Benefits of Selling Banner Ads on a Website

This post was most recently updated on August 12th, 2022

Banner ads first appeared on the internet in 1994.  In the beginning, the use of internet marketing was minimal.  Today the use of banner ads for selling advertising is tremendous.  You almost cannot find a site that does not sell banner ads.  It is clear that the benefits of selling banner ads on a website provide particular advantages for web site owners.

Banner ads can be used to sell web real estate for advertorial use, services, products, and even information.  Selling ad space on your website is a great way to generate revenue from a webpage and the links threaded within.  Speaking of links, you can sell banner ads which link to other banner ads linking to other sites.  You could do this for one of your own sites or for a client’s site.  Essentially, the banner ad gets seen twice, but so does a supportive linking site with more ad space to sell.  This shows some of the potential versatility that you can achieve when you sell banner ads.

Banner ads carry two major benefits.  The most obvious is that users are drawn to click on the banner and visit the advertiser’s site.  When this occurs, it is called a “clickthrough”, and the amount of clickthroughs is then divided by the number of impressions.  This yields a “clickthrough ratio” or “click rate”.  The simplicity of this measurement directly reflects the effectiveness of the banner.

The second benefit of selling ad space on your website is that it builds brand recognition rapidly.  By measuring clickthroughs in contrast to site traffic, you get a precise measurement of the performance of the banner ads, which will fluctuate frequently.  Using the techniques of market research and surveys for users is so much less effective than the clear calculation of the click rate.

This all sounds fantastic, but it is not all a bed of roses.  Naturally, there is a caveat.  Novel software products have been, and are constantly being created specifically to block the ads that you place.  The constant repetition of various banner ads popping up on every site someone is searching becomes annoying and monotonous.  People simply stop paying attention and activate their ad-blockers and pop-up blockers and amplify their firewall adjustments to keep the widgets out of frame.

Selling on the internet must be progressively innovative.  Creativity with ad appeal needs to be practically applied to every banner ad posted.  The ads must be rotated and changed and also update frequently so people surfing your sites will not want to block them.  Repetitive design creates a blind eye, but the dance of creative change to display new images and ideas gives sight back to the page viewer.  In this manner, you can still effectively maintain banner selling on the internet.

Along this line of thinking, we know that we need to be innovative, but we also will benefit by deviating from common banner placement.  Most sites place the banners at the top of the web page like a billboard.  I have to say that the second I see that, I am going to block it.  That is the spot where I need to see the title of the page I navigated to, not colorful chaos of singles seeking dates.  Within a web page, there are different sections where banner ads are placed.  One placement that is less distracting but still catches attention is called a skyscraper (120×600) or wide skyscraper (160×600).  These are ideal spots for banner ads, as they are lower on the page and more toward the center.  Skyscraper ads do not interfere with the text content of the page as much as a standard banner.  They are also less likely to be blocked.

You may also place banner ads for selling advertising on the right column of the page called a vertical rectangle (240×400) or a medium rectangle (300×250).  Many other options exist and these ads can be rotated and changed as needed.  By maintaining innovation, selling banner ads can be highly beneficial for creating revenue. Banner ads first appeared on the internet in 1994.  In the beginning, the use of internet marketing was minimal.  Today the use of banner ads for selling advertising is tremendous.  You almost cannot find a site that does not sell banner ads.  It is clear that the benefits of selling banner ads on a website provide particular advantages for web site owners.

Kean Graham

Kean Graham is the CEO and founder of MonetizeMore & a pioneer in the Adtech Industry. He is the resident expert in Ad Optimization, covering areas like Adsense Optimization,GAM Management, and third-party ad network partnerships. Kean believes in the supremacy of direct publisher deals and holistic optimization as keys to effective and consistent ad revenue increases.