This is the way it is with most people. If the exchange offers a 2:1 exchange
ratio, and your banner has a click through ratio of 100:1 click (not uncommon
on the Internet), then your statistics will most likely not look to pretty. The
debate goes on... are banner exchanges only good for the people who run them?
It is starting to sound like that.
Personally, I think that banner exchanges
do have their place, if you do it right.
Here are some things that you
can do to optimize your banner exchange experience:
1. Make sure
you have a banner with a good click through rate. Of course, click through
isn't the only thing. You want to get a good response. So, let me change that.
Don't just go for a banner that gets a good click through rate... go for a banner
that will draw visitors that are interested in your site. It is much better to
get qualified visitors even if you have to get a lower click through rate. FourCorners
has lots of information on designing good banners. http://www.whitepalm.com/fourcorners/
2. Make sure you only display one banner on each page of your site.
I can't tell you how many times I have seen sites that line over five banners
up at the bottom of each page of their website. Banners are annoying enough...
don't annoy your visitors more than you have to. The object of banner exchanges
is to drive visitors to your site, not to drive them away.
3. Make
sure that you give the banner a good location on each page. Design your site
so that the banners are a natural part of the design. Take my site, Promotion
World for example. I have designed it so that the banners look good on it... in
fact, I have experimented with leaving them off, and it doesn't look nearly as
good. Webreference is another good example of a site that integrates banners well
into their site design. http://www.webreference.com/
4. Make sure
you join an exchange that offers good targeting, especially if your site is
on a subject that appeals only to a very small audience. There is no point in
broadcasting your banner to hundreds of people that couldn't care less about your
site.
5. Make sure that the exchange you join has a good credit ratio.
There are a number of exchanges that offer much better ratios that what LinkExchange
and others offer. LinkBuddies is one such exchange. They offer a 4:3 exchange
ratio. http://www.linkbuddies.com TrafficX trades click throughs instead of traffic.
This exchange works really well! http://www.trafficx.com
Finally, check
out a number of different exchanges to see which works best for you. My website,
Promotion World, has reviews and ratings of over 35 different banner exchanges
to help make your decisions a bit easier.
There are also a number of different
articles on the subject of banner exchanges. Have a look at http://www.promotionworld.com/be/
If done right, banner exchanges can be a reasonably useful tool for getting a
bit of extra traffic.
Make sure, however, that you don't rely on them alone.
There are many, many other forms of promotion available. There are lots of websites
dedicated to the subject of website promotion, and I recommend you visit some.
Some of my favorites include: My own site, Promotion World at http://www.promotionworld.com
VirtualPROMOTE at http://www.virtualpromote.com Webpage Advertising at http://www.toppromotion.com
May your banners be blessed with high click through rates!
Writen by Joshua Reimer Are you a beginner to website promotion? Then
try my FREE 40- page tutorial designed especialy for beginners. You will get a
good grounding in the basics in a painless, easy to understand way. The tutorial
and other great promotion help can be found at http://www.promotionworld.com
