Have you ever looked through a newspaper and see a chaotic mess of advertisements to where you cannot fathom a small business actually getting their money’s worth for the ad? The internet is no different. Design is key because not only do you want users to find your advertisements, but you also want them to trust you as a company.

Scam advertisements generally come in flashing ads, annoying pop-ups, and fake news articles. Avoid those if you are a legitimate company.

Effective advertisements keep some of the basic principles of print advertising in addition to creating some new rules of thumb for online versions. The Headline is still important. It should be short, eye-catching, and relevant. Pictures and colors are more fun to look at as well as play a role into the overall mood of the ad and your image. Copy is not required, but if it is there, it should be meaningful, useful, and brief. Signature is of great importance if you want to gain trust. Omitting who you are or a logo not only kills a branding opportunity, but it also removes credibility from the ad.

The Call to Action is of utmost importance to the internet world. Users online move quickly and generally at impulse. Because the internet can be confusing, users appreciate simple directions of where to go next if they are interested. A simple “Click Me” or “Click Here,” can improve clicks. But be careful, if you pay for advertising per click, you want to design the ad to where your target market is going to be more apt to click than someone surfing the web with little interest in what you offer.

Target your link directly to what it offers. If your ad offers t-shirts with a link directing customers to a website that offers a slew of printing services, they may leave because they clicked the ad for t-shirts.

Avoid Pop-Up Advertising

Nobody really likes playing the X-Game of trying to close pop-ups when they are delved into some sort of fun or research. In fact, many will automatically leave a site without giving it a chance if the moment they get to the site, a few pop-ups occurs.

Slow Processing

Too many of the neat things such as photographs, large files, flash, music, videos, etc. can slow down a page. The internet is supposed to be high speed, and many people have little patience for page loading times. Even more frustrating is when the page has so much information it causes the computer to freeze up.

Too Many Words

It takes longer to read information on a computer screen than it does in print. If you have a lot of information you are trying to communicate, be to the point and chunk information as necessary. Bullets are an awesome concept.

Words You Cannot See

Believe it or not, many websites exist where the words are written in a similar color as the background. The content is not camouflage. Watch for putting words over a photograph that has sharp contrasting colors. In addition, sometimes words don’t show up correctly in spry assets and drop down menus, so make sure they are functioning correctly and viewable in java and with java disabled.

Too many Ads

Advertisements through third parties usually re-load ever so often, and in that period, there is usually a delay with the ability to scroll. Not fun for a reader sitting on your site for a long period of time. In fact, if you get them to stick around long enough for ads to re-load, then don’t let the advertisements scare them away.

Disorganization

People go to a site with a specific goal in mind. It frustrates them when they can’t find what they are looking for within seconds.