Comic Genesis Forums

Edited: Ta da! New banner! How's it look?

What I generally say on the matter is here.

Of course, I don't generally say anything on the matter these days. I just link that.

- Joel Fagin

Hmm, well, your banner isn't MOVING, which is a plus for me. I hate animated banners, especially ones that flash. But....your banner is very unobtrusive. Neither your art, nor the colors, nor the font are particularly eye-catching. It looks like you squished down the art to fit in a couple panels, but I'd rather see -part- of a larger image, or a catchy motto, or a logo rather than squint at those panels there. You want to catch our attention with a banner even more than you want a true example of what you're offering, 'cause if we click, you win, regardless.

And Joel's stuff always rocks. So check that out.

I've generally gotten good feedback about mine. See sig.

Seth Godin had a book about permissive marketing and the death of it http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/37/ideavirus.html

Anyway, he discusses in the book about how Marketer-to-Marketee ads are becoming horrendously ineffective. An alternative (which is becoming more popular) is something that actually elicits user input upon seeing it. Basically, something that stirs a person's basic need to say, or think about something about themselves.

I went with the shine effect... still simple but with that eye-catching motion.

The kind of advertising (including banners) that I despise are the ones along the lines of:
'SEX! BOOBS! etc. Now that I got your attention click here!'
(because I'm obviously so funny since I could think up such an original and witty advertisment like this!)

Whenever I see one of those kind of posters stuck up somewhere I literally cringe so hard my face feels like it's about to suck itself inside out. And then explode. In flames.

Anyway, hope that helps

Mr.GtF wrote:The kind of advertising (including banners) that I despise are the ones along the lines of:
'SEX! BOOBS! etc. Now that I got your attention click here!'
(because I'm obviously so funny since I could think up such an original and witty advertisment like this!)

Whenever I see one of those kind of posters stuck up somewhere I literally cringe so hard my face feels like it's about to suck itself inside out. And then explode. In flames.

Anyway, hope that helps

well truthfully, the most important part of advertising is the hook. and when you see something, rather "hate" or "like" your attention has been grabbed. and that is why sex does so well, in the marketing. most taboo things like that, once we actually become a more open society, then sex will be a wonderful hook for advertising.

That may be true, but if every cereal and microchip company start advertising with sex, it's going to lose it's grab. The most effective advertisement is a unique one. Second to that is an advertisement that advertises what you're selling.

Mr.GtF wrote:The kind of advertising (including banners) that I despise are the ones along the lines of:
'SEX! BOOBS! etc. Now that I got your attention click here!'
(because I'm obviously so funny since I could think up such an original and witty advertisment like this!)

But my comic *has* boobs... and occasionally sex...

phactorri wrote:well truthfully, the most important part of advertising is the hook. and when you see something, rather "hate" or "like" your attention has been grabbed. and that is why sex does so well, in the marketing. most taboo things like that, once we actually become a more open society, then sex will be a wonderful hook for advertising.

Personally, I think that once sex is less-taboo, it'll be less effective for marketing. On the one hand, as I think's been pointed out, there's the over-saturation aspect. But additionally, I think the taboo itself is appealing to people. News stories are driven by the sensational (child rape stories, murders, etc.,) because the shock attracts people.

Heck, I've dated people who seriously got off on the 'taboo' aspect of sex... the idea of being dirty and immoral...

My comic has a lot of sexual humour, so I make sure to stress that in my advertising.

Hey, if I could make good ads, I would be doing that, instead of writing comics.

A tip: Whenever I design anything I take one element away from the finished product. (Less is more. Bla bla bla)

I like it when strips that are advertising have a large enough sample of the art that you get a good idea for what the strip looks like. For my part, I tend to just c/p and crop images from my strips/cast page to make my banners and ads.

As a slight sidenote, I *hate* when someone has clearly lavished waaay more attention on their banner than their strip. You see a banner with really cool looking art, and then find that the strip is a watered down much more hastily done version. In that case, the banner might bring me in once, but- not more than that. You don't have to have perfect art in your strip or banner, but it's nice when they match.

A catchy tagline also helps, and is probably the hardest dang part. A lot of people give you a list of words that describe the strip, which, is fine, as a listing of adjectives and nouns. But that doesn't necessarily cover the feel of the strip. (which your current banner has, but you did already say you don't like it... so... this isn't directed right at you, but in general.) I did the list thing at first too, eventually settling on "Play in our world," because that's the kind of strip/character/reader interaction I try to promote. Folks are more than welcome to interact with the characters as much as they'd like to, so, it fits pretty well.

Similarly, Hopscotch' banner has a clever tagline, big, eye catching art (putting eyes as a dominant artistic feature in a banner is an awesome idea. People are drawn first to the eyes in any kind of visual medium), and the strip is actually prettier than the banner. Win on all three points.

NakedElf wrote:

phactorri wrote:well truthfully, the most important part of advertising is the hook. and when you see something, rather "hate" or "like" your attention has been grabbed. and that is why sex does so well, in the marketing. most taboo things like that, once we actually become a more open society, then sex will be a wonderful hook for advertising.

Personally, I think that once sex is less-taboo, it'll be less effective for marketing. On the one hand, as I think's been pointed out, there's the over-saturation aspect. But additionally, I think the taboo itself is appealing to people. News stories are driven by the sensational (child rape stories, murders, etc.,) because the shock attracts people.

you pretty much said exactly what I did *s*

I don't think I need to go further in detail, but negitive "that which pisses people off" is just as strong as that which people like. it grabs attention. bad art, and great art serve the same purpose. this is why there are lots of ads with horrid art of them.

uniqueness is also a good hook, advertising is essentially about grabbing attention, once that attention is sought people will look at what your offering. if you don't grab attention, then people just tune it out. tis why when advertisers use them same ploys over and over again (bewbs for example) it looses its appeal. where beer commercials with teh hawtness once let you sit up... now your like "oh its bewbsn rollerskates again..."

where beer commercials with teh hawtness once let you sit up... now your like "oh its bewbsn rollerskates again..."

-dies laughing-

I think that a lot of the time, for me, because I'm a superficial hasty person, the look of a banner is a lot more important that the actual content. It can be "omfg bewbs!" or it can just be a silouette. So long as it's pretty

*Is now tempted to make a banner containing a pair of breasts on roller skates, nothing more...*

You know how the True Internet Dating Site always has a wonderfully attention-grabbing ad banner...

I find something simple with a sample of your art and the name can be surprisingly effective. Both my mini-banners are the name, and faces of characters yoinked form the cover-page and main banner.

I think it's that you're trying to put too much into one area. The whole point of having a banner, opposed to just a text link, is to attract readers by your artwork. However, you have four very small images, and it's a little difficult to make any of them out. I recommend putting a bigger image on your banner. Be careful not to make it too big, unless that's the aim... Also, this might just be personal preference talking, but I would keep the border. Borders tend to add a touch of class to a banner, imho. And I think maybe that the light blue is a little bland. It's like painting a wall beige. It's nice, but not particularly interesting one way or the other. The best advice I can give you, though, is to just look at other's banners. You can take a look at the ones <a href="http://shinseki.comicgenesis.com/links.html">on my site</a> (some of which I made myself.)

Hope this helps :)

See, that's what I get for putting an actual comic in my banner :P

Thanks. ^_^

In my professional opinion, you are missing a dinosaur. Dinosaurs always help banners.

Probably.


Hopefully..


Tea and crumpets anyone?