An Introduction To Advertising

Online advertising is a form of advertising that uses the Internet in order to deliver marketing messages and attract customers. Examples of online advertising include, contextual ads on search engine results pages, such as Google, Yahoo and MSN. They also include banner ads, Rich Media Ads, Social network advertising, online classified advertising, advertising networks and e-mail marketing, including unfortunately, e-mail spam.

While online advertising is still new to many, you can take heart in the fact that the same design and content requirements can translate well from traditional advertising to online ads. In fact, your newspaper print ads can simply be duplicated in the online version of the publication you're advertising, as long as you remember to include a link to your website. Color, fonts, the size of your ad(s) and your message will all play the same critical role in getting your ads noticed and, more important, responded to.

Many businesses seem to think that a company logo on a banner ad is enough to get people to click on it. But it's not. A message that "rings a bell," makes a promise or asks an enticing question is much more likely to get someone to want to know more. Remember that an online customer is already engaged and focused and you want to take advantage of that focus while their fingers are on their keyboards. This is unlike the radio listener or even a TV viewer, who may only be half paying attention or out of the room when an ad appears.

When advertising, be sure that any sites you advertise on, in addition to your own have a good reputation themselves and aren't selling ad space to unsavoury companies you wouldn't want to be associated with. Don't forget that your branding efforts extend to your online advertising, and every contact with the public either builds your brand or tears it down.