Freedom: The Banner Ads Module
Training Outline
Pre-requisites: completion of Freedom: The Fundamentals (part I) training or general understanding of the Blue Administrative Interface
I. Banner Ads Module: Key Features
a. Add, maintain, organize banner ads
b. Provide graphical link to a specific part of your site c. Track statistics (views and clicks)
d. Display in different positions II. Training Goals
a. History
b. Advertising & Promoting
c. Categories, Clients, and Banners d. Statistics
e. Banner Ad Guidelines f. Answer Common Questions
i. What size should my banner ads be? ii. How many visitors do you get to your site?
iii. Can banners be page specific or are they site-wide? iv. What file type should be provided?
III. History of Banner Ads
a. 1993 – first clickable ad sold by GNN to a law firm b. 1994
i. May – trackable ads introduced
ii. October 25 – first web banner sold by HotWired to At&T c. 1999 – Google began using online text ads
d. 2001
i. Google’s Ad Revenue – hit $85 million
IV. Thinking About Selling Banner Ads On Your Site... a. Options if your company has restrictions on ad sales
i. Trade/Bargain/Exchange with another company ii. Cross Promote with similar companies
iii. Advertise portions of your own site or special events iv. Prompt internal activities
b. Ways to Prevent Banner Ads from distracting from the purpose and message of your own site
i. Ad placement ii. Ad quality iii. Ad messaging iv. Targeted ads
v. Average clickthrough rate is 1-2% c. Determine potential benefits with a pricing plan V. Measuring Banner Ad Success
a. Branding b. Measuring
i. Clicks on the ad
ii. Visiting the advertiser’s site c. Succeeding
VI. Key Terms
a. Page views/impressions - # of times webpage requested from server i. Tells advertisers how many visitors may be exposed to their ad ii. CPM – Cost Per Thousand Impressions
iii. Typical CPM Rate anywhere from $1-20
iv. CPM x Impressions Per Month = Cost Per Month
b. Cost Per Click (CPC)- # of visitors who click on ad and Click Through Rate (CTR) ratio of page views to clicks
i. Typical CPC between 10 and 60 cents per click ii. Average CTR between 1-2&
iii. Estimated clicks X CPC = CTR (%) c. Things to Consider
i. What is your CPM?
ii. What is the minimum number of page views an advertiser can contract for; discounts?
iii. How many views per month do you have to sell? iv. How many different visitors per month visit your site?
1. Use a Profile of Your Audience to share this: a. Age
b. Gender c. Interests d. Business e. Income range
VII. Steps To Adding a Banner Ad in The Banner Ad Module a. Four Tabs
i. Banners – where you add, edit, or delete banner ads
ii. Categories – determine where banner ads appear on the site iii. Clients – where you add, edit, or delete your advertisers
iv. Statistics – where you can view the tracked Banner Ad views and clicks
b. Step 1 – Set Up Categories (Categories Tab)
i. Determine where banner ads will appear on site during site set up ii. Specifies which banner ads are grouped together
iii. Recommendation: Contact your system administrator before
adding, editing, or removing categories
c. Step 2 – Add Clients (Clients Tab)
i. Set up clients to pay by view or by click (max views/max clicks) ii. Add a New Client; Name is the only required information
iii. Contact Field – optional; used for contact for billing or updates to the banner ads for that client
iv. Email Address – optional; typically the email address for the contact person
v. Max Views – maximum # of times each of the client’s banner ads can appear on the web site. Blank = unlimited
vi. Max Clicks – maximum # of times visitors can click on each of the clients banner ads. Blank = unlimited
vii. Member Drop Down List – optional; works in conjunction with the Membership module to associate members with banner ad clients. Feature is only available if your site is configured to allow
members to login via a My Account Page. viii. Edit or delete clients from the Clients Tab d. Step 3 – Ad Banner Ads to each category
i. Options in Accrisoft Freedom System 1. Upload banner ad graphics
2. Remote Image URL – pulls from another site; 3rd party banner systems; URL/tracking or you can specify a location where the banner ad is stored
3. Enter HTML for the banner ad (flash file or HTML formatting). Review Help Documentation if using this
option.
ii. Banners Tab
1. Category (required)
a. To add an ad to multiple categories; add it separately to each category.
b. If you have multiple pictures in the same category, they will rotate.
2. Clients (required)– identify which client the ad is associated with
3. Type
a. Image – upload banner ad image directly to site
(Browse to Upload)
b. Remove URL – if image is located on another site c. HTML – if adding HTML
4. URL field
a. enter URL of the website or address that you want to navigate to when visitor clicks on ad. Be sure to include the http://a and the www if the address includes this format.
b. Select Change/Add to use Link Wizard if you want to navigate visitors to other modules or webpages on your site and even webpages on other sites 5. Width/Height – can autopopulate or you can enter 6. Settings
a. Show In New Window determines whether ad URL opens in new window when clicked b. Active displays if the banner ad is active or
inactive.
i. Active banner ads appear on the site as rotating banner ads
ii. Inactive ads do not appear on the site 1. If they reach max views or clicks 2. If they are past their end date. c. Start Date - when ad should begin appearing on
site
d. End Date - when ad should stop appearing on site Note: If Start/End Date fields are blank, banner ad will begin displaying immediately. If banner ad is default ad, the start/end dates are ignored and it will always display.
e. Display Time specify how long ad will display on site. Recommendation: Review help document to
understand Display Time rules.
f. Use as Default - make one ad of a group the default banner ad – meaning that this ad will display if no other banners in the group are active.
VIII. Targeted Ads
a. Definition: an ad that is placed in a specific location of a website – with the idea that the content of the page coordinates with the content of the ad b. Follow Steps 1 through 3
c. Step 4
i. Edit Webpage where Targeted Ad will appear
ii. Targeted Modules: Add a new module (bottom of page)
1. Position: choose Category where you want Ad to appear 2. .Module Type: Banner Ads
3. BannerGroup: Select your Targeted Ad Category Group here (created by site administrator)
4. Return to the Banner Ad, and change the Category to the same Targeted Ad Category Group
d. Benefit: According to an Internet Survey, website visitors are more likely to click on banner ads that are relevant
IX. Statistics Tab.
a. Updated every 24 hours at midnight; therefore there is a 24 hour delay. b. Banner Ad statistics
i. divided by Client (VIEW) 1. # of ads
2. total views 3. total clicks
4. total ratio = clicks to views ii. divided by Actual Ad.
iii. Note: most sites are set to just track clicks; if you want to see views, contact your system administrator
iv. Top Banners by click lists Top Banners sorted by clicks; shows the top 10 Banners
X. What makes people click PPT a. Be professional.
b. Proper spelling/grammar are always important.
c. Select font sizes, styles, and colors that maximize the ad’s readability. If an ad is poor quality, people will assume the advertisers website is, too. d. Ask for an action
e. Keep it simple. Less is more. Convey your message in a small amount of time. Keep ads clear and concise. Easily and quickly understood.
f. A Good rule of thumb is to Say it in Seven Words or Less.
XI. Banner Ad Common Questions
a. What size should my banner ads be?
i. Dimensions: Recommended that banner ad graphics in a category are exactly the same size so they fit in the space appropriately ii. File size: Keep downloading times to minimum.
b. How many visitors do I get to my site?
i. Statistics Module is used to track this information. 1. Quantify the value of specific pages and modules 2. See what sites and search engines are bringing people to
your site
3. How long visitors stay
4. How many pages visitors are viewing 5. What pages they are interested in
ii. Helps you tweak site to increase visits and keep visitors on the site longer.
iii. Use information to plan Banner Advertisements.
c. Can banners ads be page specific? Yes – See Targeted Banner Ads. d. What file type should be provided?
i. We recommend following industry guidelines for file sizes ii. Use a transparent background; blends into design
