If you run banner ads, you may wonder what kind of click-through rate (CTR) you should be targeting. Well, according to MarketingSherpa… don’t worry too much about it!

The thinking is that since display or banner ads are primarily a branding tool, CTRs are a by-product rather than an objective.

Still, as MarketingSherpa point out, the higher your CTR, the more successful your ad is likely to be in terms of resonating with your target audience.

My take: accept a lower CTR (compared with paid search ads), but keep track of industry benchmarks. While the aim may not be to get clicks, the CTR is still an indication of the effectiveness of the ad.

So what are the industry standards? What is a reasonable CTR to aim for? A study by MarketingSherpa reveals different average CTRs for different banner sizes:

• 160 x 600: 0.14 percent
• 300 x 250: 0.37 percent
• 120 x 600: 0.18 percent
• 728 x 90: 0.27 percent
• 468 x 60: 0.10 percent
• Overall average: 0.21 percent

So now you have some benchmarks. But remember, a lot will also depend on your target market, where you run your ad, and the placement of your ad on a given website and webpage, among other things.

Source: MarketingSherpa, “Banner Ad Size and Click Rate: Bigger a Bit Better, But It’s Clicks that Count”, MarketingSherpa, September 16, 2008

The European Commission (EU) is conducting a preliminary investigation into the deal between Google and Yahoo, under which Google will be able to run its ads against Yahoo search results.

Whether or not the EU can do anything about the deal remains to be seen. It only has jurisdiction over activities that affect trade between EU Member States. Both Google and Yahoo have stated that the agreement applies only to the companies’ search services in the U.S. and Canada.

Source: Jack Marshall, “European Commission Inspecting Google/Yahoo Ad Tie-Up”, The ClickZ Network, September 16, 2008

Ross Dunn’s recent article in Web Marketing Today provides a handy outline of some of the search engine optimization (SEO) tools you can use to improve your search engine and general Internet marketing results.

Helpfully, Mr Dunn lists both free and paid tools in terms of four key areas:

1. Monitoring search engine rankings
2. Keyword research
3. Link tracking
4. Website check-up

The good news is that most of these tools are available free via a Google Webmaster account. Don’t have one of those? Sign up for free at http://www.google.com/webmasters/.

Source: Ross Dunn, “SEO Tools That Will Help You Succeed. Part 1″, Web Marketing Today, September 16, 2008

Last week eBay announced plans to slash the cost of listing an item for a fixed price on its site.

From September 16, 2008 it will cost just 35 cents (a drop of 70 percent) to advertise a fixed listing on eBay U.S. with plans to introduce similar revised pricing on the British and German eBay sites. Sellers will also be able to list multiple quantities of the same item for the same price.

Source: Frederic Lardinois, “EBay Just Wants to Sell: Moving Away From Auctions”, Read Write Web, August 20, 2008