Flash Banner Ads and Advertising Tips and Trends

Rich media is advertising that contains perceptual or interactive elements which are more involved than the typical, static banner ad. Today, the term is often used for banner ads with interactive elements designed to capture the site visitor’s attention enough to entice the browser to visit or interact with the advertiser’s website. Rich media ads are generally more challenging to create and to implement. Studies have shown that rich media ads tend to be more effective than ordinary animated banner ads.

With this in mind...what steps should one take when deciding if a Rich Media Advertising Campaign is right for them?

1. Budget! Can your advertising budget support the added cost of design, development, and hosting (serving). Flash Banner Ads can take a considerable amount of time to animate and code. There are elements involved that the end user will never notice. These elements include server-side scripting, database integration, action-scripting ( the code behind Macromedia Flash ) and hosting. Sites which support Rich Media campaigns will often require additional financial commitments or substantial file size constraints.

2. Flashy vs. Effective. The use of Flash for the sake of Flash is becoming a pre-year 2000 practice. Often times a budget is best spent on creative rather than animation. After all, what good is a poorly created animation? If your advertising message requires user input ( for example: height, weight, smoking, non-smoking ) then a rich-media campaign is most likely needed. However, if your message does not require interaction then often a static banner ad will suffice. Some advertisers find a mix between the benefits of a rich-media ads and the need for good creative, determine their method.

3. Size of the Message. Search engine sites such as Yahoo, Google and MSN have a range of banner ad sizes for you to choose from. The sizes range from square, tall, wide, big and small in varying pixel dimensions. Common sizes are 468x60, 125x125, 300x250, 720x300 and 728x90. The sizes are determined by the space the host is willing to sell and the size of that particular space. The size of the message is important because your message may not fit in a 125x125 box. For example, if you have a map of the United States then you will want to choose hosts with a wider rather than taller ad footprint available.

4. Choose a designer with experience. Banner advertising creative can make or break your advertising campaign. It is the "eye-catching" message or movement which turns the site browser (viewer) into the site buyer (clicker). A good designer or design firm can take your company image or message and graphically represent that in an array of advertising mediums.

Rich Media Advertising can be a cost effective, attractive advertising choice you should consider adding to your overall marketing plan. Coupled with other online marketing strategies such as search engine optimization, email marketing, website design and development and reliable and fast web hosting, you can insure your company is doing everything possible to maximize your online potential.

Author Name: Jon Burgess
Author Website: http://www.yellow7.com

2005-09-22 10:49:20