If you’re looking for new ways to bolster your online marketing campaigns, you might consider display ads. Display ads are a great way to bring immediate brand exposure, increased traffic, and more income. However, if you want to get the most bang for your buck, you will probably want to learn about display ads best practices for home services contractors before you begin.
So let’s talk about what display ads are, the benefits of display ads, and the most common types of display ads, then we’ll finish off this article by going over the display ads best practices for home services contractors.
What Are Display Ads?
You’ve undoubtedly seen display ads whenever you’ve browsed any page on the internet. Display ads are those banner ads that are presented in either a graphic or some type of text format. Display ads are usually placed in designated corners, on the sidebars, and between paragraphs of any given web page. More about the most common types of display ads in a moment.
The Benefits of Display Ads
Display ads are visual; therefore, they are great at grabbing a person’s attention and conveying any message that’s displayed therein. Display ads are also great at helping you build a visual brand identity and awareness. Additionally, display ads can be hyper-targeted for any audience. They can also be used in retargeting campaigns as well. Display ads are extremely cost-effective and will generally give you a significant return on your investment. These are just a few of the many benefits of display ads.
The Most Common Types of Display Advertising
Display ads are either site placement, contextual, or remarketing.
- Site Placement Advertising
These are when the advertiser or digital marketer is the one that chooses which website they want to run display ads on.
- Contextual Display Advertising
This is when any given network places your ads on relevant websites. A relevant website would be any website that has information, goods, and services that are related in some way to what you offer.
- Remarketing Display Ads
Remarketing advertising is when your ads appear to users who have previously been on your website or landing page but left without completing your call to action or conversion goal.
The Most Common Display Ad Formats
Here are the most common display ad formats available.
- Banner Ads – These are what appear in specific locations on any given web page or social media platform. They are usually static, interactive, animated, or in video format.
- Interstitial Ads – These are ads that pop up and cover a whole page or app screen until the user interacts with the ad by closing it or clicking on it.
- Responsive Ads – These are dynamic text ads that show different headline variations and descriptions based on a user’s search inquiry.
- 360-Degree Ads – These ads provide the user with an immersive experience because they respond to the user’s mobile phone gyroscope.
- Lightbox Ads – These ads start out small, then expand on the screen as the user engages with them.
Now, for the moment you’ve all been waiting for—the display ads best practices for home services contractors.
Display Ads Best Practices for Home Services Contractors
The following information will provide you with a good foundation when it comes to understanding and designing effective display ads for your marketing campaigns.
1. Clear and Compelling Headline
One of the most important, if not the most important aspects of creating a display ad, is to develop an attention-grabbing and compelling headline. A clear and precise headline that conveys what the ad is for. If your headline isn’t compelling enough, most people won’t even bother to read the ad.
2. Well Thought-Out Design
A display ad must be visually appealing if you want to grab someone’s attention. If your ad uses a relevant image or some type of unique animation, it will not only grab the reader’s attention but will also entice them to click on your ad.
3. Define Your Target Demographic
Before you begin creating your display ads, you must identify your key demographic. What makes up your ideal customer? What are their likes, dislikes, wants, needs, etc.? Once you have that information, you can develop your ads and a targeted message based on that information.
4. Web Page Optimization
Just like your ads, your website and web pages must grab a visitor’s attention enough to get them to take action. You can do that by optimizing your pages. Optimization includes a page design that is consistent with your ads, is mobile friendly, has an enticing call to action, and a short and easy-to-complete opt-in form. Otherwise, your visitors won’t want to bother with it.
5. Mobile-Friendly Ads
When designing your ads, make sure they are mobile-friendly. You can do that by creating the aspects of your ads based on how they will look on smaller mobile screens. They also need to be optimized so they will automatically adjust to different-sized screens. Doing so will make for a better user experience, which, in turn, will help increase your conversion rates.
6. Color-Contrasting Call-to-Action Button
You should be designing ads with color-contrasting call-to-action buttons. Your call-to-action buttons should be a different color than the background and other aspects of the ad so it stands out. It’s also good practice to design a hover option with different colors as well. And don’t forget to use contrasting text colors for each. If you don’t, the text won’t be visible when the user clicks or hovers over the button.
7. Create and Use a Personal Brand Experience
One of the best ways to help your business is to create a memorable brand and a positive brand experience. This can be done through reputation management (Surefire Local makes it easy-more about that in a moment). Once you’ve built a positive brand reputation in your local community, you will earn the trust of potential customers. And this will help you build a brand following and authority in the industry, which will increase your traffic and your income.
8. Split Test, Analyze, and Improve Display Ads
Always include split testing and analyzing in all your marketing campaigns. This is the only way to see what’s working and what’s not. You can then use that information to improve your display ads. Testing can be done by changing out headlines and messages and testing them against each other. Look at each ad to see if it led to an improvement in leads, sales, sign-ups, click-through rates, etc. Do this for a month or so. Then use your best-performing ads and make changes to them each month or when you notice your conversions or click-through rates have dropped.
What Is Surefire Local and What Does It Do?
Surefire Local is a local marketing platform and business intelligence software that will help you perform nine of your most important online marketing tasks quickly and easily, all from a single platform.
Here is what Surefire Local can help you do.
- Ratings and Reviews
- Content Marketing
- Business Directory Listings
- Lead Generation
- Analytics and Reporting
- Local Paid Ads and Online Advertising
- Text Message Marketing
- Competitor and Keyword Analysis
- Geo-Location Check-Ins
Surefire Local is a local marketing software that can help with your search visibility. It can also help you monitor, manage, and control your online reputation. This feature alone is priceless. Because once your reputation is damaged, it can be extremely difficult to get it back on track.
Why Choose Surefire Local?
Surefire Local consistently provides its users with a 34% average increase in traffic, 82% more online reviews, and a 385% return on investment! Additionally, the Surefire Local platform is extremely easy to use.
The best way to determine if Surefire Local is right for you is to attend a Surefire Local demo. Doing so will give you all the information you need to make an educated decision about whether this platform is what you need for your specific marketing campaigns.
Attend a Surefire Local Marketing Platform Demo
Surefire Local provides business intelligence marketing software that costs much less than other online local marketing tools and resources. It also costs significantly less than digital marketing agencies charge for some very simple marketing tasks. The best thing about Surefire Local is that all your tools, resources, and more are all on one platform. That means no more logging into one site to perform one marketing task. Then having to log on to a bunch of other sites just to do more single tasks. Working this way is a huge time waster. Do yourself a favor and give Surefire Local a try.
What’s Next?
If you want to enjoy local dominance and unlimited growth, we’d love to help you take control of your digital marketing. Let us show you just how easy and cost-effective using the Surefire Local Marketing Platform and Business Intelligence Software can be.
Schedule a Surefire Local Demo Today! We hope you found this article about Display Ads Best Practices for Home Services Contractors helpful.