Happy Birthday Display Ads!

Natasha Aronov — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:15:48 +0000

Fifteen years ago today the first banner advertisement was displayed on www.Hotwired.com. At the time there were only about two million internet uses in the United States and the only way of getting connected was through a slow dial up connection. When banners advertising was first introduced, many companies were very hesitant and weary about such advertisement. Some of the very first companies to sign on to this new way of advertising were MCI, Volvo, 1-800-Collect, and AT&T. The banner ads were a simple static image located at the top of a web page almost acting as the header. Some of the ads did not even have a call to action or show anywhere in the creative what the product being advertised was.
When it was discovered that an ad could be clicked on and have the consumer redirect to the page advertisers did not know what to think. Some loved it, and others not so much because they did not want to seem like they were being pushy. Volvo had their consumers who clicked on their ads be redirected to simple questionnaire about the Volvo they might be interested in.
Banner ads have come a great distance since 1994 when they first started to appear. No longer are they just static images with no call to action on the top of a web page. They now expand, float on the page, have movies/sound embedded, and even can have the user interact and play games within them. Whether the advertisers are just tracking impressions/CTR or are going the distance and tracking CPA/CPL, the ideas and possibilities seem endless for online advertising. I am sure that we are still at the tip of the iceburg with what we have seen so far. It will be very interesting to see what the next fifteen years will bring to online advertising. Leadpile will attempt to keep up with the innovative ideas of the online advertising world!

Is CTR Just a Crock?

Natasha Aronov — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 04:06:17 +0000

It is not a surprise to anyone in the online advertising business that the CTR (click through rate) of your campaign does not always determine how strong or well your campaign is doing. If you are like most people you will just ignore the banner ads, or even more the annoying pop up ads while you are serving the net. Maybe only clicking on one, by accident when you are trying to close out of the page, won’t hurt.
So why do advertisers even bother with display advertising? Even though CTR may not be the best way to measure your success rate (but sure seems to be one one of the easiest) it still drives traffic to the advertisers site. According to adage.com, “Consumers exposed to a display ad were 65% more likely to visit the advertiser’s site than users who never saw the ad.” Personally, I think that advertisers should be focusing more on conversions rather than CTR. Having a high CTR is great, but you need a low CPA (cost per action), and high ROI (return on investment) to maintain/increase revenue.
Even with display advertising becoming more advanced over the past few years with expandable, floaters, and even interstitial, it still does not seem to cut it. Display advertising is great if you are just trying to get your name out there, but if you are looking increase and revenue there are defiantly many other better options to look into.

Leadpile's Blog» CTR

Happy Birthday Display Ads!

Is CTR Just a Crock?