Undoubtedly you know what banner ads are; you’ve seen innumerable ones as you’ve surfed across countless websites. You may have already clicked on a number of them. Banner ads take different shapes and sizes, and many forms and styles, but they share a common goal: attracting visitors!

Banner ads usually contain graphics, sometimes they are entirely text and others they use graphics and text. The main idea of a banner ad is to present an interesting idea to the surfer and have them click on it for more information, leading them to the advertiser’s site.

Banner ads come in many sizes, the most popular, is a full banner (468 x 60), but all styles are used. Some people claim you should stay away from using full banner ads as they are already so common that most surfers avoid them.

Obviously placing banners that advertise your site on other websites costs money. There are several ways of paying for this type of advertising. You may pay per click on the banner; per thousand clicks; per sales to visitors directed to you, or another form.

How much banner ads work for you will depend on a variety of things. Where you place the ads, how relevant the sites hosting the ad are to your site; what your ads look like, how appealing they are; how clear they are about what you are advertising, etc.

Placing the ads on sites related to yours is vitally important, i.e. people surfing for watches will probably not be interested in an ad for parachutes.

Your ads should be attractive, preferably animated, clear and to the point. They should be advertising a specific product or service, not just the name of your site. People who click on the ad should be able to find the product or service in question with relative ease. Ideally, the ad should lead directly to it.