One of the most popular forms of advertising is banner ads. It is one of the many ways to get traffic to your website.



A banner ad is a form of advertising on the Internet. The banners are embedded on to a web-page thereby linking the visitor to your homepage.

These small rectangular advertisements vary considerably in appearance and subject matter, but they all share a basic function: if the visitor clicks on them, their Internet browser will take them to the advertiser's Web site. If they do not want to know about the ad they close it.

Sounds simple enough, so how do you get started? Website owners will allow you to display your banner ad for a fee. The website owner can also agree to do an exchange for displaying their banner ad on your website and your banner on their website. This is called banner exchange.

Some websites lets you display for free. There are hundreds of free banner ads exchanges, which can be found through google, if you have a lot of time, this is a good way to go. Be prepared to do some research. A lot of people have their own website or a blog and a signature that they will use in many forums. If they like your product, or digg your product enough, they may be willing to show your banner. Research how much it costs and plan your budget. Are you going to be charged a fee for having your banner hosted? Will you be charged by the number of clicks? By knowing the answers to these questions you can budget accordingly.

Banners nowadays are in a flash format. Flash technology generates animation, sound,and rich colour, which makes the banner ad eye-catching and engaging, encouraging the prospective customer to click on it.

In order to set up and display a banner needs to be well thought out. The banner can easily be placed at the head or foot of the web-page so visitors can view them. When the visitor clicks on the banner they will be taken to your homepage.

The banner ad needs to be creative. If you are not the creative type there are specialised computer software programs available with numerous templates which allows you to design a banner. You can also get a designer to create a banner for you at a reasonable cost through a freelancer website. Once your banner is ready-publishing it is the next step. You need to figure out what your target audience is, for example: golf equipment sales.

Sites that you could target would be golfing lessons or golf site forums. Research what sites are appropriate to your banner ad campaign. Your aim is to get traffic to your website; so it is important that you find out how much traffic the website receives. You can find this out through the webmaster, they can provide you with proof of how often there site is visited. To display your banner, click on their advertise on this site link and buy a banner ad space, or go directly to their agent and select where your banner ads should go. Because many sites are handled through third parties, it is possible to have your banner ad displayed in many sites at once. When you have found which websites you want to display your banner, it is time to put your plan into action and watch the traffic flow.