Text Links Vs Banners

Which gets better click through

[Gomez]

Hi,

For affiliate based sites that rely on click-throughs, which method do you think yields better click-through results? Banner ads or text based links? In the past, I have created custom banners (both gifs and flash) and also used short text sentences with a phrase hyperlinked. Both methods have yielded mixed results for me. I would like to get some outside feedback on this.

Thanks!

[eljefe3]

Text links by far unless you had the most epic banner ever created. Of course you can run side by side testing and see what your data tells you.

[davewray]

Text links totally outperform banner ads. In fact, banner ads may make your text links perform worse if they are on the same page. Depending on industry, but almost all the time, gaudy banner ads will make your site look unprofessional and hurt conversions...

Dave.

[Gomez]

I have been making small custom banners (110 x 125) that complement the color scheme and layout of my sites. I have a background in design so the banners aren't your standard gaudy variety. If you had the option of professionally designed custom banners vs text links, would you still go with text links?

Thanks for your feedback!

[davewray]

I guess I shouldn't have broad brushed my response. Of course there are many different varieties of banner ads from professional, smaller ones to flashing, big gaudy ones. I think if you have a couple of smaller, professional banners that aren't pasted all over your page, you could use those in conjunction with text ads. I personally would still lean towards text ads because in my experience they still convert a whole lot better. So, you have to decide whether you want your site to look pretty, or whether you want to make more sales :)

Dave.

[Gomez]

So, you have to decide whether you want your site to look pretty, or whether you want to make more sales

Haha! Good point. I should start incorporating more text links.

When using text links for click through, do you prefer to anchor a sentence of text or just a small "click here" snippet of text?

Thanks alot for your feedback Dave!

-G

[TurboDan]

You may get a lower CTR with a text campaign, but if you buy a banner CPM campaign, I can almost guarantee you'll have less fraudulent clicks.