When the first banner ads were created, they were very effective because they were original and stood out among more traditional advertisements. According to Fast Company, the first banner ad had a click-through rate (CTR) of 44 percent, dwarfing today's rate of 0.8 percent. Now, Internet users often develop ad blindness because they get bombarded with different types of messages every time they go online. As a result, businesses must reevaluate their banner ad design and content to make sure that this marketing channel remains successful. Here are five ways you might be screwing up your banner ads — and five best practices to employ instead.

Are you trying to attract attention to your business? Though you might not immediately think that radio can augment a digital display-focused campaign, nothing could be further from the truth. You can bring your display and video marketing campaigns to the next level by using radio ads to create urgency and demand attention from consumers.

The "Window Shopping" Problem

Imagine that you own a car dealership. You promote your dealership through various active digital advertising campaigns that showcases new and used vehicles for sale. Your Web statistics look quite healthy, but your sales are not backing up your marketing efforts. How is this possible?

There's a reason some marketers consider retargeting to be the highest-value digital campaign, and it all starts with the audience you choose. Unlike many other types of digital marketing, which aim to reach new consumers and expand brand reach and visibility, retargeting concerns itself only with past website traffic and consumers who have demonstrated an interest in your products or services.

Retargeted ads, whether delivered through traditional computers or via a mobile retargeting strategy, attempt to reconnect with those prospects who have since moved away from your brand's properties without completing a conversion. The retargeted ads function as a means of trying to rescue and secure a potential conversion.

The trick to optimizing retargeting campaigns all hinges on the quality of their underlying strategy. Here's a guide to making the most of this digital opportunity.

Most marketers know the essentials of banner ad creation: all banner ads should be a standard dimension, feature a call-to-action in a prominent location and include at least one "clickable" element. But it can be tough to design an ad that not only follows this basic formula, but is highly effective as well. Here are three key elements that all great banner ads have in common.

1. Strategic Use of Color

99designs has a helpful color guide that breaks down what different colors represent and how to use them effectively. For instance, they explain that red is the most powerful color and that it should, therefore, not be over used. The design blog also mentions that though colors like yellow and orange are associated with optimism and happiness, you should avoid using them for anything other than a call-to-action button or a creative flourish because these bright colors can be irritating to viewers' eyes.

In August 2014, Facebook launched its cross-device targeting tool for digital ads, as reported by AdExchanger, which sent a clear signal that the social media giant is becoming accepted by marketers as a way to measure and reach Internet users across smartphones, tablets and desktop computers. Cross-device targeting occurs when a brand identifies a visitor to its website and subsequently serves an ad to that consumer when they are browsing elsewhere on another device. If a person is perusing Kate Spade handbags from her work desktop on the Nordstrom website, for instance, she may see a Kate Spade banner ad for a sale on her mobile Pandora app.

The goal of cross-device targeting is to more closely follow the new customer journey, requiring multiple touches to influence purchasing decisions. Here are three ways the tool will change your digital advertising strategy:

If you want to deliver messages to the right audience at the right place and time, geo-precise targeting is the way to go. This marketing tactic helps you determine where your ideal customer is and deliver content to them based on that location. The increase in mobile users has made this hyperlocal strategy more relevant to a user's intent. Now you can serve up campaigns to people searching or viewing your products or services in a particular location, rather than where that user lives.

With geo-targeting, you leverage precise locations to increase your relevance to the user, as Google explains. This is ideal for targeting mobile users because you can set geographic boundaries (called geo-fencing) and deliver ads to mobile users when they enter this area.

Click-through rates have long been the standard measurement of banner ad success. The logic is simple: Low banner ad click-through rates mean that too few consumers are taking action as the direct result of exposure to your ad. Without these actions, the ad fails to deliver and advertisers have to eat the cost.

Click-through rates can be a good metric for assessing ad value, to be sure, and for some companies, the need to generate clicks remains an important component. It's misguided, however, to think that a banner ad's only form of success derives from driving a click on the ad. The more we learn about the function of banner advertising, along with the ways it can affect consumers and plant seeds for action later, the more we realize that banner ad click-through rates are not the be-all and end-all for this form of display advertising.

Beginning a display advertising campaign can feel like a daunting task. Though there is some data that suggests that a phenomenon known as "banner blindness" means most users scroll past ads instinctively, in the hands of a savvy marketer, display ads can be quite effective. In fact, the Wall Street Journal reports that the market for display ads is projected to double in the next five years, thanks to new innovations in the display advertising industry. So what separates ads that users scroll right past from ads that are engaging and highly clickable? It turns out that the best display ads have these three things in common.

To be successful, banner ads must be designed to complement website copy, must feature related material and, most of all, should entice consumers to click on them. However, if you want a banner ad to get more than just clicks and actually lead to conversions, it must feature a clear call-to-action (CTA) that prompts the reader to do something. All without being too pushy.

Here are three essential elements to keep in mind as you create your perfect call-to-action.

1. Use Actionable Verbs That Are Related to Your Business

When looking at banner ads, consumers probably won't notice copy that simply restates sales copy or is solely image-focused. Similarly, CTAs that use familiar sales verbs ("buy now" or "click here," for example) will also be ignored. However, if you can craft a call-to-action with a verb that's unique to your business, consumers will be more interested. For instance, a flooring business that offers free estimates could use a CTA like "Estimate the cost for my new floor now," which is stronger and more effective than the similar "Request a quote now," as it deals directly with the service being sold and, therefore, is more likely to catch the eye of a reader who is thinking about replacing their flooring.

When designing graphics for your display advertising campaign, you'll consider several things. Is your ad copy effective? Your call-to-action prominently featured? However, there is one thing that you may not be thinking of that could potentially boost — or sabotage — an otherwise effective campaign: color.

It's been reported that color can influence people's moods, and even their perceptions of things like physical space and temperature. But did you know that color can also affect consumers' brand perceptions? Here are five do's and don'ts for using color in your display advertising campaign.

DO: Use Orange to Convey Value

Environmental psychologist Sally Augustin, PhD, said in a recent interview with Forbes that orange is a color that many people associate with a good value. Augustin says that orange "helps customers view [retailers] as a low-cost provider of valuable goods." However, this can be a bit of a double-edged sword, as it can make high-end products seem cheap. If you are trying to use your display advertising to emphasize a good price and value, orange is a great choice. However, if you are advertising luxury items, you may want to pick something else.