Web banner ad companies – ranked & rated

Announcing the Top 5 Web Banner Design Firms in the World – 2010.

Every company profiled on this site specializes in designing web banners ads, has a complete online ordering service and meets stringent price, quality and ethical standards.

Feel free to use this site to review the web banner ad design firms that consistently deliver high quality work. Now here are the award winners for 2010!

Superb track record. Will always be hard to beat.
The wise old man of the web banner world. Largest global profile. A clear-cut favorite of the hosting community and online marketers. Great service and super creative. Plus excellent pricing. Client testimonials on their site are worth reviewing.  Not surprisingly, sometimes they can get busy. The Google Adwords Set is a blockbuster best-seller.

Personalized service. Real marketing focus a big plus.
Sharp, professional service. Simple interface. Their focus on creating banner ads that both look good and deliver results is commendable. With one test we ran, they even suggested a better variation to the original text we supplied. Quality was great and the clear ‘call to action’ makes the extra few dollars they charge per banner worthwhile. Marketing experience means this firm is a good candidate for any sales campaigns.

Single banner experts. 24 hour turnaround on all jobs.
This no nonsense site is a very good contender. They maintain two key points of difference from competitors. Firstly, they only do single banners. So no package prices. Secondly, they offer a 24 hour turnaround on all jobs with no extra charges for a speedy delivery. Definitely worthwhile using if you are in a hurry to get a single web banner in your hands. Consistently high quality. Solid portfolio of quality work.

Lengthy track record and improving reputation
One of the elders in the industry. High quality designs and a slick well-built website. A good generalist firm with a solid track record. Was probably number one a few years ago. However, a few reports of patchy and slow service has affected their reputation in more recent times. Our test banners went through without issue. So we assume they have fixed the problems. Reliable and trustworthy.

Good potential. Pricing structure and system needs improvement.
Clean functional site. Exactly the way you would imagine the newest company in the industry to be. The packages are well priced for very basic banner ads. However, they make clients pay extra for animated banners (an industry staple) which is a shame. Their ordering system is also clunky and needs work. Too much scrolling up and down. For obvious reasons their portfolio is weaker than their competition. However, if they fix up some of the teething issues its position could improve.

What about all the other web banner design companies? Why don’t you list them?

We are often asked to list all the banner ad companies that don’t make it into the Top 5 list. We are not really sure why people would be interested in a list of several dozen average firms. It doesn’t really make sense.

However, to add some spice to our awards, this year we have decided to showcase a few firms that really do need to improve their game to be competitive.

The Wooden Spoon Award

It is hard to finish in last position. However Need Banner wins it easily in 2010. How can anyone trust this company to design their banner ad when Need Banner’s own web site is so poorly designed? The robotic colour scheme, the clunky interface, limited payment options, the multiple clicks needed to get places …. and, worst of all,  a horrible template-based portfolio that reeks of 2002. Do us a favour. Shut the site down boys. Please.

The Price Is Not Right Award

We know Go Daddy are known for being a lots of things to a lot of people.  However, we think almost $600 for five animated banner ads is just too much to pay (to compare, our first prize winner – 20 Dollar Banners – charges only $109 for five banner ads). We are not even sure how good their designs are as Go Daddy’s online portfolio consists of a bunch of web banners for just one company. We just weren’t prepared to pay the $600 to find out either! [Note: Some fancy pants 'real world' designers still charge $300-$600 for a single banner ad that quite often doesn't work so well. So compared to them, Go Daddy is cheap. Compared to our Top 5 though, they just don't cut the mustard.]

Can you please let me know the best web banner advertising networks?

A frequent question and a good one at that.  It certainly does pay to get your banner ads into the marketplace and working for you.  And that means distributing through ad networks.

So how can you leverage your web banners? Well there are dozens of banner ad networks on the web. Just do a Google search to find the one that meets your needs.

We really like Adbrite. For starters, they have been around a while so they are pretty dependable. Unfortunately, we cannot say the same for many other online ad networks who are here today, gone tomorrow.

If you want some serious facts about them, they serve over 243 million impressions a day on more than 120,000 web sites. Big numbers … and that means they almost certainly cover the sectors you are targetting. Based in San Francisco, Adbrite is backed by some of the best known VC firms.

We like this company so much … here is their web banner ad (we really don’t like the design of their web banner though!)

About us

We are a group of online professionals who have, over many years, purchased a huge number of web banner ads. So we know the industry very well. We are the No. 1 online resource to review web banner companies and we are very proud to commend firms that make the grade.

We feature a limited number of banner ads on this site from advertisers to:

• support the industry
• add value to our visitor’s experience by offering relevant and timely products and services and,
• to generate income.

We work hard to deliver interesting, quality offers … so don’t be shy to check out the banner ads on our site.

Who uses Best Banner Designers?

Our regular visitors include:

• web hosting companies
• design and advertising agencies outsourcing banner ad creative and production
• individuals promoting their own products/services through affiliate marketing channels.
• marketing, communication and pr professionals
• sole traders and executives of smaller companies
• ebay and other sale site merchants
• companies including a web banner on their own or partner sites
• … oh, and if you don’t fit in any of the above and the subject is of interest, you!

How do you choose which web banner design firms win?

We review all online banner ad design companies and rank the five best. Selection criteria is based on these key areas:

• principal business is the design and production of web banner ads
• quality, including creative standards and effectiveness
• price
• site simplicity
• meet delivery times
• service standards
• payment gateway efficiency and security
• breadth of product range
• competitive point of difference

These areas have been chosen as, for most people, they are the key elements in the selection of a web banner ad design company.

We review throughout the year.

How can I report a good or bad experience with a web banner ad company

If you have an experience  – either positive or negative – with a web banner company feel free to share it with us. We do take into consideration bonafide feedback from people who have purchased web banners, so just email us.

Why isn’t my banner ad site on the list?

We have spent months reviewing the best banner ad companies on the web.  However, the web is a mighty big place so if you are new to the industry or think we missed your service (and you really believe you make the grade) let us know. Before contacting us, ensure you review the selection criteria above. Please note our decision on who makes the cut is final.

Why don’t you also list the template sites or the ‘do it yourself’ sites?

Template sites almost always result in a lack of quality. The templates are often old and out of fashion. The tools to create banner ads primitive. Who wants to go back to the stone age?

Do-It-Yourself sites and software lack one important ingredient; creative design skills. Unless you have these skills, it really is a waste of time and money.

Even worse are those sites that insist that to get their free banner ad you need to include their name/logo. You are not promoting your service, you are promoting theirs!

Is it really worth risking your business image or, just as importantly, your chance of making sales. Spend a few dollars getting a great banner ad created by a pro.

Where can I find some great banner ads that will help me decide what I need?

The best place to look is in the portfolio section of each site listed in the awards. There are hundreds of web banner ads on display.

However, if you need a break from all this information, here is a very funny banner ad (just remember to keep clicking).

Best Banner Designers
www.BestBannerDesigners.com
info@BestBannerDesigners.com