Right Now we're talking about Banner Ads, not the Ads that we generally see on the top of the search results. It is a completely different story. Let's focus on Banner ads. We often get confused between these two.
There are different types of Ads on the internet, that you and I might have cam across or still watching them. But among all Banner ads are the most widely used and also the oldest form of advertisements on the internet.
Banner ads were the first to be commercially bought and sold on the internet. This credit goes to "Wired", they are the first who introduced these form of ads, and AT&T was the first to place ads on the internet.
How to Make Money with Banner ads
Banner ads are one of the easiest and best ways to make money online. These are not new to the Internet. Right from the beginning ads is the focus for the content creators on the internet.
If you want to make money Blogging or as a content creator then banner ads are the preferred, way.
For example, you get 100,000+ visitors to your blog every month, and CTR is 1% then you can expect $1000 per month.
What are Banner ads?
I know you may be New or Veteran to the internet, you might have come across millions of Banners ads.
Banner ads are square-shaped snippets of billboards that are placed on a website or on a Blog, focused on advertising, or to build awareness or loyalty among the customer base.
Loyalty!!!. Seriously Dude. Yes, tell me one thing, if Tesla places an Ad on a website won't you click on it? Or at least look into it? I know loyalty differs from brand to brand.
Okay let's look at the "Definition"
Definition
You and I may have a different perspective on Banner ads. Just like that, the definition may vary. But in the end, everything boils down to placing ads on the blog and making money out of it. Right?
Banner advertising refers to the use of a rectangular graphic display that stretches across the top, bottom, or sides of a website or online media property.Banner ads are image-based rather than text-based and are a popular form of website advertising. The purpose of banner advertising is to promote a brand and/or to get visitors from the host website to go to the advertiser’s website.
Banners ads are the easiest and most affordable way to place ads and also make money by placing ads. Even a single click also makes a difference.
History
Global Network Navigator, in 1993, was the first commercial website to sell a clickable ad (later they were termed as “banner ads”).
It was sold to the law firm Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe. GNN was basically an online information portal that consisted of a NEWS center and it also acted as a product catalog.
Have a Look at the first Banner ad that was placed on the internet.
"Oct. 27, 1994: Web Gives Birth to Banner Ads". This is how it looks like.
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This was placed on the internet by Wired.com. Then it was called hot-wired, which is the first to advertise on the Internet.
AT&T one of the largest telecom service providers in the USA, paid HotWired approx $30,000 to place the banner ad above on their site for three months.
That time the click-through-rate is around 44%. But now around 27 years later, the click-though-rate is closer to 0.11%.
Understanding the customer's mindset is becoming more and more complicated as customers are opting for more and more information. at the same time companies like Google are becoming more creative as well.
I've no idea how this worked in the 2016 presidential election, even before winning the 2016 election, they focused on the 2020 Election😅. but Good old ads followed by Trump own the White house.
Here is the simple philosophy. We generally see Billboards on the highways. Right. Here also we follow the same concept but in a Digital format.
By 1995 Display ads AKA Banner ads became more popular and all sorts of companies, especially tech, and Finance companies started publishing Banner ads on the ads.
By April 1995, advertisers like Mastercard and Zima were paying GNN $110 to $11,000 per week for ad spots.
In late 1997, pop-up ads were introduced, but they too lost the game. They became more and more lucrative, so many lose the impression of ads, as they distract the reader.
Around 2002 "PPC" was introduced, and the advertisers started paying the promoter per click. Later on in the coming years 2006 to 2010, all these ads got the hype, and still today, we see banner ads, here and there.
Now is the time for Social media advertising. Everyone, including Big Tech, is looking in the Social media Ads, as the average time spent on social media is growing rapidly.
Now we know the brief history of ads, let's look at the current status.
Present and the Future
Banner ads have proven very effective in the past. But now the wind is shifting towards email and social media marketing, the overall effectiveness of banner ads has been rapidly decreasing YOY, due to AD blindness.
Let's have a Look at the US digital Ad spending trend over time (2014-2019).
It is true, it has been 27 years from the first banner ad that was appeared, on the internet. Still, today banner ads are widely used in many fields. Still, the major chunk of the digital media budget goes to Banner ads. Especially, Healthcare, Automobile, NEWS, and in Tech world and more.
- Only 8% of Internet users account for 85% of clicks on display ads.
- About 50 percent of clicks on banner ads are accidental.
- THE average CTR for online display ads is 0.11 percent.
- On Average 1500+ banners are seen by one person in one month.
- Excess ADS tends to decrease the time spent on that page and the bounce rate will be 10 times high.
As the digital landscape is changing towards video, the AD business is also changing its business model.
With all the advancements in Data gathering and Data analysis, Ad Agencies are more and more focusing on Personalized ads.
Right now Google and other ad agencies are asking users to personalize the ads according to their tastes. AI is also becoming handier and handier for these companies.
Just have a Look at the digital Ad spending worldwide between 201-2023.
Now you know what is the spending culture on digital ads. Though this may vary, the difference won't be much.
The future looks bright. 360 Videos, Virtual Reality, augmented reality, and AI-powered ads going to take over the AD world.
But it is not so popular as display ads as of now. May be by 2030 and so, when these technologies cope up and become much cheaper, and available to the masses, then these types of Ads may become more popular.
Many industry analysts predict that with Big Data and AI, ADS are going to be more and more personalized.
How do Banner Ads work?
Now we know that Banner ads are the real deals and there is a scope of making money right. Let's have a Look at how actually do these ads work in the first place.
Start with good old ads. The Physical Banner Ads. We often might have come across this kind of billboards and Physical banner ads. Their primary motto is to advertise and provide information about the product or services. Here you can publish anything from products, services, discounts, publicity, and much more.
Just like that the Digital Banner Ads AKA Banner ads, functions. The only difference is scalability, intractability, and pays as you go.
Compared with Physical Banner Ads these are the cheaper and more analytically driven ways to reach targeted audiences.
The single most important goal of Digital banner ads is to "Drive more Traffic" to that particular site.
They also inform/ notify about a new product, they grab attention, increase brand awareness, and much more.
Here is the list of ways banner ads can help you
1. Increasing traffic
How do you grow your ranking? with the Number of backlinks and Traffic. Right. So what would be the primary moto of banner ads? Driving traffic.
It may be an E-commerce site or NEWS site or Blog Site or anything else, what is the goal, to attract the audiences and make them click on that ad and then drive them to the original site for Traffic and then convert them to Prospect(AKA Lead).
For Example, you go to a particular site, let's say you want to Buy Speaker, and you saw an Ad on speaker, if you click on that ad, it will take you to the original site. Where you can find more about it.
It may be a Product or a Service both work in a similar way, which is to drive more and more traffic.
2. Sell a product/ Service
Banner ads are placed particularly to make you buy certain products or services. For example, take me as a case study. I regularly listen to Spotify, and I haven't been subscribed to a premium plan. One day I clicked on an ad saying "unlimited" downloads.
Now I'm interested in it. I want to listen to music, without ads, or without the internet. What would I do? Purchase the premium version.
Here Spotify is selling its services.
So most of the banner ads tend to make you buy products or services.
There are many examples. Like Amazon Alexa. If your a Prime member at Amazon, you might have come across this ad again and again.
3. Grab attention
You and I both know this, Capturing someone’s attention on the internet can be very challenging, especially in the digital environment where everyone is trying different methods to grab attention. It may be a video, GIF, or fancy Image.
Example take this GIF ad.
4. Creating Brand awareness
Brand awareness is the key to success in this competitive world. For example, take "Electric Car's". What is the first Electric car company that comes to your mind? I think so.
"Tesla".
Yes, 99% will be on the top of your mind. How do they do that, by creating brand awareness? Elon musk being the face of the company, re-branded the name of "Electric car itself".
you may or may not be the potential buyer/customer for that particular product, right now, but what about the future?
So creating a Brand awareness is the most important thing while creating a Banner ad.
5. Lead generator
Banner ads are the easiest and most used way of building Leads. Lead generation for SaaS tools is primarily started with Banner ads.
Have a Look at the Lead Generation Funner, where the marketers primarily focus on the traffic and then lead capture page, which comes after the prospect clicks on that ad.
6. Re-Build and Retarget
Tell me one thing, how many times did you come across the same ad, again and again? I can Bet a million times right.
Generally, this is how it starts. First, you may search for a product, let's say Hairdryer on google. You end up reading an article about it on someone's blog or on a website. Then E-commerce "Daddy" Amazon picks up that data and processes it and publishes ad where ever you go.
The next day, you open your browser and looking for NEWS, 90% of times you mush see that ad.
With the help of cookies, google and Amazon are re-building target audiences and retargeting them. By Reminding them about that particular product, customers are most likely to end up buying it.
7. Announcements and much more
For example, Christmas is around the corner, and you want to increase your store sales, what would you do? Place an Announcement banner saying 25% Off.
Banner ads can be used for other purposes as well. In recent times these ads are used extensively in political campaigns as well. Thanks to their effectiveness they change the political landscape as well.
Types of Banner Ads
Basically, there are 3 kinds of Banner ads out there. As an owner of the blog or a website, you can use any of this.
1. Static Banner
This is the most common Banner that is used/using till now on the Blogs and on websites. These are very easy to create and easy to operate.
This type of design is usually a single frame that has an image or a text with a catchphrase. Such ads get right to the point and include a call to action.
These are the most cost-effective ads that you can opt for on the internet. Thanks to their reliability and ease of use/Creation.
2. Animated GIF banner
Aminated GID banner ads are the other mostly used banner ads on the internet. These are used primarily to grab attention.
This type of banner is made within a GIF file format. this is how thy work, here a group of frames that are typically single images get played in a series.
Nowadays GIF banner ads are widely popular. With advancements in the graphics technology and the introduction if "HTML5" these are becoming more and more popular.
3. Flash Banner
You might have seen this kind of banner ads during festival seasons, like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Diwali.
This type of banner ad has resulted in multi-media content, which has resulted in banner ad campaigns being designed.
Here, various types of special effects can be designed via flash. Some examples include quality graphics, color contrast, etc. They look similar to GIF ads but these are purely code-based.
Okay, let's have a look into the most important subject matter. "Why are Banner ads Matter?"
Why are Banner ads Matter?
Here is the simple philosophy. We generally see Billboards on the highways. Right. Here also we follow the same concept but in a Digital format.
Back in the 2000s people who are traveling through Car, Bus, or any other means, used to see outside the window, and see the Billboard, But fast-forward, in 2020 how many are even looking outside?
Now 90% of the travelers are looking into their smartphones. So, which one is better? Outside Billboards or the Banner ads?
Anyone would choose Banner ads than the Billboards to advertise.
What about Big Tech?
Big companies like Google, Apple, and Microsoft are the most technologically advanced companies on the planet. Yet they are still dependent on Banner ads, for their new releases.
On average Apple increased its marketing budget by 68% and reached 1.8 USD, and the bulk goes to google, as it is the leader in the search engine and display world.
NEWS companies like the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Buzz Feed, are still displaying banner ads on their websites. It is also one of their primary source of revenue.
What are the best Display Ad Networks?
There are literally 1000s of Display ad networks out there. But these are the top networks that all most dominate the market share and also pay are high.
First, let's talk about Big Daddy. Google AdSense
1. AdSense
It is no doubt that Google is the king in digital ad space. You and I both know that. Google Adsense is another offering by Google.
You just need one Gmail account. That is more than enough to place ads and also publish ads.
AdSense is a free, simple way to earn money by displaying ads on your blog or on your website.
It is how it works. First your case. You may want to promote your business online, then you go to Google Adsense and click on place ads, an option where you will be taken to the design area, where you can choose existing styles or you can create your own design. then you click on the publish option. Then Google will place ads on the relevant pages, on other websites.
The second scenario is your request for ads to play on your blog. Here you won't pay any money, but you get paid by the advertiser. It is similar to real estate. where you lease a certain portion of your land, to others for a certain period of time. You will be paid based on the number of clicks performed on the banner ads.
2. Media.net
Media.net was started in 2010. It quickly became a rival to Google AdSense. Nowadays it is giving a tough challenge to google as well. Thanks to its latest advancements in AI technology. Just like google it is not too diversified. It is strictly focused on certain niches.
Compared with any other network agency, Media.net is the best due to its high payout ratio, compared with Google and any other.
Media.net basically shows ads based on the content of your web pages. For example, your blog is about automobiles, then it will show ads related to automotive space.
Media.net typically pays about $5/1,000 impression, which is among the best in the industry. You can typically run 3 ads per page, meaning if you have 334 views, that's about 1,000 impressions.
3. Monumetric
It is one of the hardest to get approval. Because it has certain limitations like you need to have at least 50,000+ sessions or at least 60,000+ page views per month. I know it is a lot. But the payout ratio is also high.
It is also similar to any other ad agency, where it displays ads on your blog, particularly based on content and the niche.
It is famous for the realtime Bidding process. Where you can bid and place ads in realtime.
4. AdThrive
This one of the best ad networks. Because this was created by Husband and Wife in 2013. They are Bloggers and found the gap in the ad world. Thein the goal was to create a side revenue for all of the bloggers n their community.
Now they are the most loved ad platform for bloggers and for content creators. Thanks to their understanding and experience in the niche.
5. Mediavine
This is another interesting platform, which grew rapidly in recent years. You can place ads, virtually anywhere. It may be a Mobile platform or on blogs. It is similar to monumetric, where you need at least 50K+ sessions to get approved for the ads program.
Note: As a Beginner, Google Ads are the preferred way. If you're able to get more and more views (50K+) views then you can go for high paying platforms.
There are many other platforms as well,
- PropellerAds
- Revcontent
- InfoLinks
- Bidvertiser
- RevenueHits
- Adcash
- BuySellAds
- Skimlinks
- Amazon Native Shopping Ads and more.
Things that need to be checked before planning for Banner ads
Here is the list of things that you and I need to know even before thinking to apply for Banner ads on your website or on your Blog. Let's have a Look at this stuff.
1. Age & Location
If you're planning to apply for Adsense approval you must be "18 years" old. Are you kidding right?. Yes, this is the limit set by Google. But who is following it?
I know the simple solution is to apply through your Mom or dad's email account, and you're set.
The other is the Location. location is the most important aspect that you need to remember. There are some countries where you are not allowed to place Banner ads. Like Thailand, where you need to comply with a lot of government regulations. You can not post anything against the Monarc.
Countries like China and Russia, you need to follow strict government rules. Otherwise, you will never be seen on the internet.
2. Policies and compliance
One of the fundamental mistakes that are done most often is violating Regulatory compliances that are set by ad agencies.
I know getting approval from Google is not that easy. But, if you do get the approval, and you violate the privacy policies then you are done, you can not get approval from google again.
Some others include Regional policies. we just came across "China" and "Russia". You need to comply with government regulations as well.
3. Traffic and Authority
Simply by creating 3 or 4 blog posts and making a fancy website you can not get Adsense approval.
There are certain limitations that you need to fulfill before like you're domain should be 3 to 4 Months Old. and your blog should have at least 20 articles. You may get approved even with lesser blogs, everything depends on content quality.
Without traffic, there is no use of applying for ads. You need to have a minimum of 1000+ views per month and 100 unique sessions. Otherwise, it would be difficult to get approval.
4. Quality Content
If you copy and paste the content from other sources, then you won't get Adsense approval at any cost. Google is much smarter than you think. They can identify the actual location/ source. They use robot.txt bots, to scroll through, your blogs.
First of all, you need to enable robote.txt. then bots will scroll through the content, and then you will be approved.
The quality of content is very important. without the uniqueness and the quality of the content, it very herds to get approval.
5. Relevancy to the Topic
Take me an example. you're a gamer, and you're most likely to click on ads like new games and gaming equipment. If they came across a banner ad about a software product, then he/she is 100% not going to click on that banner.
Relevancy is very important. At the time of applying for banner ads, you need to select relevant ads to the niche.
Where can I Place Banner ads in my Blog?
Literally anywhere. What I mean to say is, as you own the content and the site, you can define the area, Size, where to place ads, and where not to place ads. It is Up to you.
Here are the most popular places where the ads are placed.
Suggestion: Try changing the pattern. For example, If you place an ad on the top bar, then change it to the footer, at least 3 months once. For more click-through rates. This works well in case of a loyal customer base.
How much can I make with Banner ads?
Frankly, it's very hard to say exactly how much you can earn with AdSense or any other network. For example, AdSense earnings are dependent on many factors such as how much traffic you're getting, where your users are located, how you set up your ads, type of content, and so on.
Even one single factor can affect the total earnings as well. For example Seasonality, Climate also matters in the earnings.
For example, Google pays 68% of the Ad revenue to the site owner. This means you are able to achieve $1000, as revenue via google ads, then you'll be paid $680. and the rest goes to google.
This is what google says about ad revenue.
Don't be discouraged if you don't get the results you want right away, factors like seasonality and currency exchange rates can also affect your earnings.
Here is the simple math on the banner ads
For example, your blog or website that gets 100,000 visitors every month, that's more than 1 million every year. Right.
Consider how that relates to potential ad revenue:
- You have 100,000 ad impressions (views).
- You have a click-through rate (CTR) of 1%, which is standard.
- 1% of 100,000 is 1,000.
- If the CPC of the ad is $0.01, you make $10.
- If the CPC of the ad is $1.00, you make $1,000
You can make $1000 per annum. However, this may vary, based on the ads. If you follow a single pattern, then there is no value in it. Always look for the latest trends and place ads that are new, yet relevant to the niche to get high CTR(Click-through rate).
If you have authority, what I mean to say is if you're the leader in the niche and you get most of the traffic, then you can determine the price as well.
Best practices to get more money out of Banner ads
Here is the list of Best practices to get more money out of Banner ads,
- Focus on your niche needs, and go after them all the time. Don't deviate.
- Offer only high conversion ads, like "Hosting", "Keyword tools", "Creditcards", "insurances" or any other, which has a high conversion rate.
- Change the layout often. If you're placing ads on the top, then change it to the middle or sidebar.
- Limit to 3 ads per page. More than that will not give positive results.
- Do not mislead, the audience, by placing bad, or some other links on the banner.
- Always track the success rate. If your specific ads are not making any money, then go for others, or remove them completely.
- Yearly change the UI of your site. I know the colors are very important. But that doesn't mean you should always stick with that one color right.
- Take request feedback from your loyal follower base. Ask suggestions as well.
- Place your latest Blog as an AD on the top page. (A blog post that gets high views)
- Check out for the latest trends and keep track of other bloggers in your niche.
Should I go or not go for Banner Ads?
Now the final question. "Should I go or not go for Banner ads". It is one of the trickiest questions, I even faced. The simple reason is if we mislead the readers, there are most likely not going to come back to your site. Especially in this Niche, re-visits are the key to success.
The other factors are Traffic and authority. If you have consistent traffic, then you can go for it. But if you have lesser traffic, then the existing traffic might get lost too. So be careful while deciding this step.
Another important aspect is "money". How determined you're, about the money. Are you planning to monetize the blog, fro the day you started? Is it your goal? or you want to provide information about the topic?
I know everything boils down to "Money", But that shouldn't be the primary goal. If you focus on the money you might lose that feel when you started the blog. It should be a part, not the only part of the blog.
I'm not going for Banner ads, that is not my motive. I know I can make a tone of money if I place AD on my blog. But that is not my primary goal.
Now, it's your call. Are you desperate to make money online via, banner ads, then go for it? Or if your goal is something else, then don't even think about this. If necessary give it a Try. If you're satisfied with the results, then definitely go for it. otherwise, ignore it, as you ignore ads on a NEWS blog.
Conclusion
There are many ways you can make money online. Among all the other ways, Banner ads are the most loved way of making money online. Now you know How to Make Money with Banner Ads. Placing ads in your blog is completely up to you. If you have good traffic to your site, then you should try this.
If you're in the Tech or News or Lifestyle blogs you should try this method. Because of the high conversion rate. If you're the guru in your niche you can define the rules and can fix the price.
Right now what I can say, is that banner ad are no way near-death bead. They are here to stay. As long as there is fresh content out there, there will be scope for banner ads. But the way that they appear may change.
So what are your thoughts on banner ads and are you planning to make money out of it? Let me know your reaction to this post below.
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