2010–06–13 How–Could... Buying Banner Ads – 3 Important Tips for Buying Advertising Space

Buying Banner Ads – 3 Important Tips for Buying Advertising Space

Buying ads:

Online Banner Ads are growing in popularity as a means of advertisers communicating both visually and aurally with targeted audiences. As the industry continues to evolve, many small businesses are struggling to keep up let alone start their online advertising campaigns.

Firstly, let's start with the basics. Here's how Banner Advertising works:

Publishers such as content websites and blogs accept placement of Banner Ads in their web pages, newsletters and/or emails. Once viewers click on the Banner, they are taken to the advertiser's landing page. Advertisers use both static Banners and multimedia Ads comprising animation, sound and even video to maximize the marketing pull and generate more clicks.

Now that you have a general gist of online Banner Advertising, here are some factors you should consider before buying Banner Ads:

1. Your Budget

Publishers charge on either a flat rate, pay per click (PPC) or cost per thousand impressions (CPM) basis. With flat rate pricing, you pay a set fee to have your advertisement displayed for a defined period of time (week, month, quarter, etc). CPM works by calculating impressions. Each time your advertisement is displayed to viewers or loaded is called an impression.

The more targeted your audience, the higher the cost. You should determine what portion of your marketing budget to spend on online Banner Advertising. Before making a purchase, assess any spending decision in light of your budget, not by considering costs alone.

2. You vs. Ad Agency or Network

Ad networks assist with placement of advertisements. They are most beneficial if you decide to run a campaign over many sites, as placements are automated. Ad networks submit your Ad to targeted websites available within their network. You can choose to either target your specific industry or penetrate a mass audience. You generally need a high budget to get the desired effect.

Due to the high volumes involved in automated placements, you will not be able to see where and when your Ads will be served or displayed. Some ad networks offer low CPM as the audiences are quite broad. Networks and agencies generally charge a premium of 10–30 percent above the direct placement cost.

Advertising agencies can compile a customized marketing solution by locating and negotiating advertising deals for you. While their expertise can be very rewarding, many small businesses don't have the funds to consult the services of ad agencies.

Handling placement yourself is the best way to secure that well targeted audience if you can't afford an ad agency to do this for you. If you intend to hone in on your target market by advertising on highly targeted websites, then it would be ideal to find Ad Space yourself rather than using an ad network.

3. Finding Advertising Space for Sale

You may find it useful to browse and compare available Ad Space at a Banner Auction website. Websites such as Bidswamp.com enable you to search through publishers' listings and view their site details to make informed decisions before either making a bid or buying Ad Space for a specific price.

Banner Auction websites are set up so you may have direct contact with publishers through private messaging, which indicates whether they are online at that time. Using Ad Space Auction sites is an ideal solution to finding and buying Advertising Space.

The other alternative is to visit each site separately and make comparisons using a spreadsheet. If a particular website you're interested in does not have an online media kit, look for their »advertise here» page to find relevant contact information. You should be given the site's demographics, banner specifications and sizing, visitors, page views and costing rates, which you can compare on your spreadsheet.

Dita Bednar is a co–founder of Bidswamp.com, an Ad Space Auction website which helps advertisers and site owners connect to buy and sell Advertising Space.