Look around we all are stuck on our devices and living online for everything. And this scenario has increased promptly in the past years. For example, we are online for shopping, connecting with friends or for professional work. This is noticed by digital marketers and figured display advertising is a good medium to reach prospects, grow awareness and boost conversions.
Curious about how these display ads work for you? Continue reading.
What are Display Ads?
Display advertising is a method to attract audiences using images, videos, gifs, and text on websites, apps or social media platforms. These ads have a broad reach with contextual targeting options.
A typical display ad consists of four parts which are similar to web push notifications. There is a headline, ad copy, media(image or video) and URL link. However, the push messages display on the notification panel and display ads on the web pages when you go online.
The above is an example of a display ad on a website. It is a combination of engaging text and images. When a visitor clicks, they are taken to the specific landing page to take meaningful action.
Display marketing holds benefits for publishers and advertisers. Websites that have good web traffic flow can sell their ad space and earn revenue. Publishers can choose paid models like CPM(for impressions), PPC(for clicks) or CPA (for action) on ads.
The average click-through rate of Google display ads is 3.17% gives reason to practice display ads for advertisers. Display advertising increases online visibility, captures attention and inspires visitors to take immediate action. With being placed on the right platforms and relevant sites, you can reach the targeted audiences and increase conversions.
7 Types of Display Ads
As you are thinking about display marketing, you need to know different types of display ads that give your business visualization and reach users.
Banner Ads
The first type of display ad is a banner ad. You can observe these ads commonly when you visit a website. As the name defines they are designed in horizontal or vertical shapes according to the purchased display ads sizes purchased. You can see banner ads placed on the top, bottom or sides of websites. These display ads are effective and cost-effective that give high ROI.
These type of display ads naturally fits the web page’s look, content and functionality. Native ads blend with the articles and content on the website. You don’t see the common advertising words like purchase, click or signup as in other ad types. These ads will not disrupt the user interface and because of the similarity, there are high chances of clicks on ads.
Native Ads
Examples of native ads are recommended articles and sponsored content you see on a website.
Video Ads
Display advertisement is all about attaining the user’s attention and what can do a better job than video content. Engage users with videos about introducing products or services or conveying messages. The video ads are a combination of audio, video, images and text. Advertisers can express more using video ads when compared with banner ads. You find these types of display ads on social media platforms prominently.
Infographics Ads
We know infographics are perfect to share complex information using graphs, bars and text. Marketers can provide a visual comparison of products or service success from the previous year to the present. These types of digital ads are useful for all niche businesses. You can also add attractive images and highlight numbers that can capture the visitor’s eyes.
Animation Ads
Animated ads are short-length video ads that help promote a product or service. These types of digital ads are entertaining and creative. Because of the 15-60 seconds length, these ads will not turn off audiences and lure them to know more. Recent research says that animation ads are 4.5 times more effective than traditional ads. Also, these ads are sharable which increases the user’s interest to spread the word about the brand.
Lightbox Display Ads
Lightbox ads are display ads that expand and show additional information when a visitor clicks on them. These ads are great to target the right audience as the users click on the ads when they are interested in knowing more. These ads are cost-effective for advertisers as we need to pay only when a user engages and stays for at least 3 seconds. You can add a dynamic range of elements like images, videos, audio, text, animations and more.
Interstitial Ads
Interstitial ads are famous in mobile applications and mobile browser websites. These appear when a user clicks on a key or action button on their transition in the application. These are full-screen ads that cover the app interface and the user needs to click to close button which gives a definite impression of the ad.
For example, these ads display when you reach the next level in gaming apps or after signup in service-based apps. They also have time out to close ads which gives users time to check and click.
8 Best Practices of Display Ads
We have to use the latest and best display ad practices to make the most out of them- This applies to every marketing strategy. Here are a few things you need to keep in mind before starting your next display ads campaign.
Stand Out with Display Ads
You are not the only one in this game. Many businesses use display ads to reach users. That’s why you need to be on top of your game and stand out from the crowd and get more clicks.
Prepare engaging content and high-quality images to convey the message. Try different samples of one ad copy and send them to different segmented audiences. Check the performance of these ad copies and choose the best one. Iterate this process regularly for better results.
Remember your ad copy can create urgency and nudge the users to click and know more.
Mobile Optimized Ad Copy
A recent survey states that 92.1% of users access the internet through mobile devices. This gives us a strong reason to optimize display ads for mobile and tablet screens. So, design responsive display ads with images and text that get adjusted to different screen sizes. This practice will make your display ads user-friendly and also encourages users to click ads. Also, try to optimize your landing page to mobile which will improve the customer journey and experience with your website and leads to more conversions.
The best type of display ads for mobile devices is video ads and interstitial ads that will not disturb the user interface or experience.
Proper CTA Buttons
Call to Action buttons(CTA) are placed to drive visitors to make click and take to a specific landing page. It is recommended to add action words in the buttons that encourage users to take meaningful action. Some of the action phrases are Buy Now, SignUp, Update Now, Download and more. You can highlight them in the ad using different colours or text fonts to attract the user’s eyes and get a click. Also, place them in the right place where they will not disrupt the user experience. Make sure to link the right landing pages to these buttons.
Get Your Target Audience
Targeting the right audience will make the marketing strategy successful rather than displaying ads for random audiences. Reaching the right users will increase the ad’s engagement and conversion rate. Research your audience, know about them, segment them and plan the relevant display ads.
Choose the right website where your target audience is present and display ads about your products and services. For example, you can display ads about crockery products or home appliances on home furnishing websites. This increases ad clicks as both websites have similar types of users. Likewise, you can display content tools ads on SEO service websites.
Use Interactive Media in Ads
Instead of using static images in display ads try to implement interactive media. Include videos, audio, expanding ads or showing CTA buttons when a user hovers cursor. This will improve user interactivity and capture interest in the ad. But make sure you don’t compromise on the quality and optimize for mobiles and desktops. Taking this step can cost you a little more compared to the traditional ads but it’s worth a shot if you have a stable ROAS.
For example, a few video ads play first 15 seconds and display the CTA button to click and know more. This type of multimedia will increase the user click rate on the ad and make your display advertising successful. However, you need to give enough reasons for the visitors in the preview to get that click.
Measure Results
Testing and measuring results is an important process for any marketing strategy. It will give a new perspective to take further actions and make them successful. As a publisher, you can optimize the ad copy, ad placement, keywords and more. With Google AdSense, you can check all stats like clicks, views, impressions, estimated earnings for these stats and more.
Perform A/B testing for every element of your ad copy like content, CTA buttons, images and videos. Collect and use the data to optimize your targeting ad campaigns.
Try Various Display Ads Formats
Experiment with different ad formats like banner ads, video ads, and native ads and find out which type suits you best. Choose the ad format that suits your website design, theme and content to maximize your clicks and conversions.
For example, video ad formats work well for online service-based websites to exhibit the signup, and service usage process. Whereas banner images work well for eCommerce websites where they can present the product in the form of a high-quality image. So, know what can attract your audience before designing your display ads.
Choosing the Right Ad Network for Display Ads
Choosing the right ad network for publishing your display ads is important to increase revenues. Knowing the target audience and your goals help you to pick the ad network and website. There are a few factors to consider before choosing an ad network are
- Check the minimum traffic of given publishing websites
- The ads formats, positions they are providing
- The rate of CPM, CPC, and PPC models
- Payment methods, duration and minimum payout value
The most popular ad network is Google Adsense and there are also some popular and best alternatives to AdSense that have similar features.
Conclusion
Even though the first display ads are published in 1994, it has gone through many changes and become one of the main sources of revenue for the websites. Considering all these, it is important to know what you are getting into.
The listed best practices will help you in creating effective display ads to earn leads and conversions. Digital marketing has numerous opportunities to present your business and reach new users. It’s worth trying new strategies and you may see unanticipated growth in ROI.
