And unless you are selling a product with very broad appeal, having your banner pop up arbitrarily through a 'free exchange' network won't pay dividends - especially if you have to compromise the power of your own website with other people's flashing banners. Then there is the problem of all those banners that lead you to 'the homepage' - and when you get there, there's no special offer, no welcome, no free treats, no indication that you've even arrived at the right place. And if you've just blown half your marketing budget, the mere number of theoretical banner impressions won't add up to the solace you're going to need. First, if you insist upon launching a campaign, make sure you know where your banners will be appearing - and make sure your ideal customers traffic those locales heavily. Avoid noisy sites where your banners have to compete with a legion of other gyrating, convulsing ads.
Placement is huge.
And so are splash pages. A splash page is an individual page designed specifically for an ad or promotion. Better yet, save the splash pages for more effective advertising methods than banners. And instead of banner campaigns, consider more complex relationships within a network of complementary online businesses. If you're strategic partnerships are indeed strategic, then your banner, promotion, ad, or link will appear on a site that enhances appeal for your product.