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Banners are effective media materials that can make or break a company's ad campaign. For web sites, along with the corporate logo, the banner speaks of your message and what you want to achieve for your corporate image and identity.

To help you with your banner design, we have compiled the following tips and suggestions that have made other web sites effective in terms of the amount of visitors and sales.

The Do's of Designing Your Banner

DO use animation. Especially animation that is quick to download. Animations do attract the attention of your target audience, but it should not take much time to download or else your visitors would just click on to another site.

But remember to provide animation in the minimum. Too much would not attract but irritate your visitors. It will also overwhelm your page.

Grantastic Designs have provided the following general guidelines for animated banners:

• The animation should be subtle enough to attract attention but should not be so ostentatious as to interfere or clash with the design of the web page you are advertising on.

• An animation that loops endlessly tends to irritate visitors. Have the animation loop 7-10 times, leaving the main message on the last animation frame.

• Conversely, some visitors will stop a web page from loading before the banner animation has loaded, leaving only the first frame. Thus, it might be a good idea to have your message come across in your first frame if you know that the web page you are advertising on has a long download time.

DO provide features that call for some action. Images that ask visitors to "click" or "submit" on your banner can improve significantly the rate of visitors clicking on your web page. Visitors are attracted to click on icons especially if you offer them something in return.

DO provide "FREE" in your banner. Human nature provides for attraction of anything that is offered "FREE". Depending on what is being offered, the word "FREE" can increase the rate of visitors clicking on your web site. Web sites usually offer free demonstrations of new software. This often gets good response from the target audience. Offering free money though produces suspicion among the browsers since people tend to question what the catch is.

DO use bright colors. Statistics show that the colors yellow, green, and blue in banners produce a higher rate of visitors, compared to those in black-and-white. Also, red should also be used sparingly, as it suggests aggressiveness that seems to repel many of the browsers.

DO provide a benefit for clicking on your banner. When you have questions in your banner, be sure to provide the answer on your web site. Make sure that the benefit you provide is found in your web site. Or else, your visitors will never go to your web site the second time. It's so hard to make a good impression; but it takes only seconds to have a wrong perception of your company.

DO keep your message short and concise. Simple banners get more attention than wordy and unfocused ones. There's no need to give a lengthy description of your web site. Any information that your visitors would want to know they will be able to get from the pages of your web site.

DO link your banner to a particular page. Visitors should be able to go directly to the appropriate page for the information they want. When they click on your banner, make sure that they don't have to go to your home page and hunt for the information. You will lose visitors as fast as you can say banner.

We hope that we have helped you make your banners more effective and efficient in providing you with a tool to achieve success.