How to Create Banner Ads That Stand Out From the Crowd

Are you searching for ways to create enticing banner ads that convert sales? Following a few simple rules can elevate your banner game and get people to notice you online.

In addition to generating sales, digital advertising with banner ads can help you build brand awareness. But to get the most out of your effort, you’ll need a concrete strategy to help you optimize your digital marketing campaign performance and meet your short- and long-term sales goals.

Below are a few considerations and tips for your design team when creating banner ad campaign strategies. If you need more of a beginner’s guide, check out our overview of the basics of creating banner ads, including types and best practices.

1. Identify your target audience and their needs
2. Create an effective landing page
3. Ensure that ads are mobile-friendly
4. Establish a coherent color scheme
5. Choose a font that’s easy on the eyes
6. Make sure your CTA is clear
7. Match the creative to your placement
8. Respect your brand’s guidelines
9. Include animations
10. Create a sense of urgency
11. Measure effectiveness and make adjustments

1. Identify your target audience and their needs

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The first step to creating a great banner ad is to understand who the ad is meant to reach. This may seem obvious, but many advertisers feel their target audience is “everyone.” That is rarely true, so you’ll need to understand a few things before creating effective banner ads. Ask questions like:

• What problems does my product solve for potential customers?
• What needs does my product meet for customers?
• What messaging has worked in the past when reaching customers?
• What kind of design appeals to my customers?
• How are my competitors positioning their messaging?
• What will entice my audience to click on my advertisement?

You should have the answers to these questions before designing banner ads to ensure your banner ads have the most effective messaging.

2. Create an effective landing page

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After someone clicks on your banner ad, you’ll need a landing page that encourages a desired action—such as signing up for a newsletter, buying a membership, or purchasing a product directly from an e-commerce store.

Your landing page should match your banner ads both in the way it looks and in the message it delivers. This will create a more cohesive experience for the user and make the transition to the landing page more enticing. Your landing page should also deliver on any promises made in your ad. For example, if you offer a discount or coupon, make sure the customer can easily take advantage of the offer when they get to your landing page.

If your landing page is a web page, you have more space to make your pitch. Consider using multimedia—like stock photos, bulleted text, or video—to inspire your audience. You can also create an online form that allows customers to engage more with your brand (offering you a chance to better nurture potential leads).

Many marketers develop the landing page message (with the desired action) first, then build out the creative, including banner ads, to fit the effort.

3. Ensure ads are mobile-friendly

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Mobile phones now make up a large share of any advertising audience. In many industries, businesses spend more on mobile advertising than on other platforms.

Ensure your banner creative is mobile-friendly to avoid alienating your potential mobile customers. If you’ve ever browsed a website online only to have the content you’re interested in covered up by an inescapable ad, you know it does not make you feel warm and fuzzy about the brand.

To create a mobile-friendly ad, follow the guidelines provided by Google for the best user experience. You should always test your ads in the major mobile operating systems (Apple iOS and Android) before they go live to ensure everything works properly.

You may also want to set any pop-up banner ads to show for only newer users. This can prevent a customer who has already viewed your ad from getting frustrated.

Finally, customers should have an easy way to exit your ads whenever they’re on mobile devices. An ad that covers content without the ability to be closed is frustrating for the user and can be flagged by Google as intrusive advertising.

When developing your ad creative, you may want to consider including mobile-specific banner advertising. Mobile device ads are rectangular (typically 300x50 pixels or 320x50 pixels, depending on the device). While small, they should still include identifiable colors, logos, and messaging that help reinforce your brand online.

4. Establish a coherent color scheme

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If you want to create a great-looking ad with colors outside your branded color scheme, be sure your ad uses a coherent color palette that works well together. You’ll also want your chosen colors to complement your brand to maintain legitimacy.

If you use a design application like Canva for creating your banner designs, many of the templates will come with a recommended color palette. Simply search through their recommended schemes for something you like. You can also use an online palette generator tool like Coolors or Colormind to get some solid ideas.

If you want to elicit a specific feeling in your message, find inspiration in color psychology to guide your new campaign. Remember that perceptions of meaning in color are different around the world. For example, orange may bring to mind autumn or Halloween in the U.S., but it is often connected with loss and mourning in the Middle East. Adjust accordingly if you’re advertising internationally. You should also be sure that whatever eye-catching palette you identify remains consistent throughout your individual campaign.

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5. Choose a font that’s easy on the eyes

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Fonts matter in any messaging, but a banner advertisement has limited space and must be readable across multiple platforms and devices. Select a font to help set a mood or style, but be careful that your font is also easy to read. You don’t want your message to be lost in a clever but hard-to-read font.

Remember to use your brand’s style guide to choose a font. This helps keep that cohesive look and feel throughout all of your advertising materials. You can still use a fun stylized font for your headline to capture attention, but consistency will pay off when you stick to your brand guidelines.

If you’re looking for a new font, check places like Envato, Font Space, 1001 Free Fonts, or others if you want something outside the standard web design safe font family. If you use a template service like Canva for your designs, you can also search their font database or add your own if you’re a pro subscriber.

Ensure your font color and size are appropriate for the ad size. You have wiggle room here, but stick to larger font sizes for any important messaging.

Your font color should complement rather than compete with your background. It should also have enough contrast for the text to be visible. If you’re adding text to a colored background, use this free contrast checker tool for a second opinion. If you’re posting text against a photo, you may need to use a drop shadow, outline, background blur, or another trick to help the text pop.

6. Make sure your CTA is clear

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As with any online ads, your banner advertisements must have a strong call to action (CTA). You can’t assume a casual browser will know they should click your ad to get something that will benefit them. With so much vying for your readers’ attention, you must have a compelling and clear directive to be successful.

Whether you’re providing more information about something they’re interested in or offering a special price on a product or service, make the desired action clear in your copy: “Click to Save 20% on XYZ,” or “Get a Free Water Analysis at Your Home,” and so on. Use an enticing button or animation to make the CTA more appealing.

7. Match the creative to the placement

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Banner ads come in all shapes and sizes. As such, different ad placements will require different size banners. As you begin your graphic design work, you’ll need to know the dimensions and file types required for each planned placement.

If you’re advertising on Google’s Display Network, the possible banner ad sizes run the gamut. Find a full list here, under Display Ads. This doesn’t mean you have to create one for each. You can walk through the process of where you wish to advertise and determine which form factor will work best for you. Finding a good balance between ad size and position will help improve your performance. Do some testing to see which placements and positions give you the most conversions.

Social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube also have their own ad specifications. Check the respective property for their placement offerings (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram) and determine which will work best for you.

As for file size, smaller files are better than large ones in display advertising. Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) requires file sizes under 150 KB for display ads. You can still get a high-quality banner for 150 kilobytes. This requirement helps ensure that the ads load quickly and the user experience is speedy. Facebook Ads and other properties allow larger files, but keeping the files leaner can help them load faster (and ensure users don’t scroll away before they fully load).

You’ll most likely work with JPG, PNG, GIF, or HTML5 files. These are the most common for any of the ad networks and website placements.

8. Respect your brand’s guidelines

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The basic laws of branding a business include establishing a coherent design scheme to use throughout all advertising. Most companies have established brand guidelines that include color hex codes, typography, logo variations, and more. If you or your client have not done this yet, establishing brand guidelines is an important exercise to complete before creating your advertising program. Adhering to your brand's style elements will help you build brand recognition in all advertising and marketing efforts.

Banner ads are often quite small, so it may seem that they don’t need to conform to style guide standards. However, the same guidelines should apply to your banner ad design. Every banner ad you create should include your logo, colors, design elements, and recommended fonts in some form.

That said, as you continue to evolve your brand, play with interactive elements on websites or social media outlets where you advertise to increase engagement. If your ad resembles a trusted website design, it may increase the sense of comfort the user has with your brand. Use your best judgment when diverging away from your tried-and-true brand guidelines.

9. Include animations

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Animation can be helpful in generating interest in your banner ad creative. An animated banner gives you additional messaging space compared to a static banner, and the motion gives you an extra chance to entice your potential customer.

Animation can be taken too far, of course, so be sure to design ads that are not simply gimmicky attention-getters. Limit your animation time to under 10 to 15 seconds, or you may lose your viewer’s interest. You may also find that your file size goes up significantly with extensive animation.

If you want to do more with your animation, move into video. If you haven’t made a video ad yet, check out this list of the best video ad makers.

10. Create a sense of urgency

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Timely and compelling ads give users more reasons to click. Creating a sense of urgency can come in the form of a limited-time offer, an expiring coupon, or compelling information that may interest a potential customer. You want your advertisement to inspire people to give your product or service a chance.

How can you create a sense of urgency in a banner ad? Some suggestions include:

1. Have a deadline (Offer ends January 1st!)
2. Identify scarcity (Only 4 tickets left at this price!)
3. Use urgent language (Limited-time offer! Before it’s gone! Don’t miss out!)
4. Use customization when possible (Only for Greg!)
5. Advertise when the product is timely (Big-screen TVs for the Big Game!)

11. Measure effectiveness and make adjustments

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You’ve spent a lot of time and effort developing your campaign strategy and banner ad creative. The next step is to measure the success of your campaigns and make any necessary adjustments for your next campaign.

A/B testing allows you to compare the performance of different messaging or designs in the same or similar ad placements. A/B testing reviews click-through rates, leads, and relevant conversions from two different ads. Consider A/B testing your graphic design, messaging, and placements, and use the resulting data to inform your next moves. You can also solicit customer feedback about messaging and incorporate that data back into your A/B testing efforts.

Some ad platforms may offer an A/B testing option when you set up your campaigns. If you advertise on multiple platforms, it may make sense to bring in a specialist to help you optimize your campaigns.

Upwork’s Project Catalog can help you create your best banner ad yet

Armed with these tips, you can start creating your own banner ads for your company or clients.

If you’re interested in helping others design creative and effective banner ad campaigns, find professional clients who need your expertise through Upwork.

If you’re a business owner looking for someone to help elevate your digital ad design or optimize your digital marketing campaigns, visit Upwork’s Project Catalog to find the right person at the right price.

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Upwork is not affiliated with and does not sponsor or endorse any of the tools or services discussed in this article. These tools and services are provided only as potential options, and each reader and company should take the time needed to adequately analyse and determine the tools or services that would best fit their specific needs and situation.