From regular webmasters to SEO professionals, If you do any form of online marketing, then you must have thought about this at some point- Text Ads or Banners?

Many schools of thought believe the latter is more effective, seemingly because “colours and moving images are more appealing to the eye than regular text”. I must admit, i was a part of that school …. well, until today.

A Recent study conducted by iPerceptions Inc. (TSX.V:IPE), a leading provider of web-focused Voice of Customer analytics, has shown that users are more likely to click on text ad’s, as opposed to banners, and …. YES! even video ads.

iPerceptions collected user-generated feedback from over 14,000 visitors to leading media sites during the month of August 2008 to paint a detailed picture of consumer advertising preferences based on their likelihood to click on different types of online ads.

Here are the results-

• 25% of respondents more likely to click on simple text ads

• 20% for right banner ads

• 12% for top banner ads

• 11% for video ads

I already see a number of open mouths. Yup! I felt exactly the same when I stumbled on the results myself.

There have also been a number of other surveys which came up with similar results. Not the exact same figures of course, but close.

Well there you have it. In the end, the facts speak for themselves. So all you marketers out there who have focused most of your time and money on banners are video ads, neglecting the good old text need to have a re-think.

But that is not to say- totally ignore video ad’s though, because just as Chris Crum of Small Business Newz puts it;

“there is no question that they are a better branding tool”

It’s just a question of whichever suites you better then. Are you looking out for just a couple more clicks, or perhaps your in it for the sake of your overall brand? Whatever you decide, you should bear one thing in mind though- Once again, I’m tempted to quote Chris Crum on this one;

“Clicks are great, but they’re not everything. A brand is invaluable.”

Brands stick around. Brands survive. Brands are remembered. “

You couldn’t have possibly said it better Chris. Couldn’t agree with you more on that.

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