Display Ads
Creating awareness anywhere on the web with Display Ads
We see display ads everywhere
Everyone seems to understand Google and Facebook Ads very well, but when asked what a display ad is they seem to be confused. However, the majority of ads that a typical person sees is a display ad on a website. Checking out a recipe for tonight on a blog? You'll likely see three to five ads there alone. Want to know the latest gossip about a celebrity, or the latest news about space? Yep, display ads are there, too. The ironic thing is that while display ads are present in the majority of the time we spend online, most people are oblivious to their presence. Why is that?
We are good at blocking out ads.
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It's called "banner blindness" and it's something that everyone is really good at. To get an idea of how good we are at ignoring ads, check out this picture from the Nielsen Norman Group that aggregated the views of 26 test participants who visited the Apartment Therapy website. The red and yellow blurs of color are called hot spots, and shows a viewers attention. The redder the blur, the longer they spent looking/reading that section. With little surprise, the participants in this study did an amazing job at excluding the ads on the website from their view and instead focused on the content squeezed in between the ads on the page.
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Ok, so now that we understand display ads and our awesome ability to ignore them, why the heck do we care about them at all?
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They still help...but only after we have have tapped out our ability to profit from Facebook and Google Ads.
Creating awareness
60% of our daily usage of the internet is spent where display ads may be served to us. Check this link for a fascinating visual chart of internet usage. It's mind boggling how much time we spend online, and how much time is spent where display ads can potentially influence our decisions. The difficulty is the already mentioned blindness that people have to display ads.
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So again, why should we care about them?
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They have the ability to influence our decisions just like billboards, TV, or radio has the ability to influence us. It's the mediums way of slowly, with enough repetition to make a person aware of the benefits that the business has- the problem they can solve for the potential customer. All of these mediums face the same blindness difficulty, and all of it is overcome by repetition.
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At Tracking Pixel, we use display ads and a third prong of attack for small businesses after Google and Facebook Ad spend has been maximized. This take coordination, and it can be a complicated process to know exactly when to start incorporating display ads into your marketing efforts. However, targeted display ads can boost Google Ad performance. As this article from the Irish Times states, many - albeit large, global advertisers - see as much as 50-80% of their total conversions assisted by display ads. When done correctly, display ads help people understand the value your business has to offer, thus making them more likely to convert if they see another of your ads. That is why display ads matter, but only after you have maximized other efficient channels.
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Hopefully this has helped understand why display ads are important. Still confused? Please reach out to us to talk.