What are Banner Exchanges?
Banner Exchanges, are systems set up so that website owners can trade views of each others banner ads. Some banner ad exchanges use only the standard banner size of 468 pixels wide by 60 pixels high, while others offer multiple sized banner exchanging. The Standards and Practices Committee of the IAB (Internet Architecture Board) has identified the following as the most commonly accepted banner ad sizes:

• 468 x 60 (Full Banner)
• 392 x 72 (Full Banner with Vertical Navigation Bar)
• 234 x 60 (Half Banner)
• 125 x 125 (Square Button)
• 120 x 90 (Button)
• 120 x 60 (Button)
• 88 x 31 (Micro Button
• 120 x 240 (Vertical Banner)

How do Banner Exchanges work?
Banner exchanges allow exchange members to either upload banners or link to banners on the exchange website in order to allow members to trade banner impressions (or clicks) over multiple web sites and web pages. Each member is given their own unique banner exchange code for putting (copying & pasting) into their web page HTML. This special code enables banners to be shown, and link to the correct URL when clicked. It also enables the banner exchange system itself to track how many banner ad impressions have been given and received by each individual exchange member.

Why use banners, do people really click them?
A long-time debate between banner exchange believers and non-believers is if banner ads really are effective for advertising a website (product or service). There are two main schools of thought. One being that banners should be designed for the highest click-through ratios. The other is that banners should be designed for the best branding results. If using banners as a sole-source of traffic, especially if you have a website URL with a name that is not easily spelled, then it is crucial to have a banner with a high click-through ratio. Whether you choose to use a banner ad exchange for branding or click-throughs, they can be an extremely effect tool.

How come I see "credits" everywhere?
Banner impressions must be tracked and managed with a universal trading system. Banner exchanges use "credits" to keep track (count) of how many banner ads (and of which sizes) were shown by which member. This is done by "credits", sometimes called "ad credits", "impression credits", "click credits" or "exchange credits". Using a credit-based system, you can easily see how many banner ad impressions you have earned and used.

What are "ratios"?
Banner ad exchange "Ratios", such as 2:1 or 10:9 or 1:1, etc. are used to show how the banner exchange is balanced. For instance:

• A 2:1 ratio means that for every 2 banners shown (that belong to other people) on your web pages, your own banner ad will be shown 1 time on someone else's web page.
• A 10:9 ratio means that for every 10 banners shown (that belong to other people) on your web pages, your own banner ad will be shown 9 times on other people's web pages.
• A 1:1 ratio means that for every 1 banner shown (that belongs to someone else) on your web pages, your own banner ad will be shown 1 time on someone else's web page.

"Ratio" is generally shown as "exchange ratio", "impression ratio", "click ratio", etc.

What is the big deal with referrals?
Referrals "sweeten the deal" in a banner exchange for you. "Referral Bonuses" and "Referral Ratios" are meant to help you get extra free banner ad impressions for your banners! Because all banner ad exchanges want to be popular, they give you a reason to tell other people about their services. This is the reason that many banner ad exchanges will give members extra "credits" (extra free displays of your own banners) just for referring new members to their exchange! This can be extremely helpful to you, especially if your web pages are not receiving many visitors. If a person who uses the banner exchange you referred them to is receiving many visitors, you can really use those "referral credits" for free extra displays of your own banner.

Referrals and Levels: As basic as it gets...
Example: Your web page displays 100 banners in a day, you get 50 banner impressions in a 2:1 exchange. Great! But... what if you referred another member whose web pages display 1000 banners in a day? With a 10% "referral ratio", that's another 100 credits for you free each day!