosphy is that raw traffic numbers are not nearly as important as the conversion-to-sale numbers are. Call me greedy.