According to Google and my experience mentoring students, in a couple of hours or less you could get an ad to show up on around 2 million websites. That’s realistic on the GDN — the Google Display Network. And that’s just one ad network. There’s also Facebook’s ad platform and many others like LinkedIn, Pinterest, and X, all of which can put your business in front of millions of people very quickly.

Yes, it takes ad spend — but as always, you choose what you invest. You control your budget 100%, so starting with even $5 to $10 a day is possible. That won’t reach a ton of people immediately, but you’ll start building awareness of your offer on an automated basis, without having to create that awareness manually or organically.

If you’re struggling to reach a significantly larger audience, tapping into the power of digital display advertising may be exactly the cure you’ve been looking for to boost traffic and sales. Making your offer or brand omnipresent is a huge key to sales — because people can only buy something if they know about it in the first place.

From eye-catching static images to engaging videos, digital display advertising offers a variety of formats that communicate your message and capture attention quickly. And the best part? You can track your results and see exactly how your image or video ads are performing. Let’s jump in.

What Are Display Ads?

If you’re a total newbie to display advertising, this section is for you. If not, feel free to skip ahead — or get a refresher.

Display advertising is a form of online advertising that involves visual ads — banner ads, image ads, and rich media ads — shown on websites, social media platforms, and other digital outlets. It gives businesses an opportunity to reach a large, targeted audience with their marketing messages. The visual format makes it an engaging way to drive brand awareness, consideration, and conversion.

Display ads differ from other types of online advertising, like search advertising, which primarily rely on text and keywords. Display ads instead rely on images, videos, and animations to catch the eye of your target audience. They’re typically served through ad networks and ad exchanges, which act as intermediaries between advertisers and publishers, connecting businesses with the right audience at the right time in a way that’s relevant, engaging, and memorable.

Popular Display Image Sizes

While you can technically create any image for your ad, each network allows specific ad image sizes so images can be placed automatically on websites. Here’s a chart of the popular display ad image sizes in pixels:

With these formats, display advertising gives you a range of options for reaching your audience. Let’s take a closer look at the different types of digital display ads.

Digital Banner Ads

These are rectangular ads that appear at the top, bottom, or sides of a website, usually as a static image or a simple animation. Common sizes include 970 x 90 and 728 x 90 pixels (leaderboards), among others.

Online Image Ads

These are visual ads that typically display a product or service — a clothing item, a food item, or a tech product. Image ads are often used to drive product consideration and purchase intent.

Rich Media Ads

These are interactive, dynamic ads that let users engage in various ways — expanding the ad to reveal more content, playing a video, or taking a survey. Rich media ads are often used to build brand awareness and drive engagement.

Video Display Ads

These feature a video or animation, often displayed as a pre-roll ad before video content. Video ads are an effective way to deliver a compelling message, demonstrate a product, or tell a story.

Interactive Digital Ads

These allow users to interact in various ways — clicking buttons, playing games, or taking quizzes. Interactive ads are often used to drive engagement and brand awareness.

Native Ads

These are display ads designed to blend seamlessly into the surrounding content, so they look and feel like a natural part of the website or app. Native ads deliver advertising messages in a subtle, non-intrusive way.

Native ads are my favorite way to advertise. They feel more natural and, in my experience, produce higher-quality traffic — because the click comes from someone who didn’t feel they were being advertised to. Most people don’t like being sold to; they’d rather be sincerely helped with a need.

Expandable Ads

These start as a small banner or box and expand to reveal more content when triggered by a user interaction, like a mouse hover or a click. Expandable ads deliver more information about a product or service in an engaging way.

Digital Ad Placement and Targeting

Ad placement and targeting are two critical components of a successful display campaign. Placement refers to where the ad appears on a website or platform; targeting refers to the specific audience the ad is intended to reach.

For placement, advertisers can choose from options including leaderboard ads (top of a website), skyscraper ads (along the sides), and rectangle ads (in the middle). You can also choose to display ads on specific websites, or across a network of sites that cater to a particular audience or topic.

Targeting is about identifying the right audience. Display advertising offers demographic targeting (age, gender, location), behavioral targeting (previous online behavior and purchasing history), and contextual targeting (the content of the website or app where the ad appears). By combining placement and targeting, you can maximize your campaign’s impact and reach the right audience with the right message at the right time — driving higher engagement, click-through, and conversion rates, and a better return on investment.

Measuring Success With Digital Display Ads

Measuring the success of a display campaign is an important step in understanding its impact and making informed decisions about future campaigns. Key metrics include:

• Impressions: the number of times an ad is displayed to a user — an indication of reach and visibility.
• Click-Through Rate (CTR): clicks divided by impressions — a key measure of engagement and relevance. A CTR above 2% means your audience really likes your ad. Below 2%, consider optimizing your audience, changing your ad, or choosing an entirely different audience.
• Conversion Rate: the number of users who take a desired action (a purchase, a form fill) after clicking — an indication of how effectively the ad drives outcomes.
• Cost Per Impression (CPM): the cost of delivering 1,000 impressions — used to evaluate cost-effectiveness.
• Return on Investment (ROI): the return generated compared to the investment made — the key metric for overall success.

How to Create a Display Ad Yourself for Free

You can easily design your own display ads using my favorite design tool, Canva. I use Canva with my team every day to create all kinds of ad images, videos, and much more. They have a free account too, so it’s super easy to get started.

Whatever approach you take, create display ads that are visually appealing, align with your brand and marketing objectives, and meet the requirements of the ad network or platform you’re using — so you can effectively target your desired audience and drive results.

Guidelines for Effective Display Ads

1. Define your objectives. Clearly define what you want to achieve. This guides the creative process and keeps your ads aligned with your goals.
2. Know your target audience. Understand who you want to reach and what motivates them, so your ads resonate and drive results.
3. Make it captivating. Display ads are visual, so make them eye-catching and engaging. Use high-quality images or graphics, and consider animation or video.
4. Keep it simple. Display ads are often viewed briefly. Use a clear, concise headline and make sure the most important information stands out.
5. Use action-oriented language. Encourage action with strong CTAs like “Learn More,” “Sign Up,” or “Buy Now.”
6. Test and optimize. Once your ads are live, keep testing. Use analytics to track performance and make data-driven decisions to improve results.

Best Practices for Display Ads

Best practices for display advertising come down to a few key steps. First, clearly define your target audience — understand who you want to reach and what motivates them, so your ads resonate. Second, make your ads visually appealing and engaging with high-quality images or graphics, and consider animation or video to bring them to life. Third, keep the message simple and easy to understand, since display ads are often viewed briefly. Fourth, use action-oriented language and strong CTAs to encourage action. Finally, continually test and optimize — experiment with different ad formats, targeting strategies, and creative elements to find what works best for your audience and your business.

In Conclusion

Display advertising is an effective way for businesses to reach their target audience and drive results. By following best practices — defining your audience, creating visually appealing ads, using action-oriented language and strong CTAs, and continually testing and optimizing — you can create display ads that achieve your marketing objectives. Using ad networks and platforms, working with agencies, or hiring freelance designers can make the process easier and more efficient.

If you’re reading this, chances are you’re looking for ways to improve your digital marketing and reach more customers. The first step is understanding your business objectives and target audience — and that’s where Watchman Advisors comes in. We take a personalized approach: we talk with our clients, understand their unique goals and challenges, and only then craft a strategy tailored to their needs.