Website Advertising

Ways to Draw Attention to Your Site with Website Advertising

As the availability of the Internet has expanded globally, website advertising has become an important part of the new wave of marketing and advertising campaigns that utilize the availability of a world-wide audience in combination with the ease of reaching each demographic through ads tailored specifically to the interests of the viewers.

One advantage website advertising has is that it can provide ‘anticipation’ – a key marketing strategy used to predict what items a consumer will be interested in purchasing so that the product can then be identified and supplied directly to the consumer. Knowing before hand that a viewer will be looking for something in particular on a certain site helps marketing companies stay ahead of consumer demands.

Here is a brief overview of some of the options and considerations that are involved with website advertising:

Pop-Ups

Pop-up advertisements web pages that literally pop-up on a person’s screen as they view a particular website. They are perceived more of nuisance to Internet users who can now opt to block them using a host of different programs. Before such technology was available, however, an internet user would visit a site and be subject to an array of additional windows ‘popping up’ with messages from advertisers. Often, the additional windows would contain content that could be deemed inappropriate for younger viewers or was simply a random assortment of information.

Banners

Banners are website advertisements that are more specifically addressed to a particular consumer's wants or needs based on the fact that they are visiting a certain site where the banner ads are placed. For example, on a website for a local zoo, a site visitor may see text-only or graphics-and-text banners about animal rights organizations, animal adoption centers, a pet care center or a safari vacation package.

Advertisers know that people are more likely to visit a site that corresponds to the ideas and concepts of the site they initially went to, so a company may offer to pay website owners, usually of sites that receive millions of hits each month or similarly heavy traffic, to allow them to place a banner where visitors will see it and perhaps be interested in visiting the advertiser’s website too. The idea is along the same lines as renting a billboard along a highway.

Cost

Most site owners charge a fee to website advertising companies wishing to place ads on their sites. However some sites will allow a limited opportunity for free postings to sites that fall into a certain category, such as a local Chamber of Commerce. While these sites are not as far-reaching as those for paying website advertisers, such as CNN, they do offer some exposure for website advertising.

While website advertising does not have the hands-on appeal of direct marketing or the immediate potential for the significant revenue of more traditional methods, it may eventually become as financially lucrative based solely on the advertiser’s ability to reach a world-wide audience. With technology changing at a pace more rapid than every before, it is difficult to predict what the future of website advertising may look like in only a few short years.