Internet Banner Ads Not Clicking with Customers
by Bob Bentz
The number of internet users clicking on banner advertisements has dropped in half in the last two years, according to a study from CommScore.
Tom Brady's wife Gisele Bundchen can be found on AthletesWives.com
The study showed that only 16% of internet users click on banner advertisements in the month of March, 2009. In July, 2007, 32% of internet users had clicked on banner ads.
Perhaps more alarming is that 8% of the internet users who said they clicked on banners account for 80% of the overall clicks. Do the math and it appears as though 1 1/2 percent of internet users account for the vast majority of banner clicks.
Affiliate marketers have realized in recent years that you can’t just write a blog, get an account at CJ, and make money like you used to. You may get some clicks, but you won’t make a lot on a CPA basis.
“When it comes to banners, we’ve switched completely to CPM deals for our blog,” said Andrew Rufo who writes a blog about the hottest wives of pro athletes. ”We found the CPA deals just didn’t deliver.”
While the click on a banner has always been of dubious value, the real value for banner advertisers is in branding. In fact, there is rationale for having a merchant account at one of the affiliate networks even if your sales barely meet the monthly minimums. Several studies have shown that consumers are more apt to visit a web site later if they’ve seen a banner ad on the internet. Banner ads create awareness and branding in the same fashion that television advertisements have done for many decades.
