Achieve Results With Banner Exchange

Since my first article, Banner Exchanges Unmasked, was published here at SitePoint, I've received extensive feedback.

The most common request was for additional hints on how to use exchanges for various specific tasks that we face each day as Webmasters. Others asked how a specific task might influence the exchange evaluation process we discussed in that article.

The aim of this sequel is to provide the answers to site owners who want to use exchange networks to maximum efficiency for specific tasks. Exchanges are generally utilized for three distinct purposes:

1. For branding advertising
   
2. To gain raw traffic for your site
   
3. To gain audience/customers for your site

Let’s look at each of these objectives in turn and explore what you can do to optimize your own campaigns.

A Branding Campaign

This it the easiest case, by far. All you need to do is choose the network, place the code, upload a banner that displays your logo and forget about it. Literally! Your logo will be there, and nothing other than the raw number of impressions made actually matters: the more impressions, the better.

The optimal network for your next branding campaign is one that provides decent reach and honest exchange ratios, and imposes strict standards on participating sites in terms of banner placement. Below-the-fold ad spaces or banners in ad “stacks” will not have a notable impact on branding. So, if the network you’re considering allows such placements, seek the capability to exclude specific sites (or groups of sites) from your campaign.

Forget about clickthrough rates altogether, and don’t worry about making sure your ads change. Brand-centric ads don’t “burn-out”; rather, they just keep hitting the brains of visitors. If you’re anxious to change ads from time to time, make each new ad as recognizable as possible -- after all, you want those users to know and remember who you are. Stick to a predetermined standard for banner composition, fonts, color schemes, logo sizes, etc.

A Campagin to Generate Extra Traffic

First and foremost, decide if extra traffic is what you really need. If you want to obtain recurring visitors, or real customers, you’re looking for an audience, rather than the raw traffic we’re talking about here. But, if you’re simply looking for some extra hits right here and now, it’s also pretty easy to achieve. All you need are clicks. A decent exchange ratio is a plus. The rest is largely irrelevant.

Remember that there are still many, many people on the ‘net who click out of curiosity and out of ignorance. If you want sheer traffic volumes, target these users!

Don’t waste your impressions on sites that, for example, Web professionals frequent. Don’t try to locate any kind of target group for your particular site -- you’ll never get enough clicks from them. Instead, find the ones who click and make your ads appealing to them, or make your ads look like a part of site, rather than an ad message. A perfect exchange for such a campaign is one that has maximum tolerance for ads “on the edge” and offers some category targeting options. If the exchange also provides the ability to upload numerous banners and aim each of them at a separate site (or a group of 2 or 3 sites), the exchange is simply ideal for your purposes.

Another very desirable feature for this type of campaign is availability for you to obtain banner statistics on a per site basis. This will help you single out under-performing sites quickly, and avoid wasting additional impressions on them.