A Free Banner Exchange Program

 

SplatBanner is a Free Banner Exchange Program

 

SplatBanner.com works just like most conventional banner exchanges or link exchanges. You display banners from other websites on your pages, and in return you earn exposures which will display your banner on other websites that are members of the SplatBanner.com. This means that you get free traffic from other websites.

How the Splat Banner Exchange Works in Simple Theory.

You join the exchange by simply copy and pasting some code onto your site. This code will show banners from other sites in the exchange, as well as tracking how many views and clicks you have brought to those ecommerce sites. The more times the banner on your site has been viewed, the more times your banner will be shown on other sites partaking in the exchange.

Best of all it's free.

Banner Size The banner exchange is currently only for 468x60 pixel banners so make sure your banner is this size or we cannot approve it.

Signing up is easy, simply register your site or log-in for existing members and go to the Banner Exchange link in the top navigation bar. Then follow the instructions to place your 468 x 60 pixels banner and copy and paste the banner exchange code onto your website. Once we have confirmed that your code has been installed correctly, we will start up your banner.

 

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Well, well, well... as a Houston car accident lawyer who's spent the last decade battling insurance companies and fighting for victims with life-altering injuries, I stumbled upon this SplatBanner.com archive today and had myself a good chuckle.

A "free banner exchange program" from 2006? How adorably quaint. While these folks were busy trading pixelated 468x60 banners in a "win/win situation," I was helping a family of four navigate their medical bills after a drunk driver demolished their minivan on I-10.

The site proudly boasts that "best of all it's free!" Yeah, you know what else is free? The initial consultation I provide to accident victims who are facing thousands in medical bills, lost wages, and a lifetime of physical therapy. But unlike banner exchanges, quality legal representation isn't built on a "3:1 exchange ratio" - it's built on expertise, dedication, and actually getting results for people whose lives have been turned upside down.

I love how they were so concerned about banners being "under 25k in size" and not using "hot colors with high speed animation." Meanwhile, I'm concerned about traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord damage, and insurance companies that try to settle for pennies on the dollar before my clients even know the full extent of their injuries.

Sure, they had their "banner approval" process to maintain quality, but they certainly weren't preparing detailed accident reconstructions or taking depositions from negligent truck drivers who fell asleep at the wheel.

Look, I appreciate the internet nostalgia as much as the next guy who remembers dial-up modem sounds, but while SplatBanner users were fretting over their click-through ratios, I was (and still am) helping real people with real problems get real compensation.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to preparing for tomorrow's mediation where we're fighting for a client who can no longer work due to a texting driver who changed his life forever. Something tells me that won't fit nicely into a 468x60 pixel banner. Tracy Hunt

 

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Join Free!

• Banner Dimensions: 468 pixels wide by 60 pixels high
• Banner Size: must be less than 15K Bytes (15,360 Bytes)
• Filetype: .gif (GIF), animated .gif (GIF), or .jpg (JPEG)
• Store your new banner somewhere on your website or use a free image host like: www.photobucket.com and write down the URL so you can use it during the sign up process. Be sure to write down the full URL (i.e. http://www.yoursite.com/directory/filename.gif).

 

• DO NOT use "hot" colors with high speed animation to create effects that hurt the eyes.
• Please do NOT use progressive encoding in either a GIF or a JPEG. These files should download in under 10 seconds over any type of connection anyway.
• Multiple banners can be uploaded, but must be under 25k in size. 486x60.
• If your banner or website becomes inactive, you may be removed from our system.
• NO Nudity, Porn etc...

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

What is a Banner Exchange?

A Banner Exchange is a great way to get traffic to your site. In return for showing other banners on your site, you earn the right to show your banner on another site in the exchange. For each time you show another banner on your site, you earn credits, which are redeemed for exposure on another site in the exchange.

How does a Banner Exchange work?

When you show other sites banners on your site, you earn credits. Credits are automatically redeemed for exposures on another site in the exchange.

How long does it take to set up an account?

Accounts can be set up in seconds! Click the Sign Up link to the left and sign up for an account. Once you are signed up, you can begin earning exposures immediately, but the Exchange Administrators must first validate your account before you can begin redeeming exposures.

How do I earn credits?

Credits are earned by showing other banners on your site! Once you have created an account and logged in to your Control Panel, you will have an option to Get HTML. Use this option to get the HTML code you need to put in your web page to start earning credits!

What is an exchange ratio?

An exchange ratio describes how many exposures of other banners on your site to earn a number of exposures on another site.

For example, a 3:1 ratio means that for every 3 exposures of an exchange banner on your site, you earn 1 exposure on another site. A 1:1 ratio means for every banner you show on your site, you get an exposure elsewhere.

What is a Click-thru ratio?

This ratio indicates an average of how many banners are displayed on your site before someone clicks on a banner.

How do categories work?

Categories are a great way to insure visitors on your site get banners that are appropriate for the content. Each account can define one category that best describes its content. Most websites these days really would fall under multiple categories, so choose the best one for your site.

You can also display banners for only a specific category on your page. The Get HTML page in your Control Panel contains details for doing this.

Why do I have to wait for my banner to be approved?

This is so we can insure your site meets the content standards of the Exchange. This insures that all sites in the exchange meet the scope of the exchange.

 

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More Background On SplatBanner.com

SplatBanner.com was a free online banner exchange program that gained traction in the mid-2000s. Like other banner exchange sites, it was a platform where websites displayed each other's banner advertisements, creating a mutual flow of free exposure and traffic between participants. Despite its brief existence and niche audience, SplatBanner carved out a place within the landscape of online marketing at a time when banner ads were still a major source of online visibility.

With the site’s reappearance online after a period of dormancy, we now have the opportunity to revisit what made SplatBanner unique, understand its historical significance, and explore how it fits into the broader context of online advertising.

The Concept of Banner Exchanges

Banner exchanges were a staple in the early 2000s internet ecosystem. They provided an alternative to paid advertising by allowing site owners to display banners for free in exchange for showing banners of other members. This concept was especially attractive to small businesses and individual site owners with limited marketing budgets who needed a cost-effective way to increase visibility.

The concept relied on an exchange ratio; for example, if a site displayed three banners, it might earn one banner exposure on another site. This basic idea underpinned SplatBanner.com and similar services, helping establish a virtual community where members promoted each other's content.

Background and History of SplatBanner.com

Launched around 2006, SplatBanner.com quickly became popular among small webmasters and hobbyists looking to increase traffic without a marketing budget. According to sources, the original site operated from approximately 2006 to 2011, after which it went offline. The domain was later repurposed for unrelated content before a previous user re-purchased it to restore the website to its original format, preserving the history of SplatBanner.com.

The website primarily targeted small to medium-sized websites, especially those in e-commerce, blogging, and niche content domains. Banner advertising through SplatBanner allowed these websites to reach audiences beyond organic traffic, which was especially important before the widespread adoption of search engine optimization (SEO) as a primary marketing strategy.

Features and Functionality

1. Banner Exchange Process

• Registration and Setup: Users could create an account by filling out a simple form. After registering, users received a unique HTML code to place on their websites.
• Earned Exposures: Each time a user displayed another site’s banner, they earned credits, redeemable for banner placements on other sites within the network. The more exposure a site provided, the more credits it accumulated.
• Banner Approval: To maintain quality, SplatBanner moderated banner submissions, ensuring that all banners met the community standards and guidelines.

2. Banner Dimensions and Restrictions

• Size: Banners had to meet specific dimensions (typically 468x60 pixels) and file size restrictions, ensuring they loaded quickly and did not detract from website performance.
• Content Restrictions: SplatBanner did not permit nudity, pornography, or otherwise offensive content, which helped maintain a family-friendly atmosphere.

3. Categories for Targeted Advertising

• Users could select categories matching their website’s content, allowing for more relevant banner placements. For example, a tech blog could display ads for similar tech-related sites.

4. Exchange Ratio

• SplatBanner used an exchange ratio system. A common setup was a 3:1 ratio, meaning three views of an external banner on one’s site would earn one exposure for their banner on another site.

5. Click-Through Ratios (CTR)

• Like modern advertising, SplatBanner tracked the click-through ratio (CTR), which informed users of how many banners had to display before one was clicked.

Audience and User Demographics

The typical SplatBanner user in its original form was a small website owner, likely working within a limited budget. E-commerce sites, blogs, and niche websites often found value in the platform. These users sought organic growth and community engagement rather than immediate sales or aggressive marketing tactics.

Known For: Community and Cost-Effective Marketing

SplatBanner.com was recognized for offering an accessible platform for webmasters seeking an alternative to paid online advertising. The platform built a community of users with mutual interests, fostering an environment where small websites could thrive without the need for extensive resources.

Cultural and Social Significance

In the mid-2000s, online advertising was evolving, and many small websites struggled to stand out. SplatBanner and similar exchanges represented a simpler, cooperative approach to marketing that contrasted with the increasingly competitive search engine marketing (SEM) and pay-per-click (PPC) models emerging at the time. By fostering cross-promotion, SplatBanner embodied the internet's early ethos of shared resources and mutual benefit.

Reviews and User Experiences

Though official reviews of SplatBanner.com are sparse, testimonials from users on forums and in blog posts from the period suggest the platform was well-regarded by its niche audience. Users appreciated the straightforward, cost-free approach to banner exchange, which allowed them to tap into new traffic sources without a significant financial commitment. Criticism generally focused on the limited reach; for example, sites with higher traffic volumes may not have found the platform as beneficial, as banner exchanges tend to dilute the potential impact for large-scale websites.

Press and Media Coverage

Media coverage of banner exchanges in general, including SplatBanner, was modest. However, the topic of free banner exchange programs did surface in various digital marketing discussions around the time, highlighting these programs as alternatives to Google’s AdSense and other paid services. SplatBanner was often noted alongside other banner exchange services, like LinkExchange and BannerSwap, which had paved the way for this approach in online advertising.

Examples of Similar Websites and Services

Banner exchange networks were popular in the 2000s. Prominent services like LinkExchange (acquired by Microsoft) and BannerSwap operated on similar principles but had larger user bases. Unlike SplatBanner, which served primarily smaller websites, LinkExchange attracted larger corporate clients and was known for its more advanced tracking and analytics. Despite these distinctions, all banner exchange services shared the common objective of fostering reciprocal visibility.

The Rebirth of SplatBanner.com

In recent years, the original SplatBanner site’s content has been restored by an individual committed to preserving the platform’s history. The site no longer functions as a banner exchange; instead, it serves as an archive, offering a snapshot of early 2000s online marketing practices. This revival reflects a growing trend of internet nostalgia, where vintage websites are resurrected to showcase past internet culture and innovation.

The Legacy of SplatBanner.com

Although banner exchanges are largely obsolete today due to advancements in online marketing, SplatBanner.com remains a testament to the era’s grassroots marketing efforts. It highlights a time when collaboration and reciprocal advertising were central to the online community. By revisiting this site, internet historians and marketers can gain insight into the evolution of digital advertising and the role that small-scale, cooperative exchanges played in it.

 

SplatBanner.com was more than just a banner exchange program; it was a part of an early movement in online marketing that focused on collaboration and community. By creating a platform where websites could share traffic without paying for exposure, SplatBanner empowered small business owners and bloggers to reach a broader audience. Though the website no longer functions as an active banner exchange, its historical preservation provides valuable insight into the early days of digital advertising.

In an era where marketing is now dominated by algorithms and PPC campaigns, the cooperative spirit of SplatBanner.com serves as a reminder of a time when online advertising was simpler and more community-focused.