Case Study: Which Advertising spot works best?

Number of new websites are increasing every day. And the number of websites putting ads on are increasing twice as fast. So in this race, how do you know which advertising spot works best. Because you see websites using so many different type of ad spaces. Some are using header banners, where as others are using 125 x 125 buttons, so which ones are the best? Keep on reading and find out.

Why should you care?

Advertising is an important part of branding. The most important part of economics is allocating efficiency. You need to know which ad spots work best for you in order to get the most out of your money. So it is pretty simple why this study is important for you.

Why am I advertising?

You need to ask yourself this question. Many people have different reasons. Some just need a backlink increase while others want traffic increase. So you need to ask yourself what exactly do you want. Do you want to increase traffic, or do you want to increase techonrati rank, or backlinks and what not.

Type of Ads

Header Banner (728 x 90)
Web Banner (468 x 60)
Sidebar Button (125 x 125)
In Post Banner (300 x 250)
Sidebar Text links
Contextual Links
Designer Links / Sponsor Links
Peel Away Ad

Analysis

• Header Banner – These are the large banners usually displayed towards the top of the website with the dimensions of 728 x 90 pixels. Which takes up all the screen. If you want exposure for your brand or product and want people to notice you. This is the ad spot that you want. But usually this is one of the most expensive ad spots on a site, so might not work with people with a tight budget. Works best when it is not in rotation.
• Web Banner – These are the banner that is shown on top of balkhis next to the logo. The dimensions of this banner is 468 x 60 pixels. This is prominent towards the top. These ads work magic if they are in the header without any rotation. But most sites run it with rotation, so it is not as expensive as header banner. But from the experience, I have had, these banners are the ones that don’t have a high click through. This is more of branding, so if you want your name to be known. This is the way.
• Sidebar Button – Sidebar buttons are usually 125 x 125 pixels in dimension. This ad is usually affordable on most sites. They get good enough attention. Most sites don’t put these on rotation, so it is one of the best buys. Click through rate is not very high because you are next to most likely 6 or more ads, so your banner doesn’t stand out a lot.
• In Post Banner – These are the banners that are embedded in the post. These banners work the best if the content is related. This is the ones that attract serious buyers to your site. So this is the one that is likely to convert a lot, but this won’t get you a whole a lot of traffic. So your numbers might not look, but the one or two that you get will most likely convert. This banner is usually in the dimensions of 300 x 250 pixels.
• Sidebar Text links – These are not the best way to get a lot of traffic. These links are used to increase backlink count, and technorati rank. This is the way to show search engines that you are popular. But must remember google is cracking down on paid text links.
• Contextual Links – Contextual links convert well. And it only attracts serious buyers. These links in my opinion are worth a lot because these are mostly permanent links. Therefore most of the times bloggers or webmasters does not sell these links. These links are more like organic links, but if you can get these for a price, then you are on a golden route.
• Designer / Sponsor Links – There is a way to promote your site and that is by releasing free themes with backlinks. Webmasters buy links from the designer of the theme and release the theme for free. Sponsor links are not worth a lot compared to designer link. If you can get the designer link on the free theme, you will get more traffic. A smart designer will release themes saying “Courtesy of xxxx and xxxx” This way both links get more exposure.
• Peel Away Ad – This is a new concept that is coming in place. These ads are usually more expensive than the one in the sidebar. These are viewed a lot, but most are by accident. A lot of the users convert, but the percentage of viewing and converting is a bit low. I am not saying this is a bad spot because if you have 17,000 impressions and 252 clicks from which 125 converted this is a very good value. But in comparison, 252 clicks is not a big percent. This is the ad spot that works very well but usually is more expensive.

How to get the best results

The results will entirely depend on the way your banner looks and your landing page where the user lands, so you need to focus on the two before you advertise. So if you don’t get good results from one of the better spots I mentioned above, you know the reason why.

Bottom Line

I think peel away ad, 728 x 90, and 300 x 250 are the best ad spots if you want your product to convert. So if you are thinking of mass promotion, then these are the spots you need to buy.