Website Managers Blogging Tips

When adding banners to your web page or blog, you need to consider what type of banner you will display. There are several choices, ranging from static JPEG, animated GIF, transparent PNG and eye-catching flash.

When using banner ads, you have to decide what the focus of your page is – the content or the ads. Most often people will read the content and then look back at an advertisement. If your content is long enough to make people scroll down and read the rest, changes that they scroll back up to click the ad are slim.

Flash banners slow the page loading because their file sizes are generally 3-5 time larger than JPG images and their content is usually obtained from another site such as an advertising supplier.

Animated GIF images would be an improvement over JPG to grab attention, although their file sizes vary depending on several factors. The biggest factor in keeping GIF sizes smaller is omitting high resolution photos. GIF compression options are not designed to compress photos. Use 256 color graphics or lower, line art, cartoon characters and as few frames as possible, while keeping the animation smooth. Using an image compression tool will help reduce file size by decreasing the number of colors in the banner.

JPG banners are there and non-intrusive. GIF banners are animated to divert attention from the content to the banner. This type of banner usually gets a higher click-through than static JPG banners.

PNG is Portable Network Graphics. Although it does not include animation, it can contain transparency so the banner can blend into your background color. Depending on the banner content, the file size may be smaller than JPG, or larger if it contains high resolution photos.

When streaming video is reduced in size, it too can serve as an advertising option. It will usually not look very good as a banner, unless it is recorded for that purpose. Come to think of it, I just made one of those to track the responses. Adding a link to the video banner will be tricky, but there is a way and I found it.

Click the Play button on this banner to see how a video banner ad can also work in your advertising. The button is on the lower left and is pretty small. I could set it to play automatically but that might annoy some people.

When the movie is done, you will be redirected to another website. What do you think of the video banner ad option?

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