Web banner design is an oft overlooked aspect of web development. Of course this is understandable, even the most effective web banners are a relatively inexpensive and unobtrusive form of marketing, and as such many marketers believe that there is no penalty for sidelining them in the grander scheme of things.
However these marketers are failing to comprehend the damage that a poor quality web banner design causes; this damage goes beyond lost sales, it affects the average customer’s overall perception of your business and your branding, and as such creates unpredictable and undesirable long term effects. Let’s consider some web banner quality guidelines.
Web banners are almost unique amongst advertising media in that they are interactive. This allows for a wide range of opportunities that other mediums can’t offer. However many marketers only see an opportunity for deception, slyly disguising their links as some kind of fun interactive media like a game or an experiment; of course the user is simply redirected to an unrelated landing page. This approach is successful in so far as it will often generate a high click-through-ratio; the only problem is that sales are more likely to fall than rise as a result.
Many designers underestimate the important role that color plays in informing us as to the nature of a product. As such they opt for the ‘coolest’ color combination without actually going to the trouble of understanding the unconscious associations that a particular combination suggests. This is a foolish mistake as utilizing the appropriate colors can increase sales considerably, for example purple is a soothing color that is often used to sell therapeutic products, using it to sell a motorbike would be highly ineffective.
A web banner design needs to excel form a technical stand-point as well. Do everything you can to cut dead weight and to see that your banner loads quickly and includes all the addition icons that customers could need.
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