Lesson #19 Text VS Banner Ads
Written By Titmowse

Do you find your galleries don't get listed very often? Maybe your galleries are being listed but the surfers aren't clicking on your banners, much less signing up for your sponsors.

A profitable gallery is an art. Those who are good at it got there by trial and error. Those who stay good at it learn to make their talents adaptable. To say that your gallery is under performing because you use graphical banners is wrong. All marketing methods work if used by the right person. All sponsors convert if sold by the right webmasters.

This lesson is designed to inform you of the wonderful benefits of the text link. To do so, the weaker points of the graphical ad banner must be detailed.

Studies

In 2001, the Center for Media Research coined the phrase "banner blindness". This term came from a study of Internet viewing habits that found those who were on a page in order to find another page/image click on graphical banners less. In 2000 the Poynter Institute studied surfer eye-tracking habits. They found that when users first look at a web page, 22% notice graphics while 78% notice text. Studies have shown that text ads have a higher CTR (click-thru ratio) than their photogenic counterparts. Surfers can develop brand recognition of a sponsor through image ads but when it comes to clicks, text wins out.

TGPs

Cozy Academy can't read the mind of a TGP site reviewer/operator. Each is an individual with their own preferences. One thing we do know is the consensus of TGP reviewer/operators prefer a minimalist approach from their gallery submitters. Text ads are the ultimate in minimalism. TGP sites are catering to their market and their market is comprised of surfers who want porn for a link with as little advertising as possible. TGP surfers want fast-loading galleries and so TGP sites will always favor the fast-loading clean page.

Ultimately, TGP reviewers care neither way as long as the ads are clean and don't lead to blind/forbidden places. Your ad count will still be your ad count whether you use text or graphic.

Financial

If you have your galleries hosted on paid serving, a good day of listing on the TGPs is going to cost you're a pretty penny. Every time a surfer opens your gallery, each image on it adds to your transfer rates/charges. Text ads can lower your hosting costs, especially from a high listing on a busy TGP which can yield as much as 100,000 uniques on day one. You have to work for a day where your profits exceed your costs. Text ads load instantly and the sites they lead to are usually hosted on your sponsors server. With sponsor's graphic ads, you usually have to host the image yourself with or without the hyperlink. Text ads save you money.

Your gallery and the ads on it are under constant scrutiny. TGP reviewers judge it. Surfers search it for pleasure and promise. Sponsors monitor it for compliance and hosts assess it logs for usage. For all this perusal, text links hold up better under the pressure.

Always study the terms of service of your sponsors and TGP submission rules before incorporating text ads into your gallery page. Some sponsors only allow their pre-written text links for their products. Some won't allow text links at all. TGPs don't want you to nest huge paragraphs of sales copy into a hyperlink tag. TGPs don't like blind or misleading links and neither do sponsors or surfers.

In our next lesson, we'll further your education by showing you how to effectively use text ads. Until then, stay Cozy!