Web Advertisements are all over the internet, they come in the form of attractive looking banners. Sometimes they’re not so attractive, but a blinking button or a sale for 50% off catches your eye, and well… you’re hooked.

However, it’s not as easy as just slapping a random design on the website. When designing a Web Banner there are certain canvas sizes that should be used. These sizes allow websites to optimize banner placement, an awkward size would probably lose resolution when it gets resized for the web. 

Banner Sizing

Some common sizes are: 

• 468 x 60   
• 728 x 90
• 336 x 280   
• 300 x 250   
• 250 x 250   

These sizes optimize space on the website. Which ultimately gives a cleaner and more organized look. Throwing too many ads into one website tends to look suspicious and contributes to a sensory overload. 

Goals

Moving on from the technicalities of the subject, the ultimate goal of an advertisement on the web is to direct consumers toward that page. Hence why the attractiveness/use of active buttons, I spoke of earlier is so important.

The good thing about using banner ads, is the methods of payment that it creates. Money can be earned simply through the given amount of time a person has spent on the page, and combining that with the possibility that they purchase the product…It’s a win win

And even with our newfound ability to not let such ads bother us, a good design and interesting slogan go a long way. You would be surprised at how much the visual aspects of the banner matter. They matter not only for aesthetically pleasing purposes, but also to attractively compliment the product that is being sold. Using attractive but irrelevant pictures would only get the customer so far, and that is what we don’t want, for our customer to lose interest. 

And Finally, use devices to help keep track of the consumers responsiveness to the Advertisements. Doing this will provide a better understanding of what is working and what is not. And if activity on the banner starts to drop, then that is a signal that it is time to move on and revamp the old banner into an even better one.