Internet Advertising: The Income Generator for Publishers and Advertisers!

Advertising online is as old as the internet itself.

Since the advent of the World Wide Web, businesses have used different ways to advertise and promote their products and services via the internet. As this continues to grow, the question is no longer “if” you should use online advertise but “how” you should do it!

In this post I want to give you some insights on what online advertising is and why you should use it in promoting your business online. I’ll also touch briefly on the various forms of online advertising and how it is a good income generator for both the publisher and the advertiser.

So, let’s get started!

What Is Online Advertising?

Online advertising, also known as internet advertising, is simply the different promotional methods that businesses use in delivering their marketing messages to consumers using the internet. Obviously, there are two parties involved – the publisher, who provides the content platform to display the advertisements and the advertiser, who provides the ads to be displayed on the publisher's content. If you have a website that provides valuable content for your target audience you can either use advertising agencies to place ads on your site or do it yourself (DIY), as I do right here on the webincomejournal.com.

It will interest you to know that internet advertising is today a big and vastly growing business. According to Wikipedia.org, online advertising revenue in 2011 surpassed those of cable television and nearly exceeded those of broadcast television in the U.S. In 2012, it totaled $36.57 billion (a 15.2% increase over that of 2011). Of course, this has continued to grow. It is therefore a good idea to get started with online advertising now if you have not already done so.

A Few Reasons Why Online Advertising Is Perfect For Your Business

Whether your business is online or it is a traditional brick and mortar business, using the internet for promoting your wares is something worth doing. For example, today online social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ receive millions of visits every day. These people use these social platforms to connect and interact with friends, families and acquaintances on a regular basis. Advertising on these platforms therefore gives you a cheap but effective exposure for your products and services.

Apart from the social media sites, many people depend on online search engines for information. It is not uncommon today for consumers to go to any of these search engines, type in a keyword relating to what they are looking for, hit the search button and then be provided with a huge list of information from which they can select. Google is one business that understood the big potential in this and today, Google is an online giant by simply giving businesses a platform to advert their products and services!

Compared with traditional off-line advertising platforms, online advertising is cost-effective, targeted and measurable. Today there are different software programs that will help you monitor and measure the performance of your adverts unlike traditional display advertising.

Some Common Methods for Delivery Online Advertising

Banner Ads

These are usually graphical animations displayed on websites. They come in different types and sizes. Trick banner ads are banner ads that have an extra functionality of dialog boxes and buttons and are displayed as an alert or error message.

Pop-Up and Pop-Under Ads

Pop-up ads are advertisements displayed in a new window and most times covers up an active web page when that page is opened. Over the years these types of ads have become very ineffective because they are annoying to website users.

Pop-under ads on the other hand open in a new window that is under the active web page and can only be seen after the present window is either closed or minimized. Because they are not as annoying as pop-ups, pop-under ads are gaining usage by many marketers.

Interstitial Ads

These types of ads are displayed before directing a user over to the desired content. These types of ads should be used with caution because not many people like the idea of waiting for their requested pages to load. If the ad takes too long they may just click the back button. You can see examples of these types of ads on Youtube.com videos.

Text Ads

Text ads are usually hyperlinks embedded into a website’s content and linked to an advertiser’s site. Unlike banners and pop-up ads, text-based ads appeal to more advertisers since they are not easily blocked by ad-blocking software.

Mobile Advertising

These are becoming more popular by the day with more and more people accessing the internet through their mobile devices. Used well, mobile advertising can be very effective because of the attachment people have with their mobile phones.

Online Classified Advertising

This is another very popular online advertising method. They are usually local based and most times listed for free! The ads are posted online in a categorical listing system hence the term classified ads. Click here for an example of a real online classified advertising page here on the webincomejournal.com.

Some of the various ways by which online advertising slots can be purchased are:

CPM or Cost Per Mil – In this type of online advertising, advertisers only pay for a particular number of people to whom the advertisement is exposed.

CPV or Cost Per Visitor – Here the advertiser is meant to pay for the number of people to whom the advertisement was delivered.

CPC or Cost Per Click – The advertiser pays for the number of clicks made on the advertisement by the website visitors. Although the advertisement is put up on the website, the amount is paid only after the visitor clicks on the URL of the advertisement.

CPA or Cost Per Action – Here the publisher has to bare all the cost of the advertisement, but gets paid only if the visitor clicks on the advertisement and purchase a product or signs-up for a service. The form of action required for payment to be earned is usually determined from the start.

CPL or Cost Per Lead – This is similar to CPA, only that the visitor doesn’t have to necessarily buy anything; he or she can simply apply to get regular newsletters and special offers.

CPO or Cost Per Order – This is where the advertiser pays each time an order is placed.

Conclusion

Online advertising is indeed lucrative both for publishers and advertisers. It will interest you to note that many of the online giants like Google, Mashable, etc are all built on the power of online adverting. For the advertiser, internet marketing is the most targeted, cost-effective and easily measurable way of promoting your products and services. Of course, it can also be used for purposes like promoting charity and spreading education.

Your Turn: Are you promoting your business online with internet advertising or are you monetizing your traffic with selling advertising? Share your experiences with us in your comments below.