Traffic is the lifeblood of any small business website and online advertising can be another tool in the tool belt to help you attract as much traffic as you can handle.
Obviously, you'd prefer to attract as much free traffic as possible first.
You do this by optimizing your website's content to please both the search engines and the people who visit your site.
Once you've optimized your website, you will attract free traffic.
The only problem is you have to wait for it.
And sometimes, you'll have to wait months for it.
What if that's not good enough? What if you want to start attracting potential clients immediately? This is where online advertising comes in.
Yes, you have to pay for it, but in return, you could attract hundreds, if not thousands, of targeted prospects literally overnight.
In this article, I'll present to you the two major types of online advertising and how to choose which type may work best for you.
The Two Major Categories of Online Advertising Online advertising can be broken down into two major categories: Passive and active.
Passive Online Advertising Passive online advertising requires that the prospect visit the website for the ad to be seen.
There are three major types of passive advertising: 1.
Banner Ads If you've ever been on the web, I'm pretty sure you've seen a banner ad.
They come in all shapes and sizes and are seen on most major websites.
Banner ads are sold based on a CPM (cost per thousand) impressions basis.
This means that you are charged a certain fee for every thousand times your ad is displayed on the target website.
The more impressions you can buy, the more potential prospects will see your ad.
The CPM fee will vary based on the size of the ad and whether its position is "above the fold" or "below the fold".
The term "above the fold" is a reference to an old newspaper term.
Since newspapers come folded, anything on top of the front page near the major headline is called "above the fold".
On a website, anything you see before you begin to scroll down is referred to as "above the fold".
Obviously an "above the fold" ad will cost more than a "below the fold" ad.
Compelling copy is the key to a successful banner ad as you're trying to lure the visitor away from the website he chose to visit.
2.
Sponsored Headlines Sponsored headlines typically appear on news-oriented websites and tend to work well, particularly for products that are newsworthy themselves, like health products or services.
Because sponsored headlines look like editorial headlines, they tend to have a higher click-through rate.
Best of all, the fee for sponsored headlines is a flat rate based on how long they will be displayed for, not based on how many impressions.
For this reason, they tend to attract a lot of traffic.
3.
Text Ads Text ads are the smallest and cheapest ads on a webpage.
They look like Google AdWords ads, but are different in that the charge for these ads is not on a pay-per-click basis, but either on a flat rate or CPM impression basis.
Text ads may not work as well as sponsored headlines, but they are the cheapest.
Best thing to do is to test them and see how they work for your business.
Active Online Advertising In active online advertising, instead of your prospect coming to a website to see your ad, your ad is sent out to him via email.
Email advertising comes in two types: 1.
Newsletter Sponsorships or Ads A newsletter sponsorship or ad is an ad that appears within the body of a company's newsletter.
A sponsorship ad is the better choice because yours will be the only ad, but it does tend to be more expensive.
Newsletter ads tend to work well because the prospect usually knows and trusts the publisher of the newsletter.
This gives an implied endorsement for your product or service.
Also, the email is less likely to be treated as spam.
Keep in mind that the rules of good copy still apply for this type of ad.
After all, the prospect is usually interested in the editorial content of the newsletter.
Your ad needs to lure him away.
Fees for newsletter ads can vary dramatically from very expensive to very inexpensive and can be charged either on a CPM (cost per thousand) or flat rate basis.
As a newsletter advertiser, you can expect to see the majority of your responses within 48 hours of delivery of the e-newsletter.
Sometimes, though, responses can come in much later as not all prospects check or delete email regularly.
2.
Email Advertising In the case of email advertising, your ad is sent out on its own directly to the prospect's inbox.
This email can either be sent to a response email list or a compiled email list.
A response email list is comprised of customers or opt-in subscribers that have all responded to a specific offer from a particular company.
Since the email is sent out by the list owner, prospects are usually familiar with the owner and are warm to the offer.
There is a level of implied endorsement for your ad.
On the other hand, compiled email lists are just that - they are compiled from a wide variety of sources across a broad demographic group.
These complied lists are cheap, but email ads sent to the list often tend to be viewed as spam.
Email lists are usually purchased on a CPM (cost per thousand) basis and fees can vary considerably.
Once again, ad copy is king - in this case, the email subject line needs to be compelling to encourage the prospect to read the ad.
The keys to success in online advertising is compelling ad copy and constant testing.
It takes time to determine which format of online advertising works best for your business and your message.
But once you have everything tweaked to perfection, your online advertising system can consistently deliver quality prospects to your website virtually on autopilot!
Obviously, you'd prefer to attract as much free traffic as possible first.
You do this by optimizing your website's content to please both the search engines and the people who visit your site.
Once you've optimized your website, you will attract free traffic.
The only problem is you have to wait for it.
And sometimes, you'll have to wait months for it.
What if that's not good enough? What if you want to start attracting potential clients immediately? This is where online advertising comes in.
Yes, you have to pay for it, but in return, you could attract hundreds, if not thousands, of targeted prospects literally overnight.
In this article, I'll present to you the two major types of online advertising and how to choose which type may work best for you.
The Two Major Categories of Online Advertising Online advertising can be broken down into two major categories: Passive and active.
Passive Online Advertising Passive online advertising requires that the prospect visit the website for the ad to be seen.
There are three major types of passive advertising: 1.
Banner Ads If you've ever been on the web, I'm pretty sure you've seen a banner ad.
They come in all shapes and sizes and are seen on most major websites.
Banner ads are sold based on a CPM (cost per thousand) impressions basis.
This means that you are charged a certain fee for every thousand times your ad is displayed on the target website.
The more impressions you can buy, the more potential prospects will see your ad.
The CPM fee will vary based on the size of the ad and whether its position is "above the fold" or "below the fold".
The term "above the fold" is a reference to an old newspaper term.
Since newspapers come folded, anything on top of the front page near the major headline is called "above the fold".
On a website, anything you see before you begin to scroll down is referred to as "above the fold".
Obviously an "above the fold" ad will cost more than a "below the fold" ad.
Compelling copy is the key to a successful banner ad as you're trying to lure the visitor away from the website he chose to visit.
2.
Sponsored Headlines Sponsored headlines typically appear on news-oriented websites and tend to work well, particularly for products that are newsworthy themselves, like health products or services.
Because sponsored headlines look like editorial headlines, they tend to have a higher click-through rate.
Best of all, the fee for sponsored headlines is a flat rate based on how long they will be displayed for, not based on how many impressions.
For this reason, they tend to attract a lot of traffic.
3.
Text Ads Text ads are the smallest and cheapest ads on a webpage.
They look like Google AdWords ads, but are different in that the charge for these ads is not on a pay-per-click basis, but either on a flat rate or CPM impression basis.
Text ads may not work as well as sponsored headlines, but they are the cheapest.
Best thing to do is to test them and see how they work for your business.
Active Online Advertising In active online advertising, instead of your prospect coming to a website to see your ad, your ad is sent out to him via email.
Email advertising comes in two types: 1.
Newsletter Sponsorships or Ads A newsletter sponsorship or ad is an ad that appears within the body of a company's newsletter.
A sponsorship ad is the better choice because yours will be the only ad, but it does tend to be more expensive.
Newsletter ads tend to work well because the prospect usually knows and trusts the publisher of the newsletter.
This gives an implied endorsement for your product or service.
Also, the email is less likely to be treated as spam.
Keep in mind that the rules of good copy still apply for this type of ad.
After all, the prospect is usually interested in the editorial content of the newsletter.
Your ad needs to lure him away.
Fees for newsletter ads can vary dramatically from very expensive to very inexpensive and can be charged either on a CPM (cost per thousand) or flat rate basis.
As a newsletter advertiser, you can expect to see the majority of your responses within 48 hours of delivery of the e-newsletter.
Sometimes, though, responses can come in much later as not all prospects check or delete email regularly.
2.
Email Advertising In the case of email advertising, your ad is sent out on its own directly to the prospect's inbox.
This email can either be sent to a response email list or a compiled email list.
A response email list is comprised of customers or opt-in subscribers that have all responded to a specific offer from a particular company.
Since the email is sent out by the list owner, prospects are usually familiar with the owner and are warm to the offer.
There is a level of implied endorsement for your ad.
On the other hand, compiled email lists are just that - they are compiled from a wide variety of sources across a broad demographic group.
These complied lists are cheap, but email ads sent to the list often tend to be viewed as spam.
Email lists are usually purchased on a CPM (cost per thousand) basis and fees can vary considerably.
Once again, ad copy is king - in this case, the email subject line needs to be compelling to encourage the prospect to read the ad.
The keys to success in online advertising is compelling ad copy and constant testing.
It takes time to determine which format of online advertising works best for your business and your message.
But once you have everything tweaked to perfection, your online advertising system can consistently deliver quality prospects to your website virtually on autopilot!
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