Internet Advertising Banners

We've all seen banner ads. In fact, almost every site has either had them in the past or has them currently. Banner ads come in all sizes and shapes these days, and seem to be integrated everywhere online. The most common ads are banners across the top of a web page, or an almost square ad just below the header area. They remain an excellent way to monetize a web site, and if you optimize your own banners carefully, you can have highly effective campaigns that deliver pre-qualified users to your web site.
It might seem that the way to get banners on a web site is by contacting a web site directly, but this is not so in many cases. Many medium and large web sites sell ad space through networks, and even smaller sites are starting to follow this trend. Lower costs and headaches on their end are the main reasons. You can, however, still find lots of sites willing to sell you ad space. Even sites displaying no ads at all may agree to place your ad. They simply may never have thought to try this before you contacted them.
Converting users who arrive on your website after clicking on banners requires a dedicated focus on optimizing your banners. Refining the message and testing multiple versions is the best way to figure out which works best. You must choose your replacements and banner sizes carefully as well. Don't be afraid to suggest new banner sizes to sites either. Larger banners perform better, as do banner locations "above the fold" on a web page, so seek these placements.
Increasingly, banner advertisers are turning to day parting as a way to increase click through rates. Day-parting allows you to show your ads only when you know traffic on a site is high, and you stand a better chance of seeing traffic more likely to convert. For example, if the site where you banner will appear is frequented by users during their evenings, when they are home from work, your banners can be set to show only during those hours. If the locations from which you are buying banner ad placements allow day-parting, there is usually no increased cost to you, so it's worth it to ask. Combine this practice with dedicate landing pages tailored to match the message your banners promote and you have a very refined approach to banner advertising. Now let's take a look at your options  in more detail.
A network can be thought of as a collection of web sites across which banner advertising appears. Indeed, many web sites that you visit every day are part of an ad network. It's not something that is openly advertised, nor is there any reason to do so. By being part of an ad network, a web site can increase its ad yield rate (meaning how much it gets paid for each instance that a user visits a web page and your banner is displayed). If a user refreshes the web page, that's a second impression. It removes the burden of managing the ad units itself, and limits the website's need to invest time in the entire process of finding advertisers. On the surface, joining an ad network might seem like just the ticket for a webmaster. Ad revenue rolls in, while the work is limited to placing a small bit of code on your site one time.
There are, however, some limits to keep in mind.
There are basically two types of networks: tier one and tier two. As you might expect, things are typically better on tier one networks, "better" being subjective, though i'll try to break down the difference between the two tires a bit more thoroughly. On a tier one network, there is full disclosure about the websites on which ad advertiser's ad will appear, and the rates tend to be higher. As a result, you tend to find more well-known web sites participating. On tier two networks, while ad rates are lower, there is less transparency about where an advertiser's ad might appear. This is usually due to the practice of buying remnants, which are ad impressions left unsold either on individual web sites or across networks.
The real downside of joining a tier two ad network, as an advertiser, is that you may not know where your ads are appearing. And since we are judged by the company we keep, this could spell trouble if your ad were to show up on a less than desirable web site. Just to be clear here, i'm not suggesting your ad would immediately show up on adult or gambling web sites if you join a tier two network. Just know that the ad you spent time and money crafting might be shown to an entirely inappropriate and/ or unresponsive audience. That's the downside here - a waste of your money. Today, many networks offer pay for performance models, meaning you only pay when an action is taken. If the action is "click the banner and visit my website", then you pay per click. If the action is a conversion or sale, then you only pay for that action, not the traffic alone, which is preferable because you can easily track the ROI of any campaign you run this way. You can then adjust as needed the time of day the ads run. If allowed by the network, you could also shift between web sites in the network and opt to introduce improved ads to try to increase your results.
As always, there's a trade off here. If you choose to simple pay for traffic, you'll get better rates. If you specify a conversion, rates will increase. This is where understanding your own web site and optimizing if for conversions makes a difference. Investing time in simplifying the path users take to make a purchase, in essence, optimizes the conversion process altogether.