I was wondering how many of you are using Google Adwords to advertise your banners? Or are you mainly using the text ads? Thanks.
Depends on what you are trying to advertise. If its something that needs a visual impact or if you are trying to create brand awareness then Banner Ads are the way to go. But you must have some luck going ur way with adwords approving your ads within a few weeks if not withing a few days.
Yes, banner ads within the content network typically produce a lower ROI..users are more adverse to interacting with banners as opposed to text, but you can use banner effectively if you look at other metrics besides direct clicks, conversion rates, etc..ie: looking at 'view thru conversions'(something Google now offers) will give you a better understanding of banner/content value as opposed to just looking at the standard click based conversions.
As an example, suppose your trying to sell a Dating offer to a male demographic. Which would likely get a better response: Text ad? Image ad w a pretty girl in it?
It's not as clear as you are implying. Actually, a lot of users now filter out ads of pretty girls, because they generally advertise low quality sites. Further, the pretty girl is likely to generate a lot of low quality traffic, which is expensive if you are running CPC and may persuade you to bid too high if bidding CPM.
Interesting responses. Do people know that you are able to pay for CPM with banners on Google Adwords? This can be MUCH more effective than text ads. You can throw your budget at it, and reap the benefits.
Bannaz-I'm afraid, even on a cpm basis, your still not going to see the same return on ad spend you see with text. Of course this is a generalization, and can be different on a case by case basis(depending on product, competition, price, etc...). The point I was trying to make regarding 'view thru conversions' is that you can assign display ads value regardless of what their direct click based conversion #'s suggest. Since display is a strong enforcer of branding and awarness, these ads can aid in conversions coming from different channels, like ppc, organic, email, social, etc..What value you assign to this is up to you, but Google is now giving advertisers the tools to make these decisions.
I use the banner ads on several of my websites. I have found that they are more useful for certain types of content. For example, I use them on gaming/arcade sites, and video/movie sites and so forth. However, in sites that are text based, I always use text ads. They far outperform the banners in those sites....at least on my sites. If I do use a CPM adbanner, such as on a forum, I do not use Google. I suggest that you create your own banners(or have them made), and link them to an affiliate program of your choice. If you are targeting your traffic properly, then you can make far more money than you would make with banners in adsense. This is just my experience over the years.