In my role as Sales Manager at GDPUK, I often get asked what kind of campaign works well on the website and I am always happy to give a few suggestions which I hope helps the client and gives them a few ideas to take away and ponder.

Below are a few bullet points of the suggestions that have come to mind in recent times. Please feel free to add to the suggestions.

The idea behind the list below is that it hopefully gets the client creating an interesting campaign that then gets them a return on their investment and builds a long-term business relationship with our publication.

Our users do notice the adverts but it is upto the advertiser to catch their attention enough that they become fully engaged with the message. The fact that a banner gets shown thousands of times in a month is an obvious advantage of advertising online, your brand has an extra chance of getting noticed on a popular blog or forum thread.

So what are some simple, straightforward methods of getting noticed? A few brief ideas below.

• A good, simple, well designed landing page, that matches the campaign / campaigns. I have blogged about the importance of landing pages before. Read more on this link.

• Experiment with different designs / styles for the banner ads, see what is successful and look to implement banners in different colours and fonts.

• A competition or prize draw to get data for your business, as well as create some buzz around a new product or service.

• Supplement all advertising campaigns with PR that matches the advertising and is shared on social media. Run the same advertising / PR on your social media pages, so it increases brand awareness.

• A successful campaign has been with a company who have used client testimonials "I love using this xxx dental software because...." So showing that fellow dentists use the product and it works for them, creates a positive message.

• A social media campaign that includes advertising on dental websites but run in tandem with social media. For example an equipment manufacturer could collate photos of dentists using the handpieces in their surgeries etc. Create a pinterest style collage.

If you would like to discuss any of the brief suggestions above, we will be attending the BDIA Showcase at the NEC in Birmingham. We can be found on stand F215. All my contact details are below.

Our new media pack for 2016 is also now available for download. It is available here and if you click the image below.

Thanks for reading and hopefully see you in a few days. Cheers.

GDPUK remains free to join and to post on the forum. We have close to 9000 members and they love using the resource to keep upto date with all things dental and keep engaged with the dental community. Revenue for the site is generated from banner advertising. Our clients who advertise are predominantly from the dental trade.

Clients of GDPUK often ask us about designing banner ads for the site, so we thought we would put together this simple guide and let you know our thoughts on what makes up an effective banner ad. Obviously when creating a web banner ad, it is important to always look at it from the perspective of the viewers (or your potential customers).

1. Make sure it is correct size. If you are given details of a certain specification or size needed, you should follow the requirements, otherwise the banner ad won’t work.

2. Keep the file sizes to a minimum. Smaller files load faster and it increases the chance of being seen by visitors.

3. Good copy (like all advertising) is very important. Use of graphical elements is good, however, it's the copy that triggers people to find out more about your product. Banners that are effective are kept short and simple. Further info below

4. You want your potential customers to look at your ad, get interested, and click on it, then find out more info about your product on your website (preferably on a relevant landing page on your site). Don’t try to fit all the benefits of your product into that small space, it never looks rights and is ineffective. Simple and clear is the best method.

5. Over the years, the banners that have been the most effective, use an eye-catching hook. Headlines are what trigger people to read the story. Emphasising the benefits of your products more than the features of your products is the way to go.

6. By using a call to action graphic or text you make it very clear to the visitor what you want them to do. For example: For More Information; Download Info Now; Click Here to Purchase. This works with the earlier advice of being simple, clear and direct.

7. Animated GIFs work brilliantly on GDPUK but graphic designers always tell us that you need to avoid using photos and photo-like images on animated GIFs. Because of how GIFs work, the photos won’t look as nice and it will just make the file size huge. It is most likely you will be limited to having just one or two frames for the banner given the file size limits, plus as mentioned before, banners are more effective as a smaller file.

8. If you want to use photos in your ad (for websites only; not on our daily digest emails), consider creating it in Flash or HTML5. It will give you better return in terms of quality and file size.

9. Effective landing pages. We have mentioned this a number of times over the years! When people click on the banner, they should be presented with the relevant campaign or information immediately. They do not want to go to your homepage and be forced to hunt for the information that may exist on another page of your site. An effective landing page produces a great experience for your customer but also better results from your advertising campaigns.

Thanks for reading this guide to creating effective banner ads. We hope you find it useful and a simple blueprint to follow when looking to advertise online.

If you need further information or want to ask a question about this blog. Please get in touch.

Thanks

Jonny