What do you add in your banner?

[dandelion13]

Hi there,

I'm currently in the process of creating a banner that my affiliate can use in their advertising and I have no what works best. Should it be about the benefits of my software? or add a discount maybe? maybe I should advertise that we have a free trial available? let me know your thoughts.

 

[Graybeard]

Try all 3;
buy $100 of network ads
and see what each gets for a CTR.

Go with the best 2

 

[dandelion13]

Try all 3;
buy $100 of network ads
and see what each gets for a CTR.

Go with the best 2

That's actually a good idea. Though it will need more time to create all three but I do agree that testing is important. Thanks

 

[VortexAlpha]

You should maybe go with all three approaches and test which one works the best as that would definitely be the best method for determining which way you should take in the future.

 

[dandelion13]

You should maybe go with all three approaches and test which one works the best as that would definitely be the best method for determining which way you should take in the future.

Completely agree. I decided to go with all three and test them out. Thanks!

 

[T J Tutor]

There are more than three choices, you are limiting yourself!

Put your creative hat on and think through this. Every feature and benefit you provide has the opportunity to be a banner. As well, there are going to be 100's of variations for each! They're endless.

Also, remember that banners can be static as well as animated. Coming up with effective banners is a constant effort in most companies. I must make at least 200 rough drafts of banners for my creative developer every month to play around with and usually end up with 10 to 20 to try out.

With banners, it isn't just the art, it is also the angle, and some times the hook. If the angle is strong, save the hooks for use with the triggers on the landing page(s).

This is really a very fun part of your business. Carry a small memo book, or small art pad, like those from Mead and others. Every time you have a creative thought about graphics, angles, hooks, or triggers, place it in the book. Never let these go. Keep them, store them, revisit them. I must have at least a couple of hundred of these from over the last 20 years.

Get a relationship going and established with someone you can rely on regularly so you can have them make you drafts of banners and final banners. Then, SPLIT TEST THEM!

I love split testing my banners. I have so much fun with this. You will have some of them surprise you. I remember back in the early days when I was soaking up everything I could from John Carlton, Frank Kerns, Andy Jenkins, Mike Filsaime, Ryan Deiss, and so many more, the secret of the "ugly ad", the "stupid ad", and some others. These were absolutely ads I thought would never work and yet, they appealed to a segment of the traffic.

BE CREATIVE! & SLIT TEST EVERYTHING!

 

[dandelion13]

There are more than three choices, you are limiting yourself!

Put your creative hat on and think through this. Every feature and benefit you provide has the opportunity to be a banner. As well, there are going to be 100's of variations for each! They're endless.

Also, remember that banners can be static as well as animated. Coming up with effective banners is a constant effort in most companies. I must make at least 200 rough drafts of banners for my creative developer every month to play around with and usually end up with 10 to 20 to try out.

With banners, it isn't just the art, it is also the angle, and some times the hook. If the angle is strong, save the hooks for use with the triggers on the landing page(s).

This is really a very fun part of your business. Carry a small memo book, or small art pad, like those from Mead and others. Every time you have a creative thought about graphics, angles, hooks, or triggers, place it in the book. Never let these go. Keep them, store them, revisit them. I must have at least a couple of hundred of these from over the last 20 years.

Get a relationship going and established with someone you can rely on regularly so you can have them make you drafts of banners and final banners. Then, SPLIT TEST THEM!

I love split testing my banners. I have so much fun with this. You will have some of them surprise you. I remember back in the early days when I was soaking up everything I could from John Carlton, Frank Kerns, Andy Jenkins, Mike Filsaime, Ryan Deiss, and so many more, the secret of the "ugly ad", the "stupid ad", and some others. These were absolutely ads I thought would never work and yet, they appealed to a segment of the traffic.

BE CREATIVE! & SLIT TEST EVERYTHING!

Thanks T J for the very detailed and really helpful answer! I was wondering though, how did you manage to test the banners out? did you include some for your affiliates to use for a certain amount of time then switch it to another set of designs? or did you use ads?

 

[T J Tutor]

how did you manage to test the banners out?

Testing banners means testing them on your traffic sources.

did you include some for your affiliates to use for a certain amount of time then switch it to another set of designs? or did you use ads?

I was explaining what I do in my personal affiliate, or publisher, business. I am running many funnels for my micro niches on a daily basis. We don't have then need for such volume of banners and testing here at AffiliateFix, but when we do we follow the same practice.

In my personal business I do about 30% of my business in CPA and about 70% in content marketing. I develop funnels for both.

Most of my ad spend is Google & FB. however, I am doing more and more with placements on websites that cater to my niches. For me, paid advertising is the best and most productive, the organic traffic is secondary and tertiary. The paid traffic kicks ass when properly dialed in.

When I test banners I typically run at least five and rotate them, or set up separate funnels for them. It only takes a day or two to know what works and what doesn't. I do the same with landers for CPA, but on the content site there is no need for split testing landers as the click throughs go to articles and products/services deals integrated into content and these content sites have accumulated an abundance of content over the years so visitors find additional information they seek and plenty of other angles, hooks, and triggers as they flip through the available content.

 

[PaidPoints]

Hi there,

I'm currently in the process of creating a banner that my affiliate can use in their advertising and I have no what works best. Should it be about the benefits of my software? or add a discount maybe? maybe I should advertise that we have a free trial available? let me know your thoughts.

There is a good banner just under your post. You can use that example to get an idea of what you could do

 

[dandelion13]

Testing banners means testing them on your traffic sources.



I was explaining what I do in my personal affiliate, or publisher, business. I am running many funnels for my micro niches on a daily basis. We don't have then need for such volume of banners and testing here at AffiliateFix, but when we do we follow the same practice.

In my personal business I do about 30% of my business in CPA and about 70% in content marketing. I develop funnels for both.

Most of my ad spend is Google & FB. however, I am doing more and more with placements on websites that cater to my niches. For me, paid advertising is the best and most productive, the organic traffic is secondary and tertiary. The paid traffic kicks ass when properly dialed in.

When I test banners I typically run at least five and rotate them, or set up separate funnels for them. It only takes a day or two to know what works and what doesn't. I do the same with landers for CPA, but on the content site there is no need for split testing landers as the click throughs go to articles and products/services deals integrated into content and these content sites have accumulated an abundance of content over the rears so visitors find additional inform they seek and plenty of other angles, hooks, and triggers as they flip through the available content.

That makes sense. I agree with you that paid ads are way better than organic if done correctly. I usually allow 3-5 days for testing and then make a decision on which designs work best for my regular ads so I'll probably use the same strategy for this as well. Thanks again for the detailed reply. Appreciate it.

 

[dandelion13]

There is a good banner just under your post. You can use that example to get an idea of what you could do

I've been checking many banners on the website since I posted that question indeed. A great way to get ideas.