Getting the most out of your FL Sponsorship!
As an Administrator of Fallen-Leaves , I have come to the conclusion that many smaller hobby business’ that run banner ads- are not getting the full potential out of advertising dollar.
If you’re currently running a banner on Fallen-Leaves, or are considering the prospect, here are a few things to keep in mind:
Update your banner often.
I can look at the site’s banner click-through stats and tell you exactly which banners are brand new and which have been running for more than a couple of months. The marketing world refers to it as “wear-out” or “poster effect.” It’s caused by the simple fact that after your audience has seen your banner enough times, it blends into the scenery of the page and they no longer even notice it.
The good news is, it’s easily corrected. Change your image. Change your color palette. Change the text. Change the animation. Any combination of the above are almost guaranteed to breathe new life – and click-throughs – to your advertising campaign.
Participate!
As part of the advertising package, our forum offers the right to post updates , sales, and FL only member specials in the our advertising sponsor forum. A banner is great for getting your name out there, and for the “window-shopping” click-throughs. But it’s the good deal that will send buyers your way, money in hand. If you simply email the banner and paypal the money every month and forget about it, chances are the forum’s users are forgetting about you too. It sounds harsh but promoting your business is a chore!:-)
Clicks aren’t everything.
Here’s another common and frustrating problem. In this internet advertising world, it’s very easy to get caught up in the click-through stats when it may not be your best statistic to look at. You need to look at the impressions of your banner. Because, if done correctly, a banner ad does an great job at getting your name out there. It hammers it home to the people who see it hundreds, maybe even thousands, of times. Then, when they’re ready to shop, you’re top of the list and there’s a good chance they’re gonna type in your URL.
Notice what I just said: They’ll TYPE IN your URL. That’s right, people who are actively shopping don’t click banners, they visit the sites they can think of. Imagine you wanted to buy a book from Amazon, that you saw featured on a web site. Would you go back to that site and refresh the page until that banner came up, then click on it? Nope, you’d type www.amazon.com and be done with it. The clicks won’t register in your banner statistics, but you will still sell your product! So remember, clicks aren’t everything.
Become a part of the Community
Of all our sponsors, the ones who are there day-in and day-out to give advice and answer technical questions are the most successful. People still want to buy from someone they like, even in this online world where they’ve never actually met anyone.
In conclusion, if you want quality results, be a quality sponsor. The time you invest will pay off, and the banner you run WILL do its job.
