Even though the Internet is filled with Display adverts that people come across daily, they hardly know the meaning of Display Adverts. 

First and foremost, you have to understand that Display Adverts are not a type of Search engine adverts. These Ads are entirely different and in a league of their own. In this beginner’s guide, we’ll go through the definition, advantages, disadvantages, and types of display ads and share some clear ideas on how you can optimize them for higher conversions. 

What are Display Ads?

Display advertisements, commonly known as Display ads, are a form of advertisement. These are typically seen on websites, social media platforms, forums, and other online platforms. These Ads target people, influencing them to take action. 

The advertisements can be in the form of text, images or video. When you click on these advertisements, they’ll often take you to a landing page, prompting you to purchase products or services. That’s one of the basic landing pages. Regardless of what’s on the landing page, the goal is to make you take action that profits the brand. 

Display ads are often personalized, showing you stuff that you might typically want to buy or are looking to purchase at the moment. You must have already come across plenty of display ads on your own. 

So, What does a typical display ad look like?

It looks somewhat like this. This particular video display ad targets people who might be susceptible to donating to such just causes. 

And how do these ads show up on blogs and other online platforms?

The answer to that is Display Advertising networks. These are tools that help brands place their ads on the online platform where they get the most views. Google AdSense, Facebook Audience Network Ads, and Apple Advertising are three well-known display ad networks. 

Advantages and Disadvantages of Display Ads:

Advantages of Display Ads:

Eye-Catching Visuals: Since Display ads come in all forms, it offers diversity to ad creators. They can use attention-grabbing visuals, including images, videos, and other graphical elements, to transform the ad so that visitors on the page don’t overlook what’s in front of them.

Captures Initial Interest: In apparent contrast to the search ads, display ads capture attention and create initial interest. With search ads, the user has to actively go looking for a product or service. Display ads show up when people aren’t actively looking for these things. 

Retargeting Customers: Retargeting is for customers who have already visited your website, but left without performing an action, be it a purchase or using the free tools offered by a platform. Display ads help brands retarget such prospective customers who have abandoned the website. 

Disadvantages of Display Ads:

Display Ad Blindness/ Ad Avoidance: Sometimes people visit websites to browse or read about new topics. They do not want to be bothered by aggravating advertisements. So, they start ignoring ads, and since ads are pretty much everywhere these days, they develop immunity. So, display ads don’t make an impression on these people.

Lower CTR and Conversion: What makes display ads unique also happens to be one of their drawbacks. Since people aren’t actively looking for your products or services, they might not be in a hurry to buy them. However, it does help in long-term sales. When people constantly see your products, services, and brand displayed everywhere, they are bound to subconsciously remember it. This might even prompt them to look up your business through organic search, and they could end up purchasing your product or services.

You would like to read: Unveiling The Future Of Digital Marketing: Statistics And Trends For 2024

Common Types of Display Ads:

Traditional Display Ads:

Found primarily on websites and blogs, Traditional Display ads are square-shaped, landscape banners, or long rectangle ads. These ads typically have text-based CTAs, images, and videos. 

a) Square Shaped Ads:

b) Banner Ads:

d) Towering Display Ads:

Expandable Display Ads:

According to Google, an expanding display ad is a creative ad that comes in two sizes. One is the initial stage of ad A as can be seen from the shared screenshots. It then expands to a larger size (B) when a user scrolls through a page or clicks on the ads. 

Interactive Display Ads: 

Interactive Display ads are extremely popular with mobile games. Most mobile games on the Google play store make money by turning on Adsense. Players of the game will often come across interactive display advertisements that give players an interactive demo of the products, services, or another game, convincing them to leave the game and visit the website where they can take a preferred action. These ads can also be a nuisance for some since most apps heavily rely on AdSense earnings. And therefore mindlessly add too many ads to their applications, making them spammy and untrustworthy.

Social Display Ads:

This type of display ad is commonly seen on social media platforms. They come in all shapes and sizes. Here are two ads that I just came up across on my Facebook feed. These days most of your social media feeds are filled with ads like these. 

Since these Display Ads are an essential part of a Digital Advertising campaign, how can you optimize them for better performance?

• Determine your Target audience before placing Ads
• Create Banner Ads that are eye-catching but not irritating
• Use A convincing CTA that doesn’t blend into the background
• Choose a reputable Display Network Platform

Takeaway 

What we have seen so far goes on to show that Display Advertisements are an important asset. Even when they aren’t directly responsible for a sale, they continue to spread brand awareness, reaching audiences who aren’t actively looking for the brand’s products or services. A Digital Marketing strategy that combines Display Ads with PPC Search Ads tends to attract a larger audience.