To get started, you need to define goals for your campaign. Ask yourself the following questions:
What do I seek to accomplish with this campaign?
What action do I want online users to take when they see my ad?
Once you have done this its time to develop your advertising message.

1. Study the best examples online
When designing a creative piece like a banner ad, start by identifying the best banner ads that you have seen. The easiest way to do this is to visit the major portals such as MSN.com and look at the different banner ads. Try to identify at least three banner ads that catch your attention and your interest. What, if anything, do these ads have in common? This will help you understand what techniques are effective, as well as what design style appeals to you.

2. Be clear in your graphics and messaging
Your main objective is to have people take a particular action after viewing your ad. A strong, clear message will help capture their interest. Clear communication requires that you understand your message, what you are selling and the benefit that you are offering potential customers. You will often want your primary message to be the strongest visual element in your ad.

3. Control the file size.
How many times have you had to wait on a banner ad before you could view a Web site? To minimize user frustration, you need to limit the file size of your ad. The easiest way to achieve this is to limit the number of colors you use and save your banner as an animated GIF file.

4. Say it in seven words or less.
This is especially important for a banner campaign, where you are limited to a small visual space. Using fewer words means that you can make the font size bigger, which increases the impact of your message. For example, instead of saying "You will be satisfied with the speed and reliability of our plumbing repair services," you could say "Fast, reliable plumbing repairs. Guaranteed."

5. Use power words.
These are single words that immediately communicate a benefit. "Free," "unbelievable," "incredible," "affordable," "heartwarming" -- a brainstorming session will help you create a list of words that are perfect for your campaign.

6. Select images carefully.
Adding visuals is like cooking with spices. Too few will lead to a bland banner, while too many will destroy the desired effect. If you want to add an eye-catching graphic, royalty free stock photography is an inexpensive option. There are several Web sites online that offer these images. Using a drawing or chart with a limited number of colors is an effective way to catch the eye while limiting the file size.

7. Use contrast to capture attention.
Your ad will likely include these elements: background colors, a bold text message, and a photograph or drawing, and animated. To be effective you need to have contrast between these elements. Contrast can be achieved using different font sizes and bolds and colors.

8. Limit your use of fonts.
When designing your ad, try to use no more than two fonts. If you do use two or more fonts be sure to select fonts from different categories. There are three main font categories: serif (which have tiny "feet" on the letters), sans serif (with no decorative "feet") and decorative (which include highly decorative and script or handwritten fonts).

9. Don't overdo it with animation.
If you plan to use animation in your ad, there are a few things to consider. You want the animation to draw the eye without offending the online viewer. When setting the animation speed, look for something that changes at a slow to moderate pace. It helps to set your animations so that they stop after three cycles; some sites may insist on this.

10.Less really is more.
As you create your design, remember that less cluttered messages will make a stronger impact with the online viewer. Limit the number of elements -- the colors, fonts, graphics and words -- that you use in your ad and ask yourself whether your primary message is clear.

11. Feature a call to action.
Placing a "Click here" or "Submit" graphic image on your banner can significantly improve your CTR.

12. Use bright colors.
Blue, yellow, and green banners have a higher CTR than black-and-white banners. Use the color red sparingly.

13. Use the word "Free" in your banner.
Depending on what's offered, the word "free" can increase CTRs. For example, offering a free software demo gets a good response. Offering free money arouses suspicion since people will want to know what the catch is.

14. Give a benefit for clicking on your banner.
For example, "Do you want more traffic?" or, "Need help with taxes?" The answer to the question will be on your web site.

15. Keep the message short.
Simple banners have higher CTRs than unfocused, wordy banners.

16. Link the banner to a specific page.
When people click on the banner, they want to go directly to the web page that has the information they want. Your visitors do not want to go to your home page and have to hunt for the information.

17. Refresh or change your banners frequently.
Studies have shown that CTRs drop significantly after 2 weeks. The CTR usually increases when a new banner appears.

18. Nothing beats a good eye-catching punch line
When thinking of the copy for a banner; you need to spend a lot of time in creating a catchy phrase, something that will arouse the interest of the viewers and entice them to click on the banner. The punch line should be a small phrase, just a few words and should be visually appealing (correct usage of colors and fonts).

19. Good copy
A successful banner has excellent copy. Be sure to spend ample time thinking about what would interest the surfer. Another rule of thumb for good copy is to keep it short and simple. The text should support the banner punch line and should be informative and practical, making the viewer curious or bringing out a smile. Preferably, the copy should end with the same catchy phrase as on your web site unless the banner punch line is the same.

20. Relevant content in banners - not XXX
Make sure that the pictures displayed in the banner are relevant to the products/services you are offering on your site. A woman in a skimpy bikini would surely attract the attention of male surfers and get a click but, if your site sells electronic goods, the visitor is sure to leave your site before making a purchase. You, thus, end up with high-click thrus and negligible sales.

21. Something that will never die!
T.V. advertisements have overused the word "NEW", or the phrase "New and improved"... but it still sells! Similarly on a web banner, nothing attracts a visitor more than the word "FREE"! It provides an incentive to viewers when they click on the banner. Please make sure that you deliver what you have promised in the banner - and point it out quickly on your site; else the visitor would simply click on the "Back" button of their browser, never to return again. It might also generate some negative publicity!

22. Including logo and web site URL in banners
If your ad campaign is a brand building exercise, it is advisable to include BOTH the logo and the web site address in the banner. For other types of banners, you might like to include the two, but make sure that they don't dilute the banner punch line or the copy. In such cases, it's best to keep the logo and the URL together either on the right or the left side of the banner. The logo should be made small and the URL can be displayed in a very small font size.

23. Clichés work!
Statistics show that the best call to action on a web banner is the trite phrase "Click here". Its very presence increases the click-thru rate by almost 20%. The phrase should be displayed long enough (2-3 seconds), preferably in the last frame of an animated banner and can itself be animated - made to blink or change color.

24. To animated or not to animated?
Animated banners generate almost 30% higher click-thru rates than static banners. The main drawback is that animation results in larger file sizes. However, optimizing an animated .gif banner by decreasing both the number of colors used and vertical color change, one can bring the file size below the required value.
An important point regarding animated .gif banners is the use of photo-realistic images. The .gif images can contain only 256 colors and the image compression algorithm (LZW: Lempel-Zev-Welch) works best when the image has large areas of single color. Since photos are complex images, the LZW compression algorithm is not able to do full justice, resulting in large file sizes. Hence, it is advisable to either avoid the use of photos in animated gifs or keep the animation to a minimum, if photos are employed.
Using the Flash technology, we can embed photos as jpgs, which is the correct compressed file format for photographs and other complex images. Furthermore, we can correctly control the compression levels of jpgs. The text or even the photo can now be animated.
Take a look at the Flash banner we created for a client - Click here. This banner contains 4 photos that have been animated and a large image of the American flag used as the background - a total of 5 photo-realistic images. The physical dimensions of this banner are also quite large, 160x600 pixels, but the file size is 18kb!

25. Several banners for a single ad campaign
Unless you have done thorough research on your audience preferences and behavior patterns, its highly unlikely that a single banner would be sufficient for your ad campaign. We believe that you should start with 6-10 banners. You should keep rotating the banners and as the ad campaign progresses and you'll come to know which banners are generating higher click-thru rates. It is imperative that you track the success of each banner in terms of CPMs, CTRs and CPCs.