This article was written by Ted Dhanik.

Banner advertising relies on the integration of text and imagery to create compelling sales propositions. If you’re hunting for a new banner to advertise, or you are designing your own, there are some important practices you need to know if you expect to get conversions. Be prepared to spend money on testing, but you can achieve the results you want if you make intelligent decisions on your experiments.

Research

Begin by researching your audience. Find out which sites they visit, what other products they buy and get a feel for what motivates them. It’s helpful to know their age demographics, and a bit about where they live. Especially if you’re working in real estate or other programs that are highly specific to locations. The more you know, the more targeting you can do to narrow down the irrelevant clicks you’ll receive.

Copywriting

You should choose every word in your text very carefully. With display advertising, you have a very limited space to include text. You need to make sure that the text sells your products with compelling language. Too much text and your banner will look cluttered and unprofessional. Too little and you risk missing the key sales propositions for your clients. Try reviewing your competition, taking note of common words or phrases that you see in the ads you review.

Provide Value

The last trick is to provide actual value to customers. Whether that is a free report or an estimate for the service you provide, use something valuable to entice them. For instance, a mortgage offer looks more compelling when the user can see real savings figures based on their situations.

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Ted Dhanik, provider of display advertising and high performance marketing solutions. Ted Dhanik is the CEO of marketing company engage:BDR. Ted Dhanik mentors business owners interested in start-ups.