Online display ads bring customers to you. That way, all you have to do is design a show-stopping ad that viewers will feel compelled towards and wait for them to click through to you. Easy.
Well, not quite. Graphic Designers and content writers have to put a lot of work into the design and copy that makes an online display ad worthy of a click.
How do we do it? Usually, the Designers start the creative process, which the content writer then views and comes up with copy that will fit in with the design.
Let’s get into more detail on this.
Designing a display Ad
Designing Ads can be quite a tricky process. You want to have creative freedom, design something that is aesthetically pleasing, as well as, functional and serves its purposes. But, it also needs to fit specific criteria. The criteria contain:
- Company logo
- A CTA
- Colours
- Relevant imagery
- Effective content
The CTA (call to action) is arguably the most important part of the Ad. You’ve probably seen a CTA almost every time you’ve visited a website. It’s that large button that catches your eye in on the Ad. The CTA will typically take you to a contact or sign up page. CTA’s need to stand out from the rest of the Ad, they give the viewer an action so it should be the focal point of the ad. The colours will typically be different, making them vibrant from the rest of the Ad.
Below we’ve placed some do’s and don’ts for effective CTA’s.
Colours are a vital aspect to advertisements, something you may not know, but colours actually have a psychological effect on the brain, creating different emotions and reactions upon seeing that colour. It’d be best to do some research into what emotions or feelings you wish to convey in your advertisement. We’ve listed some of the psychological effects of colours below to help get you started.
- Red – Creates a sense of urgency, which would be ideal for sales.
- Blue – Often associated with water, peace and tranquillity. Ideal for conservative brands.
- Green – associated with health, power and nature. Green actually stimulates harmony in your brain and can lead to encouraged decisiveness.
- Purple – synonymous with royalty, wisdom and respect. Purple can often be seen alongside beauty and anti ageing products.
One final titbit would be to ensure that the ad is simple, you want to be able to convey enough information in as small a room as possible. Many banners you see nowadays are filled with images and text that’s too large. Try to keep the add to a single image as this will keep it clear and concise.
Writing Ad copy
Online Display Ads need the compelling copy to drive the viewer to click through. The design itself is there to catch the eye, the copy takes control of the second step, which is to convince a viewer to click the Ad.
You need short, concise copy that’s actionable and intriguing. To do this you need to make sure you get the point across and tell the viewer what you want them to do. Like, ‘upgrade your kitchen, today’.
This is short, tells the reader to ‘upgrade’ which tells them to buy your kitchen services and it tells them when to do it ‘today’.
It also clearly says what your company does – ‘kitchen’ ‘upgrade’, hinting that you do kitchen installations.
You can spruce up the content to make it more interesting, as long as you keep it clear and to-the-point. Remember, your mission is to entice the viewer to click that ad, nothing else.
What was the most compelling online display Ad that you clicked on?
Tell us how the Ad enticed you to click in the comments section below.
