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Going Beyond the Banner Ad: "Rich Media" Banner Ads, Sponsorships, and List Building
Banner ads clickthroughs have nose dived. Fewer than 1% of people click on the pretty pictures. So why do some many affiliate programs depend on these weak tools?
Recent developments have shown that Internet business is moving beyond the banner to more lucrative forms of advertising. The problem with banner ads is that they pop up everywhere and often generate an unqualified lead. The real goal is to put them in front of interestedcustomers and to generate more qualified leads. Here's three examples of how the Internet is moving beyond banners:
1. ActiveBanner (http://www.activebanner.com):
ActiveBanners are a new concept in banner advertising that add audio to the banner ad being clicked on. By incorporating RealAudio technology, AdNet International has released a banner ad program that makes a banner more like a radio or television advertisement.
The ActiveBanner concept is simple; you click on the banner ad and an audio message plays as the Web Page you are sent to opens. The narrator tells you what you are reading about, and invites you into the advertisement. Rich media like audio, video, and interactive pages that respond to customers have shown an increased response rate in direct emails and banner advertising.
The best thing about ActiveBanners is that they rely on audio, which right now is the only thing that works consistently. Banner ads are moving beyond display advertising into a richer environment that promises much more response to the ad being shown.
Other forms of ActiveBanners include banner ads that directly dial up a customer service or sales department via the Internet, and commission banners, which like affiliate programs pay a percentage of sales to the highly targeted advertiser.
2. Sponsorships
Instead of simply posing your affiliate network as a banner ad that is placed on another Web Site with many other advertisers, why not promote sponsorships? If you have a particular target site you'd like to add to your network, invite them to put your banner ads in an exclusive area of their Web Site.
This strategy will focus customers on your specific offer and can reward affiliates for their efforts. The advertising is focused and not put on a page with tons of others affiliate programs.
If you are an affiliate, why not turn your specific affiliate networks into "sponsors" of different sections of your Web site by exclusively featuring their product offers? If this product doesn't pull, change the sponsor. You can improve sales by providing related content, or recommendations, for specific product lines instead of lumping them all together on one page. The mall concept of advertising is tricky at best and done well by just a few companies. Target specific marketing is much more effective for sales.
Sponsorship of a site can be equated to a single recommendation. To optimize your profits, you have to make sure that the affiliate presents your company well. Sponsorships can be paid for at larger Web Sites, or can simply be a way to assure that your marketing is the only thing a customer sees in an important section of a related Web Site.
3. List Building via Banner Ad Forms
If you are really trying to build your business, build your email mailing lists. One of the most effective ways to build your list is through banner ad forms, which are increasing response rates by 30% and more at some Web Sites.
Banner ad forms merge the power of a visual banner with the email list building of a form. Yahoo and many other prominent sites have been using banner ad forms to generate more leads. The email form is housed in a few graphics; for example, a top graphic might hold the headline or call to action; below that is the form to put in your name and email. Below that is another graphic, inviting them to "Click Here" or offering a special bonus for entering information.
A more common type of Banner Ad Forms is a simple pull down menu of choices. For example, a book might be advertised with a top graphic, a middle pull down menu of various chapters or problems this books solves, and a "Go" or "Click Here" graphic may complete the picture. The visitor is then simply sent to another Web Page, but feels like they are actually getting more than just a banner.
An interesting way to use banner forms is to incoporate the Aweber (http://www.aweber.com) technology; you can track leads via hidden fields in a form (ask your techie, it's quite easy). Each email inquiry becomes a tracked lead, a cheap, easy way to set up an affiliate network. You download the emails and affiliate codes to your database, then compare them to your orders. You can even build long term, residual affiliate programs because you have the order tracked from first contact.
Either way, banner ad forms are increasing responses. Smart affiliates will see this as a way to encourage email inquiries as well as forwarding people to the specific programs they are working with. What better way to track and generate leads?
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