The history and truth behind online skyscraper, internet button and advertising banners

Since the dawn of the Internet, before pay per click featured or sponsored listings, or before 'real' search engine optimization; in fact, just after the generic domain name or URL boom, a form of online presence seemed to grab the U.K. by storm.

There isn't one main reason for this, but a multitude of smaller points, which in the end has tarnished the image of this form of creative marketing. It is a pity, because if done proper, with the proper research is a cost effective, novel way and good source of increasing category or keyword specific website traffic. You know what I'm talking about; I've put it in the title of this page, full colour, fully animated skyscraper, button and banner advertising.

The rise and fall of keyword or category generated banner placement

I'm going to try to explain the reasons why it failed so miserably in this country. I will try to put it in some form of timeline; however I cannot use specific dates.

A certain search engine employed a specific call centre to solely market the ads. This created a number of problems that in the end, has made businesses try to stay away from this form of branding and ultimately lead to the colour ads demise.

An outbound telesales operation employing over thirty agents - all on basic pay plus healthy commission - adds cost to the original price. You paid £500.00 for your placement - the sales rep got 10% (£50.00). Over 30 computers to run for 9 hours a day, plus each person on the phone, ordered to have call time of over four hours - increasing the cost still. The directors of the sales centre still want profit, so you can see that this is drastically reducing the chance of a good R.O.I. or return on investment.

If you add into the calculation that the web portal I am talking about, wasn't actually used specifically for search (it was and still is no MSN, Yahoo, or at the time Alta Vista), even though, at the time it was heavily featured between popular programmes on commercial television, was basically used as a communication device or outlet for teenagers - plus the fact that these young salespeople dialling out, or cold calling knew they could ask for more than they where told to, to boost there own wages for generic terms like 'debt consolidation', or 'personal loans', plus the fact that they would blatantly lie about, and they still do, about the actual stats (this site displays 'Overture', now 'Yahoo search marketing', and they would say more searches from this one portal than was on the 'Overture Keyword assistant'), really spelled the end for small to medium enterprises benefiting from banner advertising.

We can make banner advertising work for you

Quietly, away from these heavy handed sales operations, a few companies have come up with good quality ways of actually benefiting from this type of marketing.

Banner exchanges are quiet effective. It works along the theory that you upload the exchanges network into your site, they display ads on a rotational basis. Every two that are displayed on your web site, you get displayed in exchange. Pretty good idea, however, you cannot pick the pages that your logo or graphic is displayed.

AdMain have taken a completely different approach. We have developed partnerships with some of the leading portals, or as they are called in the industry, prime sites, or household names. We have sites in your industry, which are receiving in excess of 1,000,000 unique visitors per month. We are able to offer you placement through these related sites.

Further to this, we can actually target certain demographics, so if your target audience is female, aged 18 to 35 (that's just an example), through some of these prime sites free or paid for membership, we can specifically target these people when they are actually signed in.

Again as an example, you sell handbags, you don't really want to waste an impression being displayed to a bricklayer from Norwich (unless he calls himself Sandra at the weekend), you want it shown to a woman who is in the demographic of the your ideal customer.

Industry targeted placement

We have high traffic sites in virtually every industry for you to take advantage of.

Whether you want to promote a new product, short term or long term, have been stung before, but agree with the sense this page makes. We can offer long or short term solutions on some of the highest profile privately owned and also corporate or public limited sites in the U.K. Contact us today for a free no obligation quotation. Just ask@admain.co.uk. Banner advertising that works.