create an exchange banner?

[TWO CATS]

I would like to create an exchange banner to place on other sites .I have looked on the net but they seem to require html knowledge.Can someone please help and tell me how to do it.
thanks in advance
two cats
www.catpetalogue.com

[Dream Lady]

Re: create an exchange banner?

Hi two cats! There are quite a few free banner creators out there. One that I like is BannerBreak.com. I found it easy to use with just enough design options that I found what I needed. Once you create your banner and like what you have, off to the right side, they give you the html code already generated for you. All you have to do is copy and paste. There are many others like this out there, so you may want to do a search. Hope this helps you.

[TWO CATS]

Re: create an exchange banner?

Thanks i will give them a try
two cats

[VodaHost]

Re: create an exchange banner?

click the below...

http://www.vodahits.com/exchange/

[loribelle]

Re: create an exchange banner?

I'm really new to web site design and can't always understand what may seem obvious to more experienced folk. I am finding it hard to understand exactly how to create a banner. Or rather what differentiates it from an image/graphic that is hyperlinked to my website.

I checked out the www.bannerbreak.com but after I created my banner, I went to copy and paste the html but then realized I don't know where to paste it! But figured it out and pasted it in an html box on my bluevoda page. Then I previewed on my browser and found the banner lead me to the bannerbreak website! I did not enter in my website address so what is the purpose of this banner...to promote their banner design site?

Can't I just use Bluevoda tools like shape selector (rectangle), fill it with my logo image and picture of my product and then make the whole thing a hyperlink back to my website? I mean what makes a "banner" anyway? I hope my questions make sense. I want to join vodahits banner exchange plus another craft-related web site banner exchange but am stumped. Instructions I found so far fall short - please explain to me as if I were a child!

[Dream Lady]

Re: create an exchange banner?

Hi Lori: To my knowledge there is no difference. The banner will contain the html code that if placed on someone else's site, or used in the exchange sites, when clicked on, will take people to your website.

The bannerbreak site I mentioned above is just a quick way to design a banner within the size parameters that most people want banners to be, plus gives you some design options and all the html code you need. When you copied the html code and pasted in your html box, you need to go into that code and change the code to point to your site instead of bannerbreak.com. So in the beginning where it says, http://www.bannerbreak.com/ you need to put your url address in there. Then at the end of the code, after the <a/> and before the </br> select all the stuff after that <a>/> and delete it. That is what is putting the link to the bannerbreak.com site under your banner in preview. I think this is pretty standard with any banner program you use. Since I don't understand html that well, whenever it can be written for me and all I have to do is adjust it a little...that is easy for me. I hope I answered your question.

If not let me know and I'll break it down more.

[loribelle]

Re: create an exchange banner?

Hi Lori: To my knowledge there is no difference. The banner will contain the html code that if placed on someone else's site, or used in the exchange sites, when clicked on, will take people to your website.

The bannerbreak site I mentioned above is just a quick way to design a banner within the size parameters that most people want banners to be, plus gives you some design options and all the html code you need. When you copied the html code and pasted in your html box, you need to go into that code and change the code to point to your site instead of bannerbreak.com. So in the beginning where it says, http://www.bannerbreak.com/ you need to put your url address in there. Then at the end of the code, after the <a/> and before the </br> select all the stuff after that <a>/> and delete it. That is what is putting the link to the bannerbreak.com site under your banner in preview. I think this is pretty standard with any banner program you use. Since I don't understand html that well, whenever it can be written for me and all I have to do is adjust it a little...that is easy for me. I hope I answered your question.

If not let me know and I'll break it down more.

Thanks DreamLady, I also don't know html so all I did was make the image a hyperlink and made www.loribelledesigns.com the destination. It seemed too simple so I figured there must be more to it than that. But now I do understand that it needs to be certain size (468x60). So I'm now playing around with the banner tool icon I finally discovered on Bluevoda - it was not mentioned on any tutorial I saw or mentioned to anyone who asked how to make a banner. Did I miss something?

[Dream Lady]

Re: create an exchange banner?

Well there ya go Lori...You mention the bv banner tool and I had not even noticed that. Thanks for pointing that out! I'll have to take a look at that. I don't know if the banner tool will let you hyperlink it. Maybe someone who knows more than both of us will be along to help us answer a few questions! Come back and let me know if it works for you. Once you get it done, if you want to post your html code here, I'll put it on a test page on my website and we can see how it works!

[webdesigner]

Re: create an exchange banner?

hi where is the banner tool in BV ,as I too have never seen this thanks .

[loribelle]

Re: create an exchange banner?

I'm away from my PC so I'll have to go by memory. When you first open BlueVoda and you're on the design page, it's an icon along the left vertical side. I think it's just above the navigation/menu bar icons. There's also a banner rotator icon but don't know how to use it yet. Last night the banner tool helped me fit my banner to the necessary size but had to end my experimenting and did not have time to figure out how to add the html or hyperlink. I'm surprised banner designing is not a tutorial somewhere - seems to be a mystery to so many!

[webdesigner]

Re: create an exchange banner?

hey thanks for the reply,..managed to make the banner,but had to save as a page,not to lose it as do not know how to save it as a banner ,so it can be exchanged with other websites ,with a clickable link back to my site,..anyone got any thoughts on this,thanks.

[loribelle]

Re: create an exchange banner?

Well there ya go Lori...You mention the bv banner tool and I had not even noticed that. Thanks for pointing that out! I'll have to take a look at that. I don't know if the banner tool will let you hyperlink it. Maybe someone who knows more than both of us will be along to help us answer a few questions! Come back and let me know if it works for you. Once you get it done, if you want to post your html code here, I'll put it on a test page on my website and we can see how it works!

Hi Dream Lady,
I hope your kind offer is still good! I couldn't work with the BV banner tool to my satisfaction so I finally made my banner using photoshop (could just barely figure out that program). Here is the html code, please let me know if it works. I'd also like to see if my font remains true as an image, so when you are able to post it, please let me know and I will check it out on your site. Thank you so much!

<IMG src="loribellelogoflat.jpg" alt="" usemap="#ImageMapImageMap13" align="top" border="4" width="460" height="52">
<MAP name="ImageMapImageMap13">
<AREA shape="rect" coords="1,1,469,61" href="http://www.loribelledesigns.com" target="" alt="" />
</MAP>

[loribelle]

Re: create an exchange banner?

click the below...

http://www.vodahits.com/exchange/

I would like to participate in the vodahits banner exchange but I keep stumbling on one thing...how to get the URL address for just the banner and NOT the page to which it is saved. The URL address for the page is
http://www.loribelledesigns.com/homepage_link.html and the html code is-

<IMG src="loribellelogoflat.jpg" alt="" usemap="#ImageMapImageMap13" align="top" border="4" width="460" height="52">
<MAP name="ImageMapImageMap13">
<AREA shape="rect" coords="1,1,469,61" href="http://www.loribelledesigns.com" target="" alt="" />
</MAP>

What is the secret step to assigning a URL to just the banner? Vodahits sign-up form would not accept the banner b/c the page it's on does not fit the 468X60 requirement...but the banner IS the correct size. Please help.

Thank you!

[KristineSheehan9@aol.com]

Re: create an exchange banner?

I'm searching for the same answer Lori has asked re: adding URL to just the banner - I've created my banner but there is no way to add the url....

Help!

Kristine Sheehan
The Merry Bird...pen,ink and design

Http://www.themerrybird.com