Just like a newspaper, the first thing someone will see in your banner ad is the headline. You need to pack as much punch in that short phrase as possible.

Basically, the fewer words, the better. Make it clear and compelling. If you try to be too clever, you risk confusing the reader, who may only be looking at your banner for a moment.

Writing a headline can be tough, so don’t just write one. Try many different headlines until you find the one that’s right. Ask a friend or coworker to read your ideas and help you pick one that stands out.

Give your customers a reason to click on your banner ad and they will. Follow our advice to write a headline that makes people sit up and notice you.

What’s holding you back from getting all the traffic and sales you deserve? Discover how to breakthrough in our new ebook, “Quick & Easy Banner Advertising”. Learn the secrets to writing headlines that sell and getting real results from banner ads (even on a tight budget). Order now risk-free

The right banner ad designer can do more than create you a great online ad. Your designer can give you a tool to drive more traffic to your website and boost your sales.

But how do you find the best banner ad designer for you? You have many individuals and design companies to choose from. You want to get your web ad quickly, without hassle, and at a fair price. You do not want sloppy work and excuses.

To help you find the right online ad designer for you, here are some important things to look for:

• Cost: Does the banner ad designer bill you by the hour? It is important to look not only at the initial design cost but also the price for revisions and changes to your ad. Or, does the design service offer a flat fee for all their work?
• Convenience: How easy is it for you to order your ad? Is it easy to ask for changes to your design? The option of ordering online and communicating with your designer online can save you time, while others look for face-to-face contact.
• Turnaround time: How many days will it be before you receive your banner ad? Do they offer a rush service if you need faster delivery? The faster you receive your ad, the sooner you can start using it to drive more people to your website. Time really is money.
• Quality: Look at the banner ad portfolio of the designer or design service – it is one of the most important parts of choosing where to buy your display ads. Are their designs professional looking? Have they created online ads for websites or businesses like yours? Experience matters so carefully look at their past work.

With this checklist, you now know what to look for to find the best banner ad designer. Put it to use today and find the designer who can help you get all of the traffic and all the sales you deserve.

adcherry’s banner ad design service is the easiest way for you to get online ads that get results. Our team of professional designers create animated or Flash banner ads that help you get all the traffic and sales you deserve. We make it easy because you can order online. And, you’ll save money because we don’t charge by the hour. Order now and get up to 5 revisions free.

Everyone wants more clicks on their banner ads, but few people realize the one thing that you must do before anyone will notice you. Take this one basic step in each of your banner ads and you can start boosting your website traffic and increasing your sales – starting today.

What is this one building block for more banner ad clicks? Trust. Your audience must first trust you before they click your online ad or buy from you. The easiest way to show you are trustworthy is with a banner ad that’s been professionally designed.

Shoddy display ads make your customers think your business is shoddy, too. Shaking, flashing, or deceptive ads cause people to ignore what you say and look elsewhere on the web page. Your competition likely has slick ads (especially if they are a much larger company than yours) and your customers will expect a professional look.

Your banner ad is the first thing a potential customer will see of yours, so take the time to find a professional banner ad designer or online banner ad design service such as adcherry. An experienced designer can give your ad the polish it needs to make your small business look much larger and your website look trustworthy.

Also, ask yourself these four important questions to see if your display ads are building trust:

• Does your display ad have a professional, confident look?
• Does your company or website name appear in the ad?
• Are you using tricks or deception to get people to click your banner ad?
• Is there a picture of your product or your company/website logo?

Your banner ad designer can help you overcome these challenges. That is another reason why it pays to find the right design service. They will create a polished design that makes you look trustworthy and help you stand out from the pack.

Send us one of your banner ads and we’ll choose some to be featured on this blog. If you’re chosen, we’ll write 5 tips to improve your ad and post them on this blog along with your banner ad, company/website name, and a link to your website. It’s a great way to get some valuable advice on how to improve your banner ad – and it’s free.

Slots are limited so email makeover@adcherry.com today and make sure to attach your banner ad.

If you’re looking to improve your banner ad, this is your opportunity to learn exactly what you should do. A better banner ad can help you get more traffic your website, but it can be tough to know how to set yourself apart. Learn some simple tips that can take your banner ad from being ignored to being a stand out.

Slots are limited, so email us now to be considered. Just write to us at makeover@adcherry.com and make sure to attach one of your banner ads plus your website address (URL). We’ll let you know if you’re chosen to have your banner ad featured for a makeover!

Don’t let this happen to you – learn the four top reasons people don’t click  your banner ad and what you can do today to fix it.

Reason #1: You’re hiding

People won’t click on what they can’t see. So, even if you have the world’s best display ad, it is just as important to spend time choosing good places to use it online.

Is your banner “below the fold”, meaning that people have to scroll down the website just to see it? Or maybe you’re advertising on a website with too many other display ads on it, so you are fighting for the attention of potential customers.

To help you choose a website that can help your online ad stand out and get clicks, ask the website owner where on the page your ad will appear and the number of banner ads around it.

Reason #2: You’re not giving people a reason to trust you

Some people think that banner ads are just about getting people’s attention by any means possible. Unfortunately, this has led to shaking, flashing, and fraudulent ads. But banner ad clicks don’t follow.

Web users have responded by looking at all display ads with a critical eye — including yours. So, make sure your ad has a professional look because it could be the very first thing a potential customer sees of yours. A simple, polished ad made by a professional online ad designer will earn people’s trust and will earn you new customers.

Reason #3: You’re not cutting to the chase

If you have an animated banner ad, web surfers may only hang around long enough to see part of it. So, if you make people wait a while to get to the point of the ad, people could miss it.

This doesn’t mean you should avoid all animated banner ads, because they can be used effectively to drive traffic. Try to have each frame of your ad show something meaningful, whether it’s a photo of your new product or a compelling headline.

Reason #4: You’re not giving people a reason to click

When you place a banner ad in front of someone, you’re asking them (nicely) to leave what they’re doing and come visit you. To do this, it helps to give them a compelling reason for them to click. Make their decision easy – announce a new product, a special sale, or a free giveaway to drive more people to your website. Go the extra mile to stand out and get more clicks.

Now that you know the top for reasons people don’t click on your banner ad, take action! Many of your competitors are still making these mistakes, giving you the perfect opportunity to make banner ads that get noticed, win new customers, and boost your sales. Start by letting our banner ad designers make a hard-hitting banner ad for you.

Learn the top three mistakes people make when it comes to banner advertising. See if any of these are holding you back from getting all the traffic and sales you deserve — and find out how to correct them.

1. Stale banner ads

Although you want to use one banner ad or marketing message long enough for people to recognize and respond to it, you don’t want to bore them by using the same ad for a long time.

Try this: Write a fresh headline and make a new banner ad. This change alone can get more people to notice and click on your display ad.

2. Only using your banner ads on one site

If you’ve found a website to advertise on that works, you certainly want to keep placing your banner ad there. But don’t get stuck in a rut that prevents you from finding another website that could drive more traffic and boost your sales.

Try this: Consider new websites and ad networks to use your banner ad, even see where your competition is advertising. If you’re unsure, try testing that website by signing up for a short banner ad campaign.

3. Not tracking your banner ad results

Why do many small businesses watch how their search engine advertising performs like a hawk, but ignore their display ads? Don’t buy online advertising and forget about it because keeping tabs on the results can bring you much larger returns.

Make sure your web ads are working hard by keeping an eye on them and making adjustments to the banner ad design or where they’re being used as needed. That way, your display ads are continually getting you more clicks.

Try this: At a minimum, try to find out how many impressions and clicks your banner ads are receiving each week or month. If you’re advertising on a large website or ad network, they may be able to help you. If the banner ad is displayed on your own website, there are analytics programs that can help.

Once you’ve done that, try to go one step further and see how many sales and how much money you’re getting from your banner advertising. While this can be trickier and inexact, it’s the best way to ensure your online ad dollars are performing well.

Many small businesses are making these three mistakes when it comes to their banner advertising, but you don’t have to. Use the simple strategies we recommend to get the most from your online marketing efforts starting today.

(To see a graph showing how digital media has overtaken traditional, click here. Additional coverage of the report can be found at MediaPost.)

We can only speculate on why this is, but there are many good possibilities. Online advertising, as a whole, is much easier to track than online. This makes it more accountable to you. You know how much you’re spending and what results you’re seeing.

Many of the obstacles that used to keep small businesses from advertising online have now been removed. More and more local companies are advertising on search engines and using email marketing because the tools are always getting better and easier to use. That’s our goal, too: at adcherry, we want to make it easier for your small business to use display advertising online with tools such as self-serve banner ads and this blog full of tips.

This leads to the question, are you advertising online? Because this report shows that, even you aren’t, your competitors are.

If you’re a small business that’s just getting started with online marketing, choose a first step and go for it. Whether is signing up with Google AdWords to place text ads on their search engine, creating your first banner ad, or starting to collect email addresses so you can follow-up with your customers by email later, it’s a small step that can bring big rewards over time.

MediaWeek is reporting on new research by Dynamic Logic that says smaller display ads that appear inside the content of a web page have more impact than larger ads around the outside of the page. This goes against the common perception that you need the most in-your-face banner ad placement to get attention. As we’re seeing more and more, relevance and location can matter more.

This is good for your ad budget, too, because the large web banners (such as leaderboards and skyscrapers) are often pricey. Start buying smaller ad placements before too many small businesses catch on to their effectiveness!

This leads us to another tip about banner ad placements: do you know where on the page your ad is going? If you’re working directly with a website to place your ad, don’t forget to ask. Besides trying to get inside the article, as we saw in this study, make sure you’re not buried “below the fold” (meaning people need to scroll down to find it), unless you’ve decided the cost savings is worth it.

Just like cooking, your banner ad is only as good as the ingredients you put in it. How do you make each part of your ad pack a punch? Learn the three main parts of a display ad and how, by making the most of each, you can attract big attention for your small business.

Keep these easy tips in mind when you use our self-serve tool to make your own banner ad. You might also want to try making a new and improved version of a banner ad you already have to get the best results. By testing different banner ad designs, you can find out which is most effective in attracting new customers and winning you sales.

Here are the main parts of an online display ad and how you make each of them work hard for you:

Headline: Just like a magazine ad or newspaper article, you want to grab people’s attention with a strong headline. But a banner ad is much smaller than a piece of paper, so be sure to keep it short.Choose small words and brief phrases that focus on the one best thing about your small business. Try writing out several headlines and taking out unnecessary words until you have one clear, bold statement that can stand on its own.

Background: Especially with larger banner ads, the background color or design can help your ad stand out on a crowded web page. To catch people’s eye, be careful not to have a background that makes it hard to read the headline you just wrote for your display ad. Bright, solid colors and subtle gradients are usually a good choice. When creating your display ad at adcherry, you can also choose one of our free banner ads, many of which include photos to help give your ad a professional look.

Call to action: Have you ever seen an infomercial that didn’t end with “Call now – operators are standing by”? We haven’t either. While you might it’s obvious that you need to call if you want the latest gizmo, it does help to ask your customer to do exactly what you want them to do.In a banner ad, your chance make this request is the call to action. It’s just a short phrase such as “Click Here” that can help turn your display ad into something that encourages people to take that next step. We feel it’s so important that it’s included in each banner ad template we offer at adcherry. Feel free to choose a more general phrase such as “Click Here” or get specific and say “Learn More”, “Buy Now”, etc.

By focusing on each of the three main parts of an effective banner ad – the headline, background, and call to action – you can make a high-impact banner ad that gets attention and helps get you more sales.

When you place your banner ad on an ad network (a group of websites selling advertising), they try to display your ad on the websites and to the people that will get you the best results. To give you the best chance to have your ad shown to as many people as possible, make sure to provide as many banner ad sizes as the ad network accepts.Why? More display ad sizes means your message has more opportunities to get shown.

This simple tip can give you a leg up on the competition because many small businesses just have one or two common banner ad sizes created. Maybe they needed to advertise on a particular website and designed a display ad just for that one use.

That means you have a perfect opportunity to create banner ads in all of the popular sizes. There are so many different banner ad sizes, though, that you could spend a lot of time having them all created. So, try to focus on just the most popular ad shapes such as:

• 180×150 (rectangle ad)
• 728×90 (leaderboard ad)
• 120×600 (skyscraper ad)
• 160×600 (wide skyscraper ad)
• 250×250 (square ad)
• 300×250 (medium rectangle ad)
• 468×60 (full banner ad)

(If you’re curious, the numbers refer to the number of pixels wide by the number of pixels tall.)

Another advantage of having different banner ad sizes already created is that you can now advertise in more places. Different ad networks and websites accept different sizes, but most will run at least one of the common display ad sizes shown above. Save time by having these on hand in case you spot a great opportunity.

When you create free display ads at adcherry, you can choose any of these sizes. When you’ve made one size, just go back and pick a different size. Or, upgrade to our pro membership, which gives you the ability to create all 7 of these banner ad sizes at once to save you time.