HN user
What struck me here was how effective facebook proved to be for you on the Weekend! To the contrary, my facebook rep encourages me NOT to advertise on weekends because of ... ? what? lower traffic? Or maybe she's trying to keep this a secret?
In October I paused a lot of my banner traffic because it wasn't converting directly to sales. But then search conversions dropped off like never before. It was a huge mistake. Now I'm ramping up banner ads like crazy and seeing more and more sales from direct traffic.
To add to the original post, once you have banners up I'd suggest you pay attention to view-through conversions. It's the most measurable way to show that your banners are paying off--aside from conversions from clicks.
IMO, banners should reflect the philosophy, attitude, aesthetic and goals of the brand. If you're the real deal, your visitors will find out sooner or later and become real customers.