Banners Continued…

Then there are half banners and vertical banners. Half banners are just around half the horizontal length of a full banner: 234 pixels by 60 pixels. Vertical banners run vertically rather than horizontally with dimensions of 120 pixels by 240 pixels.

Finally, there are four different button banners. The square button banner is 125 pixels both in width and length. The micro button is the small banner at 88 pixels by 31 pixels. The last two button banners are relatively close in size: one is 120 pixels by 90 pixels and the other is 120 pixels by 60 pixels.

Banner File Size

As more and more is published on a web page, the time it takes for the page to load increases. And, if the page takes too long to load, viewers can get impatient. This is why websites try to limit the size of their web pages as much as possible, allowing the page to load on a viewer's computer very quickly. Since publishers need to keep the size of their websites reasonably small, they often will put restrictions on the file size of banner ads that are placed on their website. This file size is usually somewhere around 15K, but can vary depending on the type of website.

Banner Success

Since companies often pay to have banner ads created, and then pay again to have them published on various websites, they want to know that the banner is somehow helping sales. One way they measure whether a banner is successful or not is by determining how much money they are spending on advertising in order to make one sale. They also measure its success by monitoring how many people view the web page that the banner is posted on, how many people actually click on the advertisement, and the ratio of the former to the latter.

Creating Banners

You can find websites online that provide you everything you will need to make your own banners. Sometimes they will even allow you to do it for free. You can also find banner designers online or through graphics companies. And, today, most advertising agencies have someone who can create banners as well. So, if you are already working with an advertising agency, that's a good place to start. But, the cost of creation can vary greatly, so shop around.

By Christy Patrick