Posted by Ray White on August 2, 2009 Comments (2)

I know that sometimes you may get tired of people trying to repeatedly recommend ways for you to advertise online. Especially when it comes from traffic exchange owners. So why do we continually try to voice our opinion, when in most cases we have no idea how to actually design a page graphically?

Mainly because we want our membership to see better results. Better conversions, more response from ads means happier members who relay that message to others.

Generally we suggest fast loading splash pages, to the point ads, unique in design to get attention. This can be done in many ways, with color, font, and general design. I am certainly no “expert” but the basics are obvious. I’ve listened, learned and tested.

Let’s use an example that my friend Paula Zuehlke made so easily using AdKreator. She is not a professional graphic designer, don’t tell her I said that, but she did a pretty good job on this one. Biased maybe, but I do think it depicts the basics needed for uniqueness with the essential requirements.

I had to shrink it down a little to show on this page so it might be fuzzy compared to full size. The point however is to first note the headline at the top in red bold font that immediately lets you know the general purpose for this ad.

Below that is a few points to give more features, with different color font and some images thrown in for attraction. Notice how your eyes begin at the top and flow down the page? A different font style to break up the page.

The “Click Here Now” button which has arrows pointing to make sure you don’t miss that all important click, which of course is your ultimate goal.

I bet you that you are curious about the ad and want to know what happens when you click, if you haven’t already. You can, it will open in a new window.

So the basics are, good headline, a couple of bullet points for features, leading to a call for action which in this case is to click for more information. Simple yet powerful and it works.

Which now leads to the whole point of this post. Make a unique splash page, show your personality, take it a step further and add your photo or logo, or perhaps a subscribe form. You will have better results!

There are several programs available to create your own unique splash pages. On a personal level I prefer the newest kid on the block, AdKreator which in my opinion offers a more professional look and very easy to use.

Whichever one you prefer, by all means just “do it”, create some new unique splash pages, banners, lead capture pages and test. Tweak for more testing, make several versions of the same page, change a word, font, position for the click button, etc. Soon you will realize the importance, results!