Motorcycle Ad Banner Design

Tips for Making the Best Banners

Making money or wasting money – your motorcycle ad banners can have a significant positive or negative impact on your bottom line. Next, the following information and tips on creating banner ads will significantly help. You will find that your ads will help maximize your return on investment (ROI).

What type of ad banners work best? This is a common question in marketing. The answer depends on several variables. Here’s an article if you are learning or need to brush up on your motorcycle marketing basics. Below is some web banner information for designing effective revenue-generating ads.

Defining Biker Ad’s Goals

You must define clear goals before creating your motorcycle company’s ad banners. For instance, is your goal for branding, educating about a product or service, immediate sales, lead generation, re-marketing, or what? Notably, a clear plan helps improve the look and success of your ads.

Identifying Your Target Audience

Next, your ads must focus on what will attract your rider’s target audience. More specifically, your ads should focus on what will convert into sales. But too often, biker companies’ ads don’t do this. Not doing this will lower the number of people interacting with your ads.

Also, there are ways to find your best target audience before creating ads. Your expert banner designer will know this. One way is to look at your company’s Facebook or Instagram page demographics. Another is to use web tools like Google Analytics.

Then, after your ads are live for a while, there will be data to evaluate. Once the data is gathered and analyzed, new strategies can be created. And your new ads can be made for your company using this data, and this cycle repeats. This process is called the MVP approach. It is where you build or create something, measure its results, and learn so you can modify your strategy.

In addition, A/B testing is a great way to see what is and isn’t working. And this testing will give you data/facts about what banners are and aren’t performing.

Customizing the Ad’s Message

In addition, your banner ads must be focused on what helps create the best results. When should your motorcycle company’s ad’s colors, words, and imagery change? Notably, it is when your target audience is further defined, and data supports the changes.

For instance, I’ll use my hypothetical company, Kickstart Motorcycle Jackets (Kickstart). They might sell a sports bike jacket and an old-school, biker jacket. Of course, the banner ads for sports bike riders and old-school bikers will differ. Also, ads for sports bike riders won’t work for old-school Harley riders, and vice versa. So, the banners are different because the target audience is different.

Another example of targeting is geographic location. For instance, let’s say Kickstart wants to sell more cold-weather jackets. These motorcycle jackets will sell better in Detroit rather than in San Diego.

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Motorcycle Banner Ad Sizes

Another essential item when your marketing agency creates advertising banners is using the correct size and shape.

1. Here are some popular Google Ad sizes (formerly called AdSense):

((Ratio – Dimensions (where used))

300×250px (Medium Rectangle)
336×280px (Large Rectangle)
300×600px (Half Page)
728×90px (Leaderboard)

2. Here are the most popular Facebook ad sizes:

((Ratio – Dimensions (where used))

1.91:1 – 1200×630px – (Feed)
.525:1 – 630×1200px (Portrait)
1:1 – 1200×1200px (Square for Feed, Right Column, Instream Video, Market Place, Instant Articles, Story, Collection, and Ads)
1180×1920px (Stories)

3. Here are the most popular Instagram ad sizes:

((Ratio – Dimensions (where used))

1:1 – 1080x1080px (Photo Posts & Ads)
1.91:1 – 1080×608px (Photo Posts & Ads)
4:5 – 1080×1350px (Photo Posts & Ads)

As you can see, your company has many ad options. Which format works best depends on the motorcycle ad’s location on a page.

Creating Banners in Groups

Note there are ad platforms that use the same ad ratios. For instance, a 1200×1200px banner and a 1080×1080px banner have a 1:1 ratio. An important banner ad creation tip is to use the most significant dimensions of a particular banner shape. You do this because ad platforms will often automatically resize your ads.

Here’s an example of using this tip to create quality motorcycle ads. Let’s say you have a 1080x1080px red and black banner on your website, but on another website, you have a green and yellow-themed 300×600px banner ad. This can create a brief and unnecessary confusion, so providing your visitors with a smooth and easy buyers’ journey is essential. Consistency is also crucial for branding.

Ad Design & Landing Pages

Also, the ads and landing pages should look similar. For instance, the colors, font, logo, and imagery should be related. Importantly, this makes for a smoother transition from the ad’s location to your site. Again, even some slight awkwardness will hurt your engagement metrics and sales.

Make Your Ads Stand Out

However, loud ads or ads with too much variation should be avoided. Too much can be just that; too much.

The Simplicity of Biker Ads

An additional banner ad creation tip is that less is more. It is similar to a motorcycle paint job with too much going on. Often, this happens with pinstriping. But it turns people off, is mentally awkward to look at, everything blends, your focal point changes, etc.

People need to quickly and easily recognize your site’s offerings. Notably, most viewers will only glance at your ads. And with a lot of content in the ad, the letters and graphics will be smaller, which makes it harder to read. As I often note, people are impatient on the internet. So, simple banners get you the most value.

Next, this leads to one common error when designing motorcycle advertisements. The banners for your site aren’t only supposed to generate sales – not at all. Advertisements are to get bikers interested in your offering and to get them to your site. Then, your website closes the deal. In an ad, give people the essential information and save the details for your website.

Choosing Colors for Ads Tip

Let’s start with what not to do. First, some color combinations in the motorcycle world should not be prominent. Just ask if you don’t know why.

Significantly, you must change your ads if bad color combinations are used. As you know, changing banners and your site takes time and money. But this is easy to avoid if you know what color schemes work and don’t work in the biker world. Plus, the primary colors of your ad banner should be like those on your site. And this gives your visitors a visually smooth transition to your site.

So, what colors will work best for your motorcycle company’s ad banners? Well, the answer is that it depends. First, your colors should be whatever gets your visitors to buy. Next, your larger competitors’ sites can give you an idea of what colors work in your niche.

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Choosing Banner Fonts Tips

Any font on your ads or motorcycle site design must be easy to read. Again, people are impatient on the Internet, and they only glance at banners.

Many people won’t click on your banner if they can’t quickly and easily read your ads. Next, if a font is hard to read on your site’s banner, it can be a turnoff. As a result, choosing a font that fits your niche and is also readable is crucial.

This also helps make the buyer’s journey smooth. Following this recommendation will improve your engagement, sales, and branding.

Choosing Visual Elements

Also, some images should not be used on your motorcycle ad banners. And they should not be used on your website. Contact us if you don’t know which images to use. If incorrect images are used on banners or your website, they must be redone. Of course, this can be costly. Subsequently, getting the graphics right the first time is a must.

Adding Your Motorcycle Logo

Adding your motorcycle logo to your advertising banners is also necessary. First, it builds brand awareness. Next, a logo differentiates your company from other companies.

How large should the logo be on the motorcycle advertisement? How large should the other imagery, text, call-to-action, and value proposition be? Again, it depends.

There are some standards, but that goes beyond the scope of this ad creation article. But the bottom line is that your logo can drastically change an ad’s engagement without the correct proportions. And again, both the color and imagery you use on your banners must follow what you can and can’t use in the biker world.

Framing Your Motorcycle Ad

Framing (adding a border) around an ad is a best practice. One reason is that it prevents your ads from being confused with the rest of the pages’ content. Plus, it helps the advertisement banner stand out.

Location of Ad Buttons

Additionally, call-to-action (CTA) buttons on motorcycle ads can help increase clicks. Next, they should placed on the bottom right of the banner. Plus, buttons on sets of ads should be used on all or none.

Value-Proposition

First, your motorcycle site’s ads should include a value proposition that tells your customer the top reason(s) to buy a product or service. Again, for the reasons listed above, your ads should be brief, to the point, clear, and convincing. Next, a vital ad design guideline is to focus on your value proposition, which must motivate the customer.

CTA Banner Ads

A call to action (CTA) is a phrase designed to encourage a particular action by the viewer. Here are some common CTA examples:

“Save Now”
“Limited Time Offer”
“Free Shipping Today”
“Buy One Get One”

Now, the above examples are compelling and brief phrases. The phrases don’t need to be bland since the ads will be on motorcycle sites. Here are some more unique, longer, and stronger CTAs:

“Shop Today & Save Big”
“Subscribe Now & Start Saving”
“Start Your Journey Today”
“Learn to Avoid Accidents”

Animated Biker Ads

First, animated ad banners get more interaction than static ads. But here are some ad banner suggestions for you when creating ads:

Focus on the ad’s message.
Brevity (under 5 to 10 seconds is ideal)
Have a value proposition.
Have a CTA.
Include the name and logo at the beginning and end of these animated banners.

Small Ad File Sizes

Biker sites that load fast give your visitors a better experience. And visitors will engage with your site longer. Moreover, page load speed is a ranking factor for Google and is part of quality motorcycle SEO, specifically with your technical SEO.

I would have guessed that almost all motorcycle site developers and designers knew this, but I was wrong. I frequently visit sites where the graphics or their advertisers’ graphics file sizes are huge. So, if your site seems slow, check the size of your site’s graphics and the file size of your ads.

Another reason to resize your ads is when you advertise on a website. Websites often resize advertising banners with the wrong dimensions or file size, sometimes making a banner look bad.

Mobile-Friendly Motorcycle Ads

There are different percentage estimates related to mobile users on the web. But a good range is 50-60% of people access the internet on their mobile. Subsequently, having mobile-friendly motorcycle advertisements is critical. Also, your biker ad banner designer must see their mobile presence. Note that it is always important to check how your ads and website are present on mobile.

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Best Biker Ad Placement

Next, where your ads are placed can impact your return on ad spend (ROAS). Before your ad goes on a motorcycle site you pay for, you need to do some research on that site.

The number of ad impressions is good, but a site showing data that sends traffic to current advertisers is better. The conversion rate of visitors to sales is even more important. Lastly, your total net profit is the most critical metric.

Also important to your company’s ad’s performance is its location on a site. For instance, being on the home page, main pages, and all the other pages is good. But having these banner ads in prominent places is better.

Another word of advice is don’t buy ads on pages that are packed with ads. They aren’t of much value. Also, biker ads below the “fold” don’t get enough traffic. Note that the “fold” is visible at the bottom of the webpage when the page loads (so before you start scrolling).

Ads above the fold get more viewership and clicks. Of course, this is because more people see the top of web pages. Also, people spend more time on the top of motorcycle websites.

Testing Motorcycle Banner Ads

Your company can see what is or isn’t working by testing your banner ad variations. Then the best advertisement for your company can be selected.

Testing your banner ad variations can help your company determine what is working and what isn’t. Then, the best advertisement for your business can be selected.

Finally, if you’re having trouble designing ads, Revolution’s website and search engine services experts are experienced in creating banner ads. We’ve exclusively worked with motorcycle industry clients over the last 19 years. Subsequently, we are familiar with target audiences for various product and service niches.