Internet Advertising

Internet Advertising There are two primary ways to advertise on the Internet: 1.Register your Web site with major search engines so Internet visitors can find you. 2.Place an ad banner for your site on another Web site that has a lot of traffic (viewers). Ad banners allow viewers to link to your site when they click on the banner. Internet Advertising Advantages Relatively cost-effective. The costs can also be independent of the size of the audience. For example, a Web presence will cost the same regardless of how many viewers your site has. (You will, however, need to make sure your Internet Service Provider can handle the volume of viewers you anticipate having.) Advertisers can target specific types of viewers by positioning an ad banner on related Web sites. For example, if you're targeting people seeking information on a specific topic, you can purchase ad space on Web pages that are related to this category in the major search engines (Yahoo, Infoseek, Lycos, WONET - The Women's Online Network, etc.). So, an organic herb farmer selling through mail order might advertise through the organic foods or gourmet cooking category. The indexing structure of these sites allows you to target your audience by geographic location and related interest area. Messages can be timely because editing the content is often easy and instantaneous. Ads on the Internet can be interactive. You can request viewer feedback, take orders or answer questions instantly. Ad banners can run with as much frequency as you choose. The Internet is constantly available! Internet advertisers can potentially reach a global audience. Aside from language barriers, anyone at any location in the world can access information about your products or services. Internet Advertising Disadvantages Internet advertising should not be approached in a vacuum. Instead, it should be one component of a comprehensive Internet Marketing strategy. Although the popularity of the Internet is rising remarkably, it is difficult to gage the impact of advertising on the Internet. The range of costs to advertise on the Internet can vary greatly. It is best to compare a number of highly-frequented sites to determine the best way to spend your advertising dollars.