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The Many Ways Of Advertising Online

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What is the difference? 


     Many businesses want to advertise online , but fear of the unknown may have caused them not to take advantage of an outstanding way to share their business locally and worldwide. Listed below are 7 of the most popular ways to advertise online.

 1. Pay Per Click - Search engines place your website on their front page and you pay a set amount per click-through. Sites like Yahoo, Google, and MSN also run bids for certain keywords - the more you bid, the higher your site appears on the first page of the search results. Properly run, these campaigns can bring a lot of extra traffic to your website.

 
2. Search Engine Optimization - This is an online advertising service provided by many web media companies. They will look at your target audience, your competitors and the keywords for your business and optimize your website content so that it has a much better chance of appearing on the first page of the search results. You will pay a fee to the consultants for this service. Studies have shown that many searchers prefer to use the "natural" listings provided by the search engines, rather than the paid-for listings.

 
3. Banner Ads - Usually horizontal bars across the top of a web page, they offer color, graphics and often animation, together with the ability to click through to the advertiser's own website. Banner ads have been reducing in popularity lately, as research shows that users don't stay interested for long enough to read all the animation, although static ads with a simple message are still effective.

 
4. Sky-scraper Ads - Similar to banner ads, these ad spaces run vertically down the left or right hand side of the page, allowing the ad to stay in view as the user scrolls down the page. They can also be animated and employ click-through to move users to the advertiser's site.

 
5. Sponsorships - Website sponsorship can come in two formats; regular sponsorship where the advertiser has a space to place the logo and company message, and content sponsorship where the advertiser has limited control and submits their own content to the site as well as having an advert on the page. These sponsorships will be for fixed periods, and need to be on targeted websites to reach the right audience.

 
6. Online Directories - The online equivalent of Yellow Pages, or Industry Directories, these give you basic or enhanced listings on the website. Your details will come up if your sector, location or company name is searched for. Enhanced listings will allow users to click-through to your site. Online directory listings are often offered in conjunction with an entry in the printed version of the directory. Before paying to be included in a directory find out how the site is advertised to your target clients.

 
7. Pop-ups and Pop-downs - These are the small windows that appear when you first get onto a website. Pop-ups appear on your screen in full, pop-downs appear on the bar at the bottom of your screen and you have to open them to get rid of them. Surveys have found that most internet users find pop-up adverts intrusive and annoying.


Are there more ways to advertise online.
You bet! Web 2.0 allows businesses to share their skills
and services throughout the web in creative ways.
If you are interested in finding new ways of marketing your
business online contact us today.

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MaryEllen Gibson
Copyright 2008-2012