Banners - are they still popular?

[Adam Mason]

Simple question really, but do (good!) banners drive traffic to sponsor sites or do surfers click through more via galleries, blog posts or reviews? Any affiliates have a strong opinion or facts on the various ways surfers decide / prefer to click to a sponsor?

[basschick]

there's more than one reason to use banners. for the paysite owner, even if it doesn't drive traffic, it helps brand the site. for affiliates, a good banner can supplement a good text link - stick the text link directly under the banner and you're more likely to get clicks. or you can use a banner in a smaller space that a text link can't fit or put it on an all-text page to stand out from the text.

[Mickey]

banners still pull clicks... i am not the best in the world at making banners but even the crappy ones that i make drives traffic from my free sites etc to my paysite...

As Basschick said a good textlink below a banner can work wonders too..

[gaydemon]

Banners works well if used sparingly. If you blaster 20 banners on a single page the no, they wont sell. If you use 1 or 2 then their impact will be much bigger.

Its also important to use relevant banners. You won't make a sale with a banner advertising big hairy men on a twink related site.

Obvious things really but most people seem to not be aware of it. The most common mistake is to use too much banners.