Banner advertising works on a very simple principle: you ask a host website to allow you to post your banner ad on their webpage because you hope visitors to that host website will be interested in your banner ad and click on it. In return for this privilege, the host website will be paid a certain sum, either via CPM (cost per thousand times the banner ad is flashed on the host website), or through pay-per-click agreements (where you - the advertiser - will only pay every time someone actually clicks on the banner ad.)

In the light of the dwindling average click-through rates among advertisers, does banner advertising still give benefits to advertisers who post them?

Benefits of banner advertising

1. Some host websites draw in advertisers by saying that the visitors of the host website are very likely to click on the banner ads of the advertisers. If this proves true for the advertiser, such host websites can be a potential gold mine because their high traffic may mean many visitors will click on the banner ads, visit the website of the advertisers, and even buy the product or service being offered through the banner ads. In this case, banner ads may provide a quick and easy link between Internet users and websites of advertisers.
2. Repeat visitors of a host website may see the same banner ad over and over again. This may help reinforce the information from the banner ad in the minds of such repeat visitors. This is good for advertisers because when the repeat visitors get curious about the product or service promoted on the banner ad, or find themselves in need of it in the future, they will look for the familiar banner ad to click on.
3. When made to the proper size and located in the right place within the host website, banner ads may seize the attention of visitors to the host website immediately. A banner ad might seem a distraction to someone not interested in the product or service, but to someone who is in need of it, the banner ad may prove to have dropped in just at the right moment. Timing is everything.
4. A banner ad that is related to what the host website has to offer is also offering a service to the host website, because visitors to the host website will form an association between the website of the advertiser and the host website - and a relationship between the two clicks into place in the mind of the visitor. So, when the visitor needs to recall what the host website is all about, he can try to remember the banner ad.
5. Banner ads may be less expensive than traditional means of advertising. This is because the cost of developing a good banner ad may be much less than the expense entailed in traditional forms of advertising, such as television spots or newspaper ads. Television spots are one of the most expensive means of advertising, simply because they are very effective at leaving a lasting impression in the minds of viewers. Fortunately, as Internet usage increases among the masses, the Internet may become the next best advertising medium - with emphasis on banner ads.

These are just some of the benefits that banner advertising provides. So go ahead and choose banner advertising as your promotional tool, if the benefits listed here seem to apply to you.

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