The internet has witnessed an exponential increase in the number of online stores selling various services and products, both physical and virtual. However, this increase also means tighter competition. A quality product no longer guarantees a successful business. With so many competitors, an e-commerce store must find ways for potential customers to find and choose them over others. One of the most influential and noticeable ways is by creating a quality banner that will attract people’s attention. The question, however, is how do we create an effective e-commerce banner that will drive sales?
Before you delve into the specifics, you must first establish a basic understanding of e-commerce and why web banners exist in the first place. It is essential to know what you want and how it will help your business.
What Is Ecommerce?
E-commerce or eCommerce for many and e-commerce for some is the buying and selling of products or services using electronic devices like computers, smartphones, or tablets. This is the electronic equivalent of the brick-and-mortar store. It’s derived from ‘electronic commerce,’ a broader term for electronic transactions between businesses and customers.
Because e-commerce is an abbreviation that people around the globe spell differently, it doesn’t have the right spelling; there’s no single, universally accepted way to spell it. Thus, it has been abbreviated in a variety of ways. However, people agree on one thing: it’s a fast-growing industry and it’s here to stay.
What Is An E-commerce Banner?
An e-commerce banner is an image that usually appears on the top of an online storefront. It’s the first thing potential consumers see, and it’s meant to grab their attention. It can be static or animated, and often displays a store’s special offers, new arrivals, and best-selling products. Visualizing it might seem simple, but designing a quality banner that can attract many people does not happen overnight. It takes a lot of effort and strategy to achieve the best results.
Designing An Effective Banner
To get you started, here are the steps in creating an e-commerce banner:
Step 1: Choose The Right Banner Size
There are many things to consider when designing an effective banner, and one of these is the right banner size. Many marketers think that the larger the banner, the better. However, not all people browse on their mobile phones (and computers) at the same resolution (screen size). To ensure your banner looks great to every website visitor, you must choose one that is not too large or too small.
Step 2: Choose a Theme/Color Scheme
Easily the most important part of an ad, choosing a theme or color scheme that resonates with people is essential for attracting new customers. While it may be tempting to use many bright, vibrant colors, too much color can compete with the products you want the audience to focus their attention on. Therefore, it’s best to select one or two colors that will catch the eye of people browsing your banner. Themes are also important, but not nearly as much as colors. It is often a good idea to use a theme similar to your products or services, such as shades of orange for a school or blue for an accounting firm.
For best results, try to match standard colors in your product with corresponding colors in your banner’s theme. This can be as simple as choosing blue clothes for a fashion brand or green apples for a fruit shop.
You can use visual tools, such as websites, apps, or even paper color charts, to choose the right color. There are available applications online that can help you find the right colors for your business.
Step 3: Choose the Right Imagery and Fonts
Now that you’ve chosen a theme and a color scheme, it’s time to find the right images and fonts to go with them. When doing this, make sure you do not overload your banner. Many small images can be quite distracting, so the audience has difficulty understanding the message you are trying to send. Using an image that will capture their attention without overwhelming them is challenging but is crucial to the banner’s success.
The same goes for fonts. Too many fonts make the information you are trying to communicate in the banner difficult to read. It’s best to stick with one or two fonts that complement your images and product themes.
Using simple fonts on your banner will also let the images do most of the talking. Avoid using different fonts and colors in your banner because these might end up confusing the viewers. If you do use multiple fonts, make sure they’re all related to each other somehow.
There are several places you can look at to choose the right image, such as stock photo websites or stock photography collections. The important thing is to find an image relevant to your brand, so you need to be careful in choosing the one you will use. You can simply search the web for images, but many websites simplify this task by offering free stock photos if you don’t have time to spare.
Step 4: Be Creative, But Keep It Simple
While you want to make your banner stand out from the crowd, you also do not want to get too complicated with it. In general, the simpler a banner is, the better results you will have with it. You can use a nice image or an appealing font, but too much of it can distract people from browsing your website.
Do not go overboard with effects and animations because they will make people think your banner is too aggressive. If you use interesting effects and animations, you might end up with something that does not look good. Above all, keep your banner simple and focus on the message you are trying to send out.
Step 5: Use A Copy That Is Catchy, And On Point
In addition to your theme and imagery, you also need a powerful yet simple copy that will entice people to click on the banner. Your copy needs to be short and sweet because extra words will distract people from your images. For example, if you’re advertising a new smartphone, your copy can be: ‘Make your browsing experience better than ever with this new device.’
You need to generate people’s interest in your products, so you must focus on their benefits if they click on the banner.
Step 6: Use The Right Size Of Text To Make The Right Impression
To make your banner look interesting, you can use different text sizes for the banner. The idea is to make the promotional copy smaller than the call-to-action button. If you use texts that are too large on your banner, people might not click on it because it can look too aggressive. Meanwhile, if you use a very small text size on your banner, people will not read it. Find a good balance between these two, so the banner looks compelling enough to get clicks.
Step 7: Put A Call-To-Action Button On Your Banner
A call-to-action button will encourage people to click the banner because it tells them exactly what you want them to do. On your banner, simply tell people what they can expect if they click on it. You need to make it as straightforward as possible without the use of awkward phrases.
Getting Traffic To Your Banner
Your banner needs to stand out from the crowd, but it also needs to be shared and seen by people. Ideally, you want to get traffic from all possible sources.
Follow these steps to promote your banner online:
1. Share Your Banner On Social Media
Almost every person has at least one social media account. Many people post their day-to-day life on their respective accounts. Some have made it a routine to browse social media platforms to check out what’s new. For many, they’ve been used to sharing things and network with other people on social media. For e-commerce store owners, though, social media opens the doors to an excellent marketing avenue and a big opportunity for more sales.
Social media is a good platform for sharing your banner because it allows you to target specific audiences. You can get traffic from people of different demographics, ages, and interest groups. With social media website tools, you can create a list of your followers and target them for your banner.
2. Promote Your Banner In Email Newsletters
Another way of getting more traffic to your banner is to send it in email newsletters. If you have a good following and people enjoy the products and services you provide, emailing your banner is a great way to share it with them.
However, receiving product emails may be too much for some people. Some might become annoyed by your actions and find it spammy if you send too many emails. Thus, you need to know the right frequency for sending out your newsletter. Sending your banner in an email once or twice a week is one of the best strategies to avoid spamming. You may also use an attractive subject line and try to engage people even before they click on the banner, so it wouldn’t feel like you’re spamming them.
3. Use SEO To Help Your Banner Be Seen On Search Engines
SEO is a marketing practice that uses different strategies to help your website appear on search results when people look for keywords related to the products and services you offer. Like social media, the more people click on your banner from search engines, the higher your chances of getting a good conversion rate.
To ensure your banner appears in the correct search results, use high-quality and relevant keywords in your banner. These should be the same keywords people would type when searching for the products and services you offer. If your banner keywords are not related to what you offer, people might not click on them.
Furthermore, the language you use in your banner shouldn’t be too technical that only a few people use it. Write your banner using regular words used by most people.
4. Share On Forums And Blogs
Another excellent way to promote your banner is to share it on forums and blogs. People who are active on forums are usually very dedicated to their hobbies, so they are exactly the kind of people who might be interested in what you’re offering.
If you see a blog with valuable content and a regular audience, you may want to consider sending your banner to them. Blogs are superb platforms for sharing banners because of the long-form content they provide. Your banner will get extra exposure and will be seen by people who may not have visited your store before. However, ensure that your banner is appropriate for the blog content, so it wouldn’t appear spammy.
5. Paid Advertisement Methods
To make sure your banner is seen, you can pay for advertisements. The advantage of this method is that you can guarantee that your banner will be seen by people even if you don’t have any followers or newsletters to share it. However, this method can be quite expensive if you don’t know how to go about it. It may be best to hire an expert who can help you achieve the results you want, but start small if you are determined to do it yourself.
6. Try New Promotion Methods
Every e-commerce business has different followers and a different target market, so it’s important to try new ways of promoting your banner. Don’t limit yourself to the methods listed in this article. Instead, take time to explore other marketing opportunities you can use to promote your banner. You might be surprised at how much you can gain from them.
Final Thoughts
An e-commerce banner can drive traffic and sales if done right. To create an effective banner, you have to choose the right color and theme to match your website. It’s also important to use the right size, image, and text information in your banner, so it doesn’t turn away people who see it. Once you have all these taken care of, promoting your banner is easy if you know where to look for followers.
Social media, forums, and email are just some of the platforms you can use to promote your banner to get more clicks. You can also use SEO strategies so your banner will be more visible in search engines. Lastly, paid advertisements can also help you get more traffic and sales if you know the right keywords to use.
Remember that experimentation is key if you want to get the most out of your e-commerce banner. The fear of trying out new things only limits the results you can get from your banner. By the way, creative automation platforms can be a huge accelerator to help you create e-commerce banners at scale based on your product catalog for example.