Banner Sizes, Is bigger better

[Tommy]

I was talking to sir moby about banners the other day and he said that 468 by 80 was the standard when screen resultions were 640 wide or 800 wide.

Now that most people are using much higher resultions the 468 by 80 banners seem very tiny

I think hes right so I made up a few bigger banners for a sponsor and they seem to pull very well

http://ww5.tommys-bookmarks.com/pictures/tinysblackadventures/tiny001.jpg

this banner is used on this page here, Between the new section and existing index
http://www.tommys-bookmarks.com/blacks.shtml


do you think bigger banners make your site less bookmarkable to a surfer

[Surfn]

Originally posted by Tommy
do you think bigger banners make your site less bookmarkable to a surfer I personally quit using banners over 18 months ago.

That said I do like this one http://ww5.tommys-bookmarks.com/pic...res/tiny001.jpg :D

[Ramster]

I can see how big banners would pull much better. You can make them very graphic to attract the attention of surfers.

[Alphawolf]

What about file size and people on dial-up?

edit- Come to think of it...if they are willing to wait to see a movie clip then they must be patient porn surfers.

[Greenguy]

Originally posted by Alphawolf
What about file size and people on dial-up?

edit- Come to think of it...if they are willing to wait to see a movie clip then they must be patient porn surfers.
1 - Bingo! That one Tommy has is 62K,which might be a bit too big for a surfer on a dial-up

2 - I can see be patient to see a movie, but I can't see being patient to see an ad :D

***

Of ocurse, I usually just look for a banner that fits the design of the page I'm making :)

[Tommy]

i dont run a lot of banners on my page, in fact I use a lot less then most people
and I have a deadicated server for my ads
(well mostly deadicated)

most banners are 30k so this is double that at 60k

I think it fits nicely in that spot.


in fact when you compare it to a regular sized banner in the same spot
http://www.tommys-bookmarks.com/lesbians.shtml

the small one looks a little stupid

but this is what I am asking opinions on

[thrillho]

My top converting sponsor is one that allows me to make my own banners. Almost all of them are larger than your usual graphical ads, but I think it's the fact that they are unique that makes them effective for me (rather than the size). That, however, is just a guess. You can check them out here (http://www.smutmanor.com/budgetbanners/banners.htm) if you want--scroll down a bit to "MaturePH".

[Alphawolf]

Yeah- a dial-up user will scroll down as it's loading and get to the navigation bypassing the banner completely.

On the other hand, catering to the broadband audience which *should* tend to have more disposable income than people who are 'happy with dial-up' could/should make CTR go up from that segment.

If one ties a text link to the banner then the dial-up users will still see the text link.

Just from a surfers POV seeing a new shape/size will get their attention a bit.

Given the chance- I'd use larger size.

I think when all is said and done CTR would be higher from those surfers with new monitors/computers and more likely to whip out the CC for some porn.

[sadman]

Definetely, in the last year I tried to go with larger ones. GG has a major point with the size, but I personally preffer to get 1 click out of 50 surfers seeing the ad and 50 which will not see it, than 0 clicks from 100 surfers, all seeing the 468 banner. I also would love to use more odd shaped banners instead of typical horizontal ones, but then I am geting in trouble with LL rules like wraping... :) Just kidding, Tommy, don't take it personally |smooch|

[RawAlex]

While i don't have anything that attaches click outs to sales, I can tell you that standard size banners are amoungst the worst click out rates I see over all of my sites on average. Certain ones do pretty good, but overall, the public just seems to be not seeing them.

Tommy, that is a nice piece of graphics too... :-)

Alex

[Tommy]

Alex, for that one I just cut up one of their full page ads.
There wasnt much skill involved

but that banner pulled a decent amount of clicks yesterday


this one is a better example..... maybe
http://ww5.tommys-bookmarks.com/pictures/vanillateensblackcream/vanilla003.jpg

but then I am geting in trouble with LL rules like wraping... Just kidding, Tommy, don't take it personally

Maybe its time to get rid of that rule

[Alphawolf]

And this post (http://www.greenguysboard.com/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10268) is perfect timing for this thread. :)

[ladydesigner]

Originally posted by Greenguy

Of ocurse, I usually just look for a banner that fits the design of the page I'm making :)

Exactly! That's my usual plan of attack since I've noticed that regular sized banners just don't cut it anymore. I try to go for the larger ones if they fit the site design and I try to make sure I've added text links both above and below the ad.

[Surfn]

http://ww5.tommys-bookmarks.com/pic.../vanilla003.jpg nice :D

On your site they would work. I still like bannerless though. You may have seen some of my galleries that are text only.

[Linkster]

Tommy - the bigger banner size that you are using between the new and existing links works because even for the dialup users, it has time to load by the time they look thru the "new" listings - if they get as far as the existing listings it will be there for them to see :)

For the top spot and the spot just before the "new" listings you might try a different size - not necessarily bigger but just something to break the routine - especially if you could do like a 180x180 or 200x200 with a text box next to it - with huge lettering in it - accomplishes two things - one it breaks the "mold" of the same old banner size ... and two - it gives you more text to feed to the SE's |jester|

[SirMoby]

I've been using a standard banner size of 600x200 for a couple of years now and I keep them all under 40k. Even if I need animation with creative slicing you can still keep them down in file size.

My monitor is 1280 pixels wide and my wife's is 1024. A small banner just doesn't stand out enough to make a surfer react. When I walk into Best Buy, CompUSA or any place that sells computers the smallest resolution on any monitor I can find is 1024.

Has anyone noticed the size difference in thumbnails over the years? 120 on the long side was considered quite a large thumb years ago but that's small these days.

Remember that most US dial up solutions use compression and are almost twice as fast as a few years ago. Even the travelling business people that were stuck with 12k hotel connections are now surfing at high speeds.

I'm willing to have the small percentage of slow dial up surfers that probably don't invest in surfing bypass a large banner up top. I think the sufer that has invested a few bucks alrady is far more likely to buy and a 600x200 (or even a 750x150) banner will put a pup tent in his pants before a 468x60 banner will |rasta|

My target market is NOT every person that gets on the Internet. It's those people that invest a bit of money to gain pleasure from surfing the Internet.

[Alphawolf]

Originally posted by SirMoby
My target market is NOT every person that gets on the Internet. It's those people that invest a bit of money to gain pleasure from surfing the Internet.

Isn't that every guy that surfs the net? ;)

[Ramster]

Maybe I'll try a few bigger banners in some spots and see how things go.

[Cleo]

I do pretty big ads but they are a combo of text and banner. I really like odd sized banners.

[Osiris]

Would you allow bigger ads? Maybe something about 500wX150h? This question is for all the LL owners..

I've been trying to create different templates lately when I make a site and I'd like to try bigger banners out if they will be accepted.

[CelticTiger]

Originally posted by Tommy


most banners are 30k so this is double that at 60k


I downloaded them to see if I could reduce the size of them and got them down to 30kb (tinys black adventure) and 21.5kb (vanilla teens) without losing much quality at all.

[urb]

Bigger ads always seem to get more sales.

Norton Internet Security with the ad blocker switched on is now set to block images which are 468x60.

I needed a banner for a new sponsor last week, but all they had were 468x60 banners. So I resized the one I thought was the best in photoshop to 515x66 and Norton no longer blocked it.

[digifan]

Tommy,

I downloaded the first big banner and crunched them using spinwave.com's service:

http://www.goth-fetish.com/tommy60kb.jpg was your original size
but I think this is acceptable still
http://www.goth-fetish.com/tommy29kb.jpg
and the smallest was this file,
http://www.goth-fetish.com/tommy20kb.jpg

:)

[Frank]

Personally I use banners for filler and NOT for sales.

[Tommy]

ya know lately I am so lazy I didnt even bother to compress them
thank you digifan

Personally I use banners for filler and NOT for sales.

filler ???

[digifan]

Originally posted by Tommy
ya know lately I am so lazy I didnt even bother to compress them
thank you digifan


Np Tommy,

I thought you won't lose surfers on dial up this way.. :)

[KCat]

Would using large banners make it more difficult to get listed? LLs are pretty good with allowing advertising, but the TGP nazis might not let 'em fly.

[digifan]

I think you'd have problems with the tgp nacis only if your banner was looking like a clickable thumb :)

[KCat]

I've just been using 2 big text links lately after seeing so many rules about too much advertising content on the galleries. Sounds like I'm going too clean now! :)

Thanks!

[Tommy]

Originally posted by KCat
I've just been using 2 big text links lately after seeing so many rules about too much advertising content on the galleries. Sounds like I'm going too clean now! :)

Thanks!

make sure your submiting those to me :-)

[Cleo]

This is why I make all my banners 1024x768



Bigger really is better





|potleaf|

[Surfn]

Originally posted by Tommy
make sure your submiting those to me :-) Now I know why you list my stuff :) |shake|

[Surfn]

Originally posted by Cleo
This is why I make all my banners 1024x768



Bigger really is better





|potleaf| I can shrink mine down to that size ;)

[KCat]

Originally posted by Tommy
make sure your submiting those to me :-)

Do you have a different submit form for TGP galleries? You're on my top free site list with GG, Cleo etc., but I don't think I've ever submitted a regular gallery.

[KCat]

Originally posted by Cleo
This is why I make all my banners 1024x768



Bigger really is better





|potleaf|

|jester|

Us girls would know...size does matter!

[Greenguy]

Originally posted by Tommy
ya know lately I am so lazy I didnt even bother to compress them Lately? :D

[urb]

I like large women and large banners.

But what about animated banners? Or even Flash banners?

How attention grabbing is animation?

[Tommy]

Urb if I may ask

how much would you charge for a animated banner
550 by 200 or 600 by 250 ish

and how much for gallery templetes

[urb]

Originally posted by Tommy
Urb if I may ask

how much would you charge for a animated banner
550 by 200 or 600 by 250 ish

and how much for gallery templetes

Hi Tommy,

$60 for an animated gif of that size.

Custom gallery templates $20 each
examples:
http://www.urbx.com/galleries.html

[Cleo]

Wow that is some nice content that you used to make those Urb. :D

[Tommy]

Urb, I would like to get some gallerys done
I will send you a PM with the details

[urb]

Thanks Tommy :)

Thanks Cleo ;)

[sadman]

Really nice design, Urb. Congrats :)

[digifan]

Originally posted by KCat
I've just been using 2 big text links lately after seeing so many rules about too much advertising content on the galleries. Sounds like I'm going too clean now! :)

Thanks!

I also welcome your galleries :)

[Greenguy]

Originally posted by urb
I like large women and large banners.

But what about animated banners? Or even Flash banners?

How attention grabbing is animation? Do you also like large animated women? Large flashy women?

:D

[amareck]

I agree...the "standard" banner sizes are pretty pathetic, considering the average surfer monitor size. The LOWEST Im able to set my primary monitor at is 800x600..leaving a standard horizontal text banner looking rather puny and insignificant.

Cleo: I agree - odd sized banners rock, if only to disrupt an "easy flow" on your page to focus attention

Greeny: Big flashy women? Errr...I dont know how I'd feel about big women that flash different colors and have a starburst on their snatch that says "click to enter here".....

On banner sizes: thanks to Outback Cash for providing a NICE series of banner sizes...

Personally, I dont mind the 80 height on the "kind of" standard banners, but the 468 width really pisses me. Makes me wanna left align the banner with text on the right or something stupid. Its not so much the height I think, as the width of banner spanning the page...*shrug*

Murray, please dont reply to this post - thanks :)

[STEVEN]

I like the idea of bigger banner sizes, but I have to throw in the old "use a banner that matches the design" argument (which GG brought up).

On one of the smaller TGPs, we put a small square banner on there, it's colors were a very good match for the backround color of the site. It has pulled some crazy hits, a lot more than expected.

I also think the fact that it is an 'odd' shape helps. I have always preferred using something like 200w x 400h over traditional 468 x 80