The Wall Street Journal Online (WSJ.com) has been testing using banners to market $49 subscriptions to business executives for more than three years now. Randy Kilgore, Executive Director Sales & Marketing told us he's learned, "the shorter and the more direct the message, the better. We started off a little heavier on the branding side. We found that as we focused more on offer and a little less on branding messages we'd get the most responses. Short and to the point would be the best way to put it!"

Kilgore is very excited about a banner test he's been running since September on a number of business news sites. For the first time WSJ.com testing a very soft offer. "In the past we asked people to click on a banner, input their credit card and then get their free sample. But asking someone to buy right away from a banner message if difficult. Now you can click through for 30 days free trial without any barriers. Free trial product sampling is a much better proposition online and it already seems to be very successful."