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Free Beginner’s Guide: How To Create Banners For Your Business?

by Alice Jackson Tweet - in Banner ad Design

Banners

Last updated on January 18th, 2024

Banners are a versatile form of advertising used for business promotion in this modern world. Whether you’re following an online or offline marketing strategy, you can advertise your products or services anywhere through a banner. We’re living in a digital era where almost every monetized website has a banner at the top and side panels. Why? Because it’s the first visual that a visitor sees on a website that compels every marketer to come up with unique ads to drive potential customers to businesses. Therefore, we’ve dedicated this post for our readers to guide them – how to create banners for your business, just in minutes.

When we talk of banners, it is mostly about banner advertising. This refers to the graphic display, majorly known as web banners that we often see on websites. You can notice that such an online site has several of these ads on the top, sides, and bottom.

Ad Design

These advertisements at the top side of a website are known as a leaderboard. The vertical panels are known as skyscrapers. Those at the side are called sidebars. One thing common with all these types is that they are image-based. For this reason, these are popular visuals to drive customers’ attention and the use of texts is very little.

The main purpose of using a banner is to promote a brand. However, most of them are expected to drive potential customers to the advertiser’s website. A unique banner design idea always has an attractive color scheme, and the use of the space that catch the visitor’s eye.

These are clickable rather than annoying to the viewers. So, the success of the ads depends a lot on its design.

Statistics says…

Considering the usefulness of banners, their share in the overall advertisement market is increasing steadily. According to a study, the banner advertising market has been the third-biggest market with a worldwide revenue generation of US$55.9 billion in 2018. By 2023, the revenue is estimated to grow to US$70.7 billion. This is huge!

However, before you start designing banners by using the banner maker, consider some design basics. Here, we have shared in detail about

  • What is a web banner?
  • How using a banner can help in your business?
  • What is the role of banners in marketing?
  • How to choose the color scheme while creating a banner?
  • How to create various types of banners?

Etc… Etc….Here, we go….

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What Is A Web Banner?

A web banner, also known as a display ad, is a type of online advertisement and is placed on websites, including social media platforms. It is a form of online advertisement, and it is served by an ad server.

Web Banner

A typical banner consists of a dominating image or even a video. Then, there is a business logo, brand message, and a call to action [CTA] incorporated in the design. All these elements make a banner clickable for visitors.

Since banners are the most seen visuals on a website or any other online platform, this type of advertisement is now the most prolific form of marketing. Most companies use them as these ads are affordable and help increase brand awareness.

Role Of Banners In Marketing

Banners are increasingly being used for the marketing of products or services across diverse industries. These simple means of taking out business through advertisements are a potent marketing tool. Every marketer today has set aside a budget for a banner campaign on the web.

Use of Banner in Marketing
Here Are Some Of The Key Advantages Of Banners In Marketing:

i. Cost-Effective

Banners don’t cost much to create. Even if you can’t afford the services of an expert graphic designer, you can use a DIY Banner Maker to do the designing all by yourself. It saves you money and time that you can use elsewhere for marketing.

ii. Pay When Someone Clicks

If your banner ad campaign is part of the PPC program, you pay to the website or server only when some visitor has clicked on the ad. So, your cost is manageable, so you are paying only for visitors to your website. Amazon sellers running advertising campaigns on this platform can use Amazon PPC software to manage and optimize their campaigns.

iii. Grab The Customers’ Attention Quickly

When people’s attention span is now much reduced than ever before, uniquely designed banner ads help to catch their eye. Just as they visit a website, the first thing they notice is the banner, which is the leaderboard at the top. But, the ad must be creative and unique.

iv. Increased Customer Traffic

Well-designed enticing banners are known for their power to drive customer traffic. Marketers use them as a strategy to enhance customer traffic substantially. For instance, a well thought of ad strategy planned around some seasons gives an assured increase in customer traffic.

v. Target A Specific Audience

With banners, you can target your specific set of customers easily. Just find out the platforms and channels that are targeting the audience that your brand intends to explore. Then, put your ads on those sites.

vi. Announce Your Attractive Discounts

A Web Banner is perhaps the most effective way to let people know about your heavy discounts on products or services. All you need to do is just mention the discount in bold and colorful letters, and people will immediately notice such an enticing offer.

How Can Banners Help Your Business?

One of the major concerns of all businesses, even the established ones, is to build a reputation and keep it in their target markets. That is not an easy job.

Hundreds of competent businesses are worthy of customers’ attention in any given industry. Therefore, to maintain a high level of trust amongst customers becomes harder to ensure.

Business Banner

Here Are The Key Things Banners Can Do For Your Business:

i. Build Your Brand Image

Brand image is the perception that people have about your company, products, or services. If the image and reputation are trustworthy, they will be buying your offerings more often, that helps your business to grow.

You can use banners to project a great image of your new or established brand easily as these are quickly visible to your online audience. But make sure that banners have your company’s major elements. Like, the ad must display your logo, brand colors, typefaces, and unique design.

ii. Get Campaign Statistics

A Banner is perhaps the best tool when it comes to collecting some crucial statistics about how people respond to your business. Accurate data is essential to analyze where your business stands in the market. You get data such as clicks, views, sales, etc. from banners. Then, depending on the performance, you can amend your business strategy.

iii. Target Audience Precisely

Banners are amongst the most effective means to promote a brand when you want to target an audience accurately. This is because these are flexible advertisement tools. You can customize your banner ad campaign quickly for the customers you need to reach.

How To Create Banners On Your Own?

Even when you are not a trained designer, you can create unique banners all by yourself, thanks to software. Many such tools are available to small business owners who can save money in hiring an expensive graphic designer. One such took is available from Designhill, the leading creative marketplace.

Banner Maker

The Designhill banner maker allows business owners to create banners by using the drag & drop features. You can create a unique banner ad in simple steps. Here are the steps:

i. Choose your custom width and height as per your design needs to set the layout.

ii. Add design elements using the banner maker library. There are thousands of icons, text, frames, and other elements in the library. Pick the elements that suit your brand image and personality.

iii. Next, add a custom image from your system to the banner design. That is all you need to do. But don’t finalize the design before having a preview of how it looks. You can even recreate the design if you are not satisfied with your previous efforts.

If you are satisfied with it, you can save and use it. Also, you enjoy copyright on your ad design as well.

How To Choose A Color Scheme?

When you create a banner, think what colors should go in it to make it your company’s identity. Mostly, marketers are tend to use brand colors. Know that studies have pointed out that colors increase brand recognition by a whopping 80%. A color scheme helps you evoke the right set of emotions from the audience.

Color Scheme

One of the principles to choose colors is to use the color wheel properly. If you want to give your banner a soothing appearance, choose the colors that are closer to each other in the color wheel. But if the intention is to make a more assertive statement, pick the colors that are placed opposite one another in the wheel.

So, consider the emotions each color evokes.

i. Red

Red evokes the emotions of passion, love, energy, and intensity. Mostly, use this color if your audience comes from a young age group.

ii. Blue

Blue stands for faith, trust, stability, confidence. This is the reason that social media logos and other materials are in blue. Since blue suppresses appetite, avoid using it for your food business.

iii. Orange

Orange is an ideal color to use if your business is about creativity, childhood, success, and determination. For banners related to food products, orange is the best choice of colors as it stimulates appetite.

iv. Brown

Use brown to create an environment of warmth in your banner design. This is the color for comfort and homeliness. Incorporate this color if your business is in real estate, furnishing, and foods. For positive emotional response, use rich brown shades like russet and chestnut.

v. Yellow

Yellow is the color of happiness, optimism, and joy. Use this color, especially if your business is about leisure activities and children’s activities.

vi. Green

Green stands for nature, wealth, growth, and safety. Use it when you are promoting health and environmentally-friendly products.

vii. Purple

Incorporate purple in your banners to communicate the message of royalty and magic.

viii. White

White is the color of cleanliness, light, purity, and simplicity. Use this in banners to advertise medical products and electronics.

ix. Black

Black can send a message of power, mystery, masculinity, formality, and even elegance.

How To Pick Typefaces?

Banners are mostly image-based advertisements. Still, they have some crucial text that compliments the main hero image. But using the right text is equally important in conveying a brand message or some information such as discounts.

No doubt that the use of text is restricted to only a few words, still the choice of typeface and font can make or break the banner.

Pick Typefaces

Most of the modern banners have intros in big typography. They have one title and some words to convey a brand message. Then, the text is also in the call-to-action. But the text is kept alone devoid of any other elements around it.

Keep These Tips In Mind When Designing The Text:

i. Use Super Big Title

The font size of the typeface you pick for the banner title must be supper big. It helps catch the viewers’ eye instantly just after visiting a website. Big letters are even more important for smaller titles. Use big fonts also if the title is in sans serif font.

ii. Create Subtitles In Different Fonts

Subtitles will catch the attention if they are in different fonts. Prefer cursive serif fonts that present a pleasing contrast to the big sans-serif font title.

iii. Think Of Giving More Letter Space

Adequate space between letters is a great way to make your banners look different. Use this technique, especially when using all uppercase letters in the title. However, avoid letter spacing for lowercase as it hampers legibility.

iv. Try Big And Thin Fonts

This advice seems to be going against the tip in the first point. But explore thin fonts by creating them big. Your banners will look unique and unconventional in this way.

v. Single Out Words By Adding Colors

How about coloring those words that have a special meaning in your banners. By coloring those fonts, you highlight them for viewers. This is your way of telling readers what matters the most in the text.

What Are The Key Considerations For Creating A Banner?

First, make sure that your banner design looks simple and clear. You must get your message across in an instant when potential customers first see the banner. That can happen only when the design is free of clutters of multiple images and other elements.

Key Considerations

Make sure that the design is coherent with your overall brand image. The viewers must feel at home when they see your website landing page and your banners. This means that you should use the same branding elements in a banner as are elsewhere in your marketing tool and materials.

Call to action is an important element of any commercial design, including banners. You should create a catchy but enticing CTA with a perfect choice of text and colors.

What Are The Types Of Banners?

You face the problem of plenty when it comes to picking the right type of banner for your campaign. Web banners today come in a variety of shapes and sizes. So, when picking the right banner shape and size, pay attention to the advertising platforms you intend to use. You should also consider your campaign goals.

Types Of Banners

Amongst the ad platforms, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon are prominent. These advertisers offer their own options when you think of creating banners and ad placements.

These options dictate the web banner size and shape you choose. However, the most used web banner is the Google Display Network’s banner of the size of 468 x 60 pixels.

What Should You Consider To Create Google Display Network Banner Ads?

The Google Display Network can be displayed across all the Google network partner sites such as YouTube, Blogger, Gmail, and Google Finance. Mobile sites and apps are also part of this network.

Google Display Network Banner Ads

However, while displaying your banner ads on different partner platforms of Google, you must follow some guidelines from the search engine:

i. Make sure that you use images that are easy to recognize and clear. Flashy backgrounds also should be avoided.

ii. You are supposed to use the entire banner ad space.

iii. Avoid imitating site content, text ads, or news.

iv. Tricking users into clicking your ads is strictly prohibited by this platform, or you will be banned.

Ensure that your display ads appear distinctively from the rest of the page content. For instant, if the ad background is white, then it should come with a contrasting border.

Google Display Network Ad Placements & Specifications

Currently, Google offers 10 banner-types in terms of display orientation and sizes. Here is the list.

Banner-Type Display Orientation Size (width x height) Image Formats

– Leaderboard 728 x 90 pixels JPEG, SWF, PNG, or GIF.

– Inline Rectangle 300 x 250 pixels JPEG, SWF, PNG, or GIF.

– Large Rectangle 336 x 280 pixels JPEG, SWF, PNG, or GIF.

– Half-Page Ad 300 x 600 pixels JPEG, SWF, PNG, or GIF.

– Large Leaderboard Horizontal 970×90 pixels JPEG, SWF, PNG, or GIF.

– Standard Banner Horizontal 468×60 pixels JPEG, SWF, PNG, or GIF.

– Skyscraper Vertical 120×600 pixels JPEG, SWF, PNG, or GIF.

– Wide Skyscraper Vertical 160×600 pixels JPEG, SWF, PNG, or GIF.

– Square N/A 250×250 pixels JPEG, SWF, PNG, or GIF.

– Small Square N/A 200×200 pixels JPEG, SWF, PNG, or GIF.

The only ad size that’s not available on desktop / tablet but is available on high-end mobile devices is:

– Mobile Leaderboard 320 x 50 pixels JPEG, SWF, PNG, or GIF.

How To Create Banners For Microsoft Audience Banner Ads?

Microsoft Audience Ads, formerly Bing Ads, are displayed across all the Microsoft Audience Networks. It has not published its list of partners as yet, but that Microsoft Office and MSN.com are its partners which is known to almost everybody. This ad platform offers six banner ad-types.

Microsoft Audience Banner Ads

Here Are The Key Things To Consider When Creating Banner Ads For Microsoft:

i. Submit Images Only

Microsoft moulds the ads to make it seamless within the site experience. Therefore, instead of banner ads, you should submit images.

ii. Lifestyle Images Work Better

Another key thing to note is that at this platform, lifestyle images are more suitable, and they work better than product images.

iii. Don’t Overlay Text

Do not incorporate any CTA, Logo, or any button on the image as it is against Microsoft’s policy.

iv. Make Your Ad’s Meaning Clear

Microsoft dims the lower third of the image so that the text underneath in a separate box is more legible. Therefore, submit an image that conveys your ad’s meaning even when its lower portion is a bit hidden.

What are the Microsoft banner or images sizes?

You should consider these dimensions of images on the Microsoft Platform

Wide Image

i. Recommended image dimensions: 1200 x 628 pixels.

ii. Minimum image dimensions: 760 x 400 pixels.

iii. Maximum image dimensions: 2592 x 2048 pixels.

iv. Accepted file types: JPEG, PNG, and GIF (without animation).

Square Image

i. Recommended image dimensions: 1200 x 1200 pixels.

ii. Minimum image dimensions: 760 x 400 pixels.

iii. Maximum image dimensions: 2592 x 2048 pixels.

iv. Accepted file types: JPEG, PNG, and GIF (without animation).

How To Create Banners For Facebook Audience Banner Ads?

Facebook Ads are displayed on Facebook or the Facebook Audience Network. Most banners on Facebook are image-based ads. Here is the description.

Facebook Audience Banner Ads

Tips For Creating Facebook Banners and Facebook Cover Photos

Facebook gives you a lot of rectangular space at the top of your business page on this platform. In this space, you can create a nice image of your brand that includes your products or services.

Facebook Cover Photo

Incorporate some impactful images of your brand’s offering for the consumers. It’s Facebook banners for the viewers. But consider some basics to make an impact on the viewers through this banner, also known as cover photo.

Here Are The Crucial Tips:

i. Size The Facebook Cover Photo And Ad Banner Right

The first puzzle to solve is to size the Facebook cover photo correctly. If the image is wrongly sized, it may have a wrong impact on viewers about your business. Know that the specs change periodically. So, you should be aware of the way to size it accurately.

The updated information about the cover photo size is that it should be 820 pixels wide by 312 pixels tall on computers. It should be 640 pixels wide by 360 pixels tall on smartphones.

Talking about Facebook Banner Ad, the recommended image size is 1200 x 628 pixels with minimum width and height is 600 pixels.

ii. Pick The Right Image

A wrong choice of image on your Facebook cover design  and banner ad space can damage your business prospects due to the wrong impression. Therefore, make sure that the image is of high quality and high resolution. The image must be worthy of representing your brand. Try to show something in action so that viewers can relate to it.

At the same time, the image should make an emotional connection with viewers. Most importantly, select a photo that fits well in the given space. If the image is too big, then crop it with the help of an image editing software.

iii. Add A CTA

Call-To-Action is a crucial element of any commercial design as it encourages viewers to take a desired action of buying, subscribing, etc. Think about the action you want the users to take after seeing your banner. Then, pair the image with an enticing call to action. The CTA will help generate leads, website clicks, or calls.

iv. Make It Consistent With Your Branding

When potential customers see your banner ad, they must be reminded of your website and other marketing materials. This generates confidence in the customers.

So, use your branding colors, typefaces, images, etc. that your website, business cards, brochures, etc. already have. Also, in terms of branding, your cover photo in a rectangular frame and profile photo in the square should work together.

v. Make It Sharable

Include a hashtag, or you can incorporate even a small text block in the image so that it becomes sharable. Create these in a different color so that they stand out.

vi. Keep The Design Simple

Many businesses create a complicated cover photo or banner to make it look impressive. On the contrary, such a design leaves viewers confused due to excessive use of colors, text, images, etc. So, don’t overdo it.

vii. Avoid Using Too Much Of Text

It is better to avoid text altogether as Facebook cover photos or banners are image-based. But if you need to, then keep the text short and easy to understand. The text should be mainly in the form of your logo, hashtag, and CTA.

How To Create Banners For Amazon Advertising Banner Ads

Amazon Advertising allows banner ads on Amazon and its partner sites. You can explore nine banner ad size options at this site. The ads at this platform are also known as Cost Per Click [CPC] Ads. But these ads are also based on CPM, which is cost-effective for small businesses. With the ads, sellers can drive target customers to their product listings.

Amazon Advertising

Your ad will show up in the sidebar, which is right underneath Amazon’s Add To Cart button. These cost-effective ads are keyword-based content that is especially preferred for reaching to a wide range of customers and high conversion.

Keep these basics in mind while creating banner ads for Amazon platform:

i. Headline

Your banner ad should have a catchy headline with maximum characters of 50 as per the Amazon guidelines. Make sure that you stick this rule.

ii. Include Your Brand Name

The ad must have your brand name, which will be displayed at various places in the format.

iii. Give Product Description

While you are not restricted from giving a lengthy product description, but only a small part of it is visible immediately. The reader has to click again to read the entire text. Therefore, the initial part of the description should entice customers to read the hidden content as well.

iv. Do Not Forget Your Logo

Your banner ad must also include your brand logo prominently. It will appear on the side of your product.

What Are The Banner Sizes Allowed On Amazon?

You have three banner sizes to choose from when creating your ads on Amazon platforms. These sizes are 300 x 250, 160 x 600, and 300 x 600 ad placements. You can place these ads on Homepage Above the Fold (ATF), Homepage Below the Fold (BTF), Search Skyscraper, Read All Reviews (RAR), Detail Page, and Thank You Page.

If you want to display the product image only, then these ads are available in 970 x 250 and 980 x 55 ad placements. You can place such ads on Homepage Below the Fold (BTF), Detail Page Below the Fold (BTF), Deals Page (ATF), Offer Listings Page(ATF).

For Amazon mobile web for smartphones, the ad sizes are in all 320 x 50, 414 x 125, and 300 x 250 placements. On the Amazon Mobile Shopping app for smartphones, the ad sizes are available in all 320 x 50, 414 x 125, and 300 x 250 placements except the search page.

How To Create YouTube Banner Or YouTube Channel Art?

YouTube is a big visual medium to promote brands. You can easily enhance the reach of your business and its products or services to millions of people. All you should first do is to start your YouTube channel with a nice banner of your brand.

To create a YouTube Banner or YouTube Channel Art, follow these tips:

i. Use Bold Colors

Since there are already many channels opened on this platform, use colors that are bold while creating your ads. But do not deviate too away from your brand colors.

ii. Include Your Logo

Your brand logo is your identity of the channel. So, put it prominently in the design. Include the name of your channel as well. Additionally, you should think of including your website and other crucial social network handles.

iii. Add Icons

Next, while using a YouTube banner maker, add shapes, icons, and embellishments in the YouTube banners design so that your channel stands out. Use an icon also to highlight a Call-To-Action.

iv. Use A Descriptive Background Image

You should show the viewers what your channel is all about. Therefore, incorporate a descriptive background image, which should reflect your channel topic. For instance, if you run a lifestyle channel, its background image maybe something from travel and tourism.

v. Add Some Structure

Your banner should also include some structure with borders and shapes. A border around the visuals and text will help in directing your viewer’s attention to your channel.

What Is An Ideal YouTube Banner Size?

When creating your YouTube channel art, pay attention to the banner size guidelines of the channel. But picking the right size is a tedious task as you create the banner for multiple devices and browsers. Therefore, stick to the official size recommendation from the channel regarding the art size.

YouTube Sizes

YouTube has set the art size at is 2560 pixels wide by x 1440 pixels tall. However, you can pick from different sizing requirements. These sizes include:

i. Minimum safe area for text and logos: 1546 x 423 pixels.

ii. The maximum width should be 2560 x 423 pixels. With this size, irrespective of the size of the screen, the content will be visible.

iii. Maximum file size: 4MB (but file sizes can be smaller).

iv. Minimum file dimensions: 2048 x 1152.

When using a YouTube channel art maker, choose the size carefully. You should stick to the safe zone so that your most important visuals are visible.

YouTube Banner Maker

Now that you know about the requirements to create YouTube banners, how about doing the job on your own. Even if you are not a professional designer, you can take the help of the Designhill YouTube Banner Maker Tool.

This tool is the best bet to design banners without any outside help. For small businesses, the tool is especially helpful in saving the cost.

So, these are the guidelines to follow when you wish to create banners to promote your brand. These are the basics. Before you finally start using a banner maker, give a thought to these tips.

How Can Designhill’s Banner Maker Help You?

With Designhill’s banner maker, you get unlimited banner creation ideas, print-ready designs, high-resolution vector files, 100% customizable designs, your full copyrights over the design, and round the clock customer support.

Banner Maker

At Designhill, you access banner maker software to create these ads on your own, and you also have the option to have multiple design ideas from several professionals.

You can launch your banner design contest with an enticing prize for the winners. This is your way to get dozens of unique ideas for your banner and finally have a winning design for your brand.

Are You Looking for a New Graphic Designer?If Yes, Call Us on +1-855-699-2851 [times for calling 9am to 6pm EST (US)] or Register for a Free Design Consultation

Wrapping Up

Banners are amongst the most effective ads that a brand can choose to display for its audience. Since these are clean and big visuals on a website, you can hope for the greater conversion of the visitors into buyers of your products or services. But major platforms like Google, Facebook, YouTube, and Amazon. Each of these social platforms has their own guidelines which you must follow strictly.

Get Your Banner Design

Alice Jackson is a business consultant, blogger, social media enthusiast, online market analyst, amateur designer and an avid author at Designhill. She has written on several topics including social media marketing, SEO, content marketing, startup strategies and e-commerce. When she’s not writing, she loves spending her time reading romantic novels, Connect with her on Twitter: @jackson_alice1

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