Making a banner for you website can be done very easily.  I use Microsoft PhotoDraw 2.0 to make my banners but any graphic program will do the trick.  The first thing I do when designing a banner is to try to picture in my mind the colour scheme that would go good with the site.  For a children's site, you would want something eye catching and colourful.  For an automotive site you would want to use darker colours with eye catching graphics.  By following the steps below, you will be on your way to creating professional looking banners in minutes.

STEPS

1.    Set the size of your graphic to the size of the banner you are going to create.  The normal banner size is 468 X 60 pixels.

2.     Add a rectangle shape to your graphic.  Make sure your rectangle is the exact size of the banner you specified in step 1.

3.     I usually put a one point black line on the rectangle for the edge.  This will make your banner stand out from the rest of the page and this is also a good idea because if your banner happens to be the same colour as the background of the web page it appears on, adding this thin black line will separate it from the web page making it stand out.  (Please note:  You will not have control over what colour the background will be on the web pages that your banner will appear.)

4.     The next thing I do is add a background to the rectangle that I created in step 2.  I usually add a texture as the background.  Solid colours also make beautiful backgrounds.  When adding a background, you want to make sure that the colour of the background is not going to overpower your banner.  The easiest way to take care of this is to fade your background.  Most graphic packages have tools that will do this for you.  Please read the documentation that comes with your graphic package for help on this subject.

5.     Adding a headline or decorative text is the next thing I do when creating a graphic.  I usually put a one point black outline on the text, so that it will stand out from the background.  Sometimes I put a shadow effect on this text to make it stand out more on the page.  Experiment with different effects and see which one looks the best.  Solid colours are great against a textured background and textured text looks great on a solid background.

6.    Choosing the font for the text in step 5 can be the most time consuming aspect of creating your banner.  Script fonts are nice but are sometimes difficult to read.  Fonts like Poster, Market and Signboard are really good fonts to use.  You will want to make sure that everything in your banner is readable because potential customers only spend seconds reading a banner if they read it at all.  Your banner must catch their attention.

7.     I usually add a catchy phrase to the bottom of my banner that will attract a readers attention.  The whole idea behind a banner is to attract the readers attention enough that they will click it and go to your website.

8.     Graphics can be used in banners too.  Clipart and photographs are nice but remember that you are limited in space so your clipart or photograph will have to be very small.