However, an important factor in increasing the effectiveness of banner ads may be to place them where they are generally not expected, since people tend to ignore these areas. That is, it is possible that ads may be more effective if they are placed in an area where they are generally not anticipated. This is because individuals may tend to ignore areas where they believe advertisements are typically placed. Supporting this argument, Benway (1998) found that banners located at the top of a web page tended to be ignored more often than banners located lower down on the page. Another study found a higher click-through rate for advertisements placed 1/3 of the way down the page as opposed to the top of the page (WebReference.com, 1997). Thus, it is generally recommended to place ads lower down on the web page - particularly at the middle-center of the page.

Benway and Lane (1998) also found that participants identified graphical banners only 58% of the time, compared to 94% for the text-based link alternative. It also took more time to find the banners than the text-based links. Interestingly, Benway's (1998) study also showed that extremely colorful and obvious banners tend to be ignored by users. Reasons for this may be that viewers have learned to ignore these types of graphics.

Another consideration is the type of browsing that is taking place. According to a study by Pagendarm and Schaumburg (2001), recall and recognition of banners were higher when viewers were browsing aimlessly than if they were searching for specific information. Thus, it is possible that with aimless or unstructured browsing (which is often done with online magazines), viewers are more prone to perceive banners and respond to them.  

In addition, banners should be much larger than the surrounding text for viewers to initially notice them. In fact, Faraday (2001) found that if the size of the text and image is approximately equal, then the text will be attended to first and will be more preferred.

It should be noted that graphical images can easily be distracting and may increase load time, which is the greatest complaint of Internet users (GVU, 1998). However, it has been shown that visual information such as graphics is generally more persuasive for simple messages than textual information, while textual information is more persuasive for more complex messages (see King, Dent, & Miles, 1991).

Animating the graphics may not help as well. In a study by Benway and Lane (1998), animated graphics showed no advantage over non-animated graphics. Moreover, there is some evidence that animated graphics may even reduce text retention by serving to distract the user from attending to the textual information around the graphic (Wright, Milroy, & Lickorish, 1999). Studies have also been mixed about whether animated graphics are preferable to only text-based interfaces. It has been suggested that animated graphics should be kept at a minimum in order not to distract the user from the main points of the page, as well as to reduce the download time.

Importantly, graphics that look like banners should normally not serve as important links. This is because users tend to ignore animated graphic because they are generally associated with advertisements. The graphics that are presented should convey a simple message to portray the intended mood of the site or to catch the 'eye' of the user for a brief moment. Any animation that is presented should animate only for several seconds in order not to annoy and distract the user.

Colored images are more easily remembered than black and white images. That is, Gilbert and Schleuder (1990) compared black and white to colored ads and found that the colored ads were more readily recalled and were processed with greater speed. 

References

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