Advertising Online

Advertising online really is one of those things you can buy in any quantity you want. From literally pennies a day, to thousands a month, there is an online venue you can afford, that will produce for you.

If you are a small business owner and don't have a lot to spend on graphic arts, you really don't even need display ads. Text-based ads are everywhere, and for many businesses, are as effective as the flashiest Flash animation.

You can either go with an online advertising agency to produce and place your advertising for you, or do it yourself. Small business owners should definitely begin by doing their own ad production and placement, just to get a feel for what the issues are. If you intend to eventually go with an ad agency, you'll be much better prepared to evaluate their package terms, if you have made all the decisions yourself at least once.

Advertising online ads can be either graphic or text-based; graphic ads can be static or animated. Animated ads grab the attention first, of course, but can be annoying. They also have a tendency to obscure the message. Everyone remembers the 'duck-hunting' shoot-'em-up banner ad, but what does it advertise? I honestly have no idea.

Online ads are also either pay-per-click, pay-per-impression, or static by week or month. Pay-per-click online advertising is cost-effective, because you pay only when someone follows your ad back to your Web site. Pay-per-impression advertising requires a set fee paid for a set number of appearances of your ad. Typically the Web site will have a stable of ads that rotate through their ad-space. Depending on how large your 'buy' was, your ad will appear with more or less regularity.

Text-based ads are the ones you are used to seeing on Web sites everywhere, usually corralled into little boxes, either in a vertical or horizontal array. Google, Yahoo and others offer text ads that are easy to set up and easy to monitor. You can spend as much or as little as you like.

These ads appear on pages that seem, contextually, to be of interest to the people who might also be interested in your ad. This is done by selecting keywords that will trigger your ad. If you are selling garden products, keywords might be “garden, gardener, planting, nursery” and so on.

For a more in depth look at how these types of ads can be purchased and used, read my tutorial, Google ads for absolute beginners.

Diplay ads are images. With a little bit of graphical skill, you can produce your own, or hire a graphic artist to do it for you. Display ads typically come in standard sizes and locations. A web banner, for instance, usually displays at the top or bottom of a web page. (Be warned on placement - a bottom banner is very rarely seen or clicked, and should be significantly cheaper to buy space on.)

A typical web banner ad is 468 pixels wide by 60 pixels high. Some Web sites also sell a 'jumbo' web banner space that is 728 x 90 pixels.

Tower ads are tall, skinny ads that will appear in the sidebar of a Web site. They are rarely wider than 120 pixels, and can be any height. A 120x400 or 120x600 tower is typical.

Renting by the week/month

The simplest form of online advertising payment is by time. You pay a set fee for your ad to appear whenever a particular page or Web site is viewed. Blogads, the small tower ads that appear in the sidebars of many popular blogs, are an example of this type. Purchase carefully, because your rate of appearance will depend on how popular the blog is. Also watch placement - an ad appearing very far down the page of a busy blog may never be seen or clicked. Still, these ads can be great for instant national visibility. Some of the more popular independent blogs get more than 150,000 visits a day, and charge for adspace accordingly. Blogads keeps track of number of click-throughs back to your site, so you can get an estimate of your 'cost per click' as your ad runs.

Cost Per Thousand

The next most prevalent online advertising payment form is 'cost per thousand', or a set sum for a thousand appearances of your ad. There is usually a minimum number of 'thousands' you can purchase at once, with special deals offered for nice, round numbers. For instance, you might find that a particular venue has a special rate if you purchase 100,000 impressions a month, or 500,000. Since these sites often get many as a million hits during that period, your ad is not going to be shown to everyone unless you purchase as many impressions as the site has hits, a very expensive proposition.

Cost Per Click

This is an attractive payment format. If your ad isn't producing the kind of attention you want, you aren't wasting money. Only when a potential customer follows the ad link back to your Web site does your account get charged.

These 'clicks' are typically bid on, with the most popular search terms being the most expensive. Everyone in the “life insurance” business wants their ad to appear when people search on “life insurance,” so that keyword phrase will have a lot of bids. To ensure that your ad not only appears, but appears higher up the page, you are going to have to outbid other people to get the position. To avoid having to pay for high-priced phrases, look for lesser keywords, such as “annuity.”

Select your ad's venue carefully. If you're selling life insurance, placing ads on a popular webcomic Web site that appeals to college kids is probably not going to be as effective as a more sedate, establishment Web site.

If you're selling something a bit outre, go for the webcomic. My store advertised on Something Positive and we were astounded at the rate of clickthrough we got: the best cost-per-click (under a cent per click) we have ever seen.

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