The Ultimate Guide to Using Banner Ads for Affiliate Marketing

The promotional methods you use in your affiliate marketing business can make (or break) its success.

Some of the more common techniques, such as link ads and newsletters, may not catch your audience’s attention as you’d hoped. This can lead to spending time and money on ineffective campaigns.

Using banner ads, or display advertising, you can introduce a strong visual aspect to your marketing.

These ads enable you to show your customers information in an engaging way, while also promoting your brand. Even better, they can be used both on and off your website, including on your affiliates’ sites.

In this post, we’ll talk about the importance of using display advertising for affiliate marketing. We’ll then share three tips you can use to implement these banner ads effectively. Let’s get started!

The Benefits of Using Banner Ads for Affiliate Marketing

As the name suggests, a banner ad is similar to the large banners often used by brick-and-mortar businesses. They're most commonly placed at the tops and sides of websites, such as this one on the NBA’s site:

There are various benefits to using display advertising in your marketing campaigns, regardless of whether you’re a one-person operation or the manager of an affiliate program.

One of the most obvious reasons is that humans process visual data more quickly than words. So, banner ads draw attention to your products and services more effectively than text-based ads.

They can also be used across various platforms, including websites, blogs, social media, and emails.

How to Effectively Use Banner Ads for Affiliate Marketing (3 Tips)

Naturally, your first step is learning how to create ads using Easy Affiliate, a topic we've covered in the past. However, it's equally important that you know how to use them right.

Here are a few tips for doing just that!

1. Keep the Design Simple and Direct

You may want to include a lot of information in your advertisements, especially when they’ll be used offsite. However, it’s better to keep your ads simple, concise, and direct.

A simple design prevents distractions, which keeps your message clear. Clean design also makes your ad seem more professional and trustworthy.

Here are a few tips to get you started:

• Keep elements to a minimum. We recommend including just five elements (all of which can be added using Easy Affiliate):
  • Background image
  • Eye-catching title
  • Minimal text information
  • Call to action (CTA) button
  • Logo.
• Use a prominent CTA. You want your CTA to be easy to see, which is why it should be the main focuses of the banner ad.

Before adding an element to your ad, ask yourself if it’s really necessary. Will it help to sell the product, or just fill space? In the latter case, it's better to leave it out.

2. Select Images That Represent Your Brand

It's important that your branding is consistent, both on or off your site. This means all the elements in your banner ads should be brand-focused, including any images.

By using images that represent your brand, you’re presenting a consistent business identity.

Well-chosen images also help your brand seem credible and professional. The task of selecting the best image can seem daunting, however, so here are a few recommended tips:

• Maintain consistency. Incorporate colors and font styles that match those used in your branding.
• Consider your style. For example, do you use particular types of images on your website, or display them in a certain way? Use them similarly in your display advertising to further improve their branding.

How you incorporate images is up to you. For example, you might decide to forego using background images. However, we recommend that you include at least some visual elements, such as a logo. 

This will tie the banner to your brand more clearly than plain text, and is more likely to get people's attention.

3. Place Your Ads Prominently

Once your banner ads are created, it’s time to place them where they’ll be seen. This means putting them in prime locations, so they'll attract attention from your audience.

The most effective locations are those that are also most obvious (your site's header is often the perfect place). Still, there are a few techniques you can use to be sure you’re picking the best spots:

• Place your ads above the fold. This is content that appears on the top of the page, and is visible immediately upon page load.
• Use heatmaps to improve placement. Heatmaps track visitor behavior, including clicks. This will show you exactly where visitors engage with a website most frequently. A good, free tool that can help you do this is Aurora Heatmap for WordPress.

If you also want your program’s affiliates to display your ads on their websites, you should provide them with the necessary tools.

This means sharing with them your own best placements, and even giving them access to the tools you used (such as heatmap plugins) on the resource hub.

Conclusion

By using display advertisements for affiliate marketing, you can add an eye-catching tool to your advertising arsenal.

Creating banner ads can ensure that your marketing efforts won't go unnoticed. However, just as important as building the ads is making sure you're using them well.

In this post, we’ve introduced the importance of display advertisements. We’ve also shared three tips to help you use them more effectively, such as:

1. Keep the design simple and direct.
2. Select images that represent your brand.
3. Place your ads prominently.

Do you have any questions about using banner ads for affiliate marketing, or how you can create them using Easy Affiliate? Let us know in the comments section below!

If you liked this article, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. And don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter ????

Affiliate Link Disclosure