Archive for the ‘Banner Advertising Basics’ Category

How could I monetize my blog?

This is a question many bloggers ask themselves when their “careers” reach a certain point. The truth is, it’s not easy. Except for the case your blog has a skyrocketing success and advertisers imminently hear about you… But most blogs aren’t like that. And don’t have to. Most blogs “grow” slowly and steadily and many successful ones treat a certain subject, or niche.

So how do they manage to sell some advertising space?

Well, they can resort to AdSense and other third parties, or they can sell their space directly. On the latter I’ve found a great article on SmartBloggerz. I’ll quote some of it:

(more…)

Let’s view this chart:

Source: Eyeblaster Research Global Benchmark Report 2009

What does it tell us? Well, besides that Rich Media banners perform better that the classic static ones, pretty nothing. Sure, the full banner format 234x60px and the rectangle 180x150px are a bit of a surprise given their small dimensions.

But does that mean you should go for these formats? Not necessarily. What if you need to integrate a video for instance? Would a 180x150px help? I doubt that.

I tell you what. Format is the last thing you need to think of before starting a banner advertising campaign. Instead think of:

(more…)

It doesn’t scale. Search marketing can’t create more demand, let alone new needs. Therefore, if you rely only on search advertising, you’ll have to settle for a market composed by a group of people who already have the need and know how to satisfy it.

But what happens if your product is so innovative that nobody thinks of searching it? E.g. a Twitter-like service back in 2006. What if your service solves a problem in a way no searcher can imagine? And what if your target audience isn’t that tech savvy and only uses new media for email and news?

In other words, what if the search market is too small for your business to grow and take wing?

(more…)

In some older posts I’ve told you about static banners, GIF banners and flash banners.

The video banners fall into the latter category. They are special kind of flash banners that, as their name suggests, incorporate some video footage. Video banners are alternatively named, rich media banners, online video ads and such.

(more…)

There are a lot of customers asking for tips on how to make their BannerSnack banner ads smaller in file size (Exported SWF only). But firstly, before throwing some advanced tips, we need to understand how BannerSnack banners are built and how their file size is actually build-up.

1. Base engine

An empty banner will always include the main BannerSnack engine. The one that controls the slides, the objects and the animations.
This can’t be avoided (6KB charge)

2. FlashEff engine

When you add an effect (Build In/Build Out/Filter), BannerSnack will automatically include the FlashEff base engine (optimized for BannerSnack), which weights 16 KB. It sounds a lot, but it is an unbreakable piece of code that needs to be there for each of those cool effects to take place. This base engine is optimized byte by byte and includes over 10,000 lines of code that will make your effects become eye-catching. FlashEff base engine will be included ONLY ONCE per banner and ONLY if you have at least an effect within the banner.
This is the piece of resistance, the most impressive part of BannerSnack banner ads. To avoid using the FlashEff effects you have to make sure that you’re NOT using any effects/transitions at all. (save about 16KB) – NOT RECOMMENDED

(more…)

How banner advertising works? View the presentation below and or read the full article!

» Click to play

1. The advertiser.

A company wants to promote itself or its product, a nonprofit organization wishes to promote its program, a political candidate wants to promote her image etc. These are all common examples of advertisers.

(more…)

Looping banners are flash or GIF banners that play their animation over and over again. They are pretty common in the online advertising industry because they continuously tell their story and draw the users’ attention.

However the IAB guidelines recommend that a banner’s animation length should be of maximum 15 seconds, including multiple loops.

So the question is whether you should use looping or not.

Well the answer is – again – it depends.

(more…)

The ClickTAG variable is a tracking tool assigned by a publisher or ad serving network to a flash banner ad. It is also used to link the flash banner to a destination URL.

Okay. But why using ClickTAG when a link – the destination URL – can be hard coded into the SWF itself? Well, that’s because hard coding the click-through URL into the SWF would make click counting impossible. And that would kill the CPC advertising system – the popular system Google uses too.
 
Also, the ClickTAG variable has many other advantages:

1. Both sides – advertiser and publisher – can count clicks-throughs
2. You don’t need to modify the SWF itself if you need to change the destination URL
3. The destination URL can be easily checked without the help of a flash programmer

 
(more…)

The introduction of SWF export feature has pleased many of you. However, odds are that a big part of you haven’t ever worked with SWF files before. And the biggest challenge is to embed them properly into a website.

That’s why we made this easy to use embed code generator that will help you compile the perfect* swf embed code:

Download the SWF embed code generator here.
 
(more…)

So, you think it’s time to advertise online. You never did that before. But you definitely want to try your luck with some banner ads.

Good.

But let’s forget a little about luck and see a practical way in which you can squeeze the maximum out of your online campaign.

In order for you to be able to choose the very best places where to advertise online, you need to answer the following questions:

1. Who is most likely that will buy my stuff? This question is crucial and the answer is not always so obvious, so take your time, do little research and draw a typical buyer’s profile. That’s your target.

(more…)