Text Links vs. Banners

which is the proper way to do it when reciprocating?

[ScottM]

I have been asked to put a banner on my website.

I have a simple rule:

No banners.

This guy who wants to add the banner (He'll add a text link to his site for me...), says, "Banners are better...more clicks"

Is he correct?

I believe text links are superior.

(I apologize in advance if this topic has been heavily covered in the past...)

[rcjordan]

Affiliates swear by text ads as being the better mechanism, but I doubt that holds up as well for just a text link. You might strike a deal with a boxed text link.

[ScottM]

RCJordan,

This guy is getting a deal...he has nothing, I have the popularity. It's to his benefit for me to link to his site, not mine. Call it altruism, if you will.

BUT, he wanted a banner...I said 'no banners...text links are better'.

He disagreed. He may be right, I guess. I still won't have any banner ads on my site.

[brotherhood of LAN]

Tell him you can offer a text link on a page with few links, so he gets good link pop value from the link

[europeforvisitors]

My "content site" earns quite a bit of money from affiliate sales, and I've found that text links work at least as well as banner ads in generating clickthroughs. In fact, they often work better, probably because:

1) Users have become accustomed to "tuning out" banner ads;

2) Some readers use "ad killers" like AdSubtract pro;

3) Text ads have more believability than banners do, at least when used in an editorial or advertorial context. (A text link offers an "implicit testimonial" that a banner ad lacks.)

As for whether to give the other Webmaster the banner that he wants, you don't need to justify your decision. If your policy is not to run banner ads, then you can simply tell him that.

[rogerd]

I agree with europe... Conventional banner ads get tuned out, particularly if they are located in "expected" positions like the top of the page.

That isn't to say that an attention-grabbing and relevant banner ad in the middle of a text page wouldn't do well... but in many cases I'd take the text link. (Of course, a text link in a list of a hundred probably won't generate tons of clicks, either.) In particular, if the text link is integrated into the page content, it will almost certainly outpull a top or bottom banner.

[2_much]

ScottM, why do you think Google doesn't run banners, but runs text links for their Premium ads instead? I can tell you, it works very well.

Also, a text link also helps with link popularity.

[ScottM]

Thanks for all the help folks.

I guess I can stand by my 'no banners' rule...at least on my website. (Unless of course some-one wants to pony up $4000 a year for one...)