Are you using display ads as part of your current online advertising strategy? If not, you could be leaving a significant amount of money on the table. So let’s talk about display ads and their benefits, and then we’ll go over display ads best practices for law firms we believe will make an impact on your firm. This will help you make an educated decision about whether or not display ads are right for you.
What Are Display Ads?
Display advertising is the advertising of a product or service using visuals such as images or videos. These visuals are usually a type of banner ad that vary in shape and size to fit any given location on a web page or within a page’s content.
Display ads are generally placed on third-party websites as banners, image ads, or text ads along the top or side of a webpage. So as you can see, the term display ads is a blanket term that encompasses every visual ad that is placed on a website.
The Three Basic Display Ad Categories
Here are the three basic display ad categories.
1. Site Placement
A site placement display ad is when the advertiser is the one that decides which website they want to run their ads on.
2. Contextual
A contextual display ad is when a network places an advertiser’s ads on relevant websites of their choosing.
3. Remarketing
Remarketing display ads are those that pop up in front of a person who has been browsing your website or after they have left your landing page without completing your call to action.
The Most Common Types of Display Ads
Here are the most common types of display ads.
Traditional Banner Ads
These are ads that appear in a specific location on any given website, social media platform, or mobile app. They are generally available in different formats, such as static, interactive, animated, or video formats.
Responsive Ads
These are dynamic ads designed to show different headline variations and descriptions based on the user’s Google search inquiry.
Remarketing Ads
These are ads that show up on websites, social media pages, and mobile apps that visitors go to after leaving your website or mobile app.
Interstitial Ads
These are pop-up ads designed to cover the entire screen, web page, or app you are on. The pop-up ad will remain on the screen until the visitor interacts with the ad. The visitor must interact with the ad before it will close. This includes clicking the call to action or closing the ad. These types of ads usually consist of rich media, images, text, or videos. Google will restrict some interstitial ads on mobile pages if they cause a negative user experience.
Lightbox Ads
Lightbox ads are designed to appear small at first but will then expand on the user’s screen if the visitor engages with them. These types of ads are preferred because they are less aggressive and don’t cause as much user frustration.
360-Degree Video Ads
These ads are designed to provide the visitor with an immersive experience. They do this by responding to the user’s mobile phone gyroscope. A user can interact with this type of ad by moving or rotating their phone.
The best way to determine which type of display ad to use is by understanding your target audience. Then you can use the type of display ad that your audience is most likely to engage with.
The Benefits of Display Ads
Display ads are visual, so they are great at grabbing a potential customer’s attention and immediately conveying your message at a glance. Additionally, display ads, also known as pay-per-click ads, allow you to funnel each ad click through to a landing page.
This gives you more opportunities to build brand awareness and boost your brand’s reputation. It also encourages the visitor to become a loyal follower by getting them to sign up for your newsletter, request more information, or sign up for some type of offer. Doing so will put that person on your email list so you can continue to interact with them in the future.
Display ads are one of the best ways to reach a targeted audience because these ads are placed in front of people who are most relevant to your business. This helps increase your online visibility and brand awareness while providing you with priceless data.
Display Ads Best Practices for Law Firms
Here is a collection of our favorite display ads best practices we recommend to our legal customers.
Clear, Concise Message
If you want to attract your target audience, you not only need ads with a clear and concise headline and message, but you also need ads that encourage the reader to take action. That’s why you should concentrate on using high-quality, eye-catching images, images that convey a strong message, and images that invoke an emotional response from the reader.
Design
With display ads, you need to create ads that stand out while keeping your designs simple. Use a relevant, visually appealing image or animation. You only have a few seconds to get someone’s attention when they are browsing. So the reader needs to be able to immediately see your brand and your core message at a glance. Using too many details or too much information will only cause your reader to not notice or remember the intended core message.
Color
Make sure your colors are also visually appealing. Additionally, you should always use a color-contrasting call-to-action button on both the static and hover features. And always make sure your text doesn’t blend in with the background so it can be seen. This is a common text hover color mistake.
Targeting
Study your target demographics so you know the key elements that make up your ideal client. You will then use this information on your display ads to help grab and hold your readers’ attention.
Website
The main goal of your website is to increase lead generation while accommodating and boosting your client base. To do that, every page should have an attention-grabbing visual and your pages should be well thought out and optimized.
Additionally, your website should have a design that is consistent with your brand, must be mobile-friendly, have an easy-to-complete opt-in and contact form, and an enticing call to action that encourages the reader to take the action you are calling for. You must tell your readers exactly what you want them to do, or they won’t do it.
Accessible
All your display ads should be mobile-friendly. Many people use their mobile devices exclusively to access the internet. So if your ads aren’t mobile-friendly, which means they are designed so they can be easily viewed on smaller mobile screens, your reader will likely skip your ad and move on to another one that can be easily seen on a small screen without having to scroll.
Authenticity
It’s important to create a personal brand experience. You need to make sure your ads are professional and consistent with your brand. When your ads are consistent with the look and feel of your website, they are more cohesive, which makes it easier for your readers to associate that ad with your brand. You want your brand to be easily recognizable.
Test and Measure
The importance of A/B split testing can’t be stated enough. Testing and measuring will help you identify and optimize your ads for your target audience. This will help you make the most out of your ads. So split test everything. That includes your headlines, messages, images, colors, and every call to action.
Summary of the Display Ad Process
Here is a step-by-step summary of the display ad process.
- Define your target market demographics.
- Identify your keywords and phrases.
- Find topic-related websites that operate in your industry.
- Look for the best-suited websites to run your display ads.
- Run your display ads based on specific user interests.
- Retarget your ads based on a visitor’s past search behavior. This is known as retargeting and will help visitors recall your brand and what it has to offer.
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