Low Banner CTR

[echoweb]

Hello everyone,
A couple of days ago, I got a request from a web hosting company that wants to advertise on my site, but they wanted a test run. So, I gave them 5 free days of advertising. Right now, it's just the second day but I'm a little bit alarmed.

Their banners get very low CTR, like .5%

Why is that? Their banners are made very well and they are placed on the top of each page.

Check out the banners and my site here and please tell me something that I can do to increase the CTR:

Banner #1: http://echodev.com/images/ads/site5/site5b.gif
Banner #2: http://echodev.com/images/ads/site5/site5b2.gif
My Site: http://echodev.com

Thanks in advance
Boris

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Echo Web: The Web Developer's Starting Point
http://echodev.com

[goodies]

Truth is, I wouldn't click on either banner myself!

The first one: There's no incentive to click. If I'm interested I probably have some sort of hosting already (free or paid): How many megs? What features? I need DETAILS before I get interested enough to click.

Second banner: Hate it. Makes no sense. Doesn't look like an error (no buttons, etc). No incentive to click.

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Dan Grossman
webmaster@websitegoodies.com

http://www.websitegoodies.com
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[echoweb]

That's exactly what I was looking for. Please post your opinions about this. Thanks so much for such quick and useful response
Boris

[GeorgeC]

I think what you should also be looking at is how these banners perform relative to the other banners on your site. Do you have that info?

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Visit http://wsabstract.com for JavaScript tutorials and over 400+ free scripts

[jonese]

The first one isn't that bad but they don't really diffreentiate <sp?> themselves too much from other "$10.95" IHP's.

The second one, looks like i made it... and you all know what happens when a layout guy gets into photoshop....well it's nothing good....

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Eric Jones - SitePoint Administrator
http://www.sitepoint.com
eric@sitepoint.com
ICQ 1215804 (mention WR)

[echoweb]

The other banners are performing higher 1-5%
Boris

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Echo Web: The Web Developer's Starting Point
http://echodev.com

[GeorgeC]

0.5% is very poor then. I would suggest you contact the advertiser, and request different banners to put into rotation for the remainder of the test campaign. That's what I would, and in fact do do, with all my advertisers. It is the responsibility of not only the publisher, but advertiser as well, to try and maximize the performance of the ad campaign.

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Visit http://wsabstract.com for JavaScript tutorials and over 400+ free scripts

[echoweb]

Yeah I know, that 0.5 is very poor, but do you have any other comments about the banners above?

Or how about this? If somebody can design a banner for site5.com that will get 1.5+ CTR, I will give you 5,000 button impressions on http://echodev.com. If the banner will get 2.5%+ CTR, I will give you 20,000 button impressions...

The banner can be animated, but please keep within the size limit - 10-12KB.

You can send the banner to webmaster@echodev.com. I will test it for a couple of days and if it'll work, I will send you an email about it.

Thanks a lot
Boris

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Echo Web: The Web Developer's Starting Point
http://echodev.com

[echoweb]

Hello everyone,
I have created a banner in flash for site5.com.
Please check it out and tell me what you think. All suggestions are welcome.

Here's the URL: http://echodev.com/images/ads/site5/banner.html

Thank You
Boris

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Echo Web: The Web Developer's Starting Point
http://echodev.com

[errorman]

Might want to slow it down I looked and I had to go through the ad about 3-4 times bofore I got all off it