Banners need to match the look and feel of the site. What works on one site may not work on another.
A particular banner may be identified as the most productive by the aff program, but it totally sucks on my site.
Conversely, one that doesn’t work on other sites may be my star performer.
Yes, text links rule, but banners do attract clicks also and IMO one needs to grab every opportunity to get that click.
I like a wide selection of banners, so I can pick what I know to work on my site.
The offer on the banner is important too – whether it gets the click depends on the type of player attracted to your site. A BJ player is unlikely to click on a slots banner, a boomer is unlikely to click on a black banner and males are unlikely to click on pink banners. And so on.
If you have an audience of young males, black banners will work well, if you have older females, try that slots banner.
Look and feel of a site is often ignored, but for the best possible conversion all factors have to be taken into account. Your site attracts a specific type of person, and you need to cater to that.