The Most Popular Types Of Online Advertising

As is the case with any kind of advertising, online advertising aids you in:

    * Selling more of your product/service
    * Notifying buyers of your new product/service, or promotional offer
    * Spreading your ideas about a certain topic
    * To increase brand awareness

And unlike any other form of advertising, online advertising is highly measurable. There are several ways through which you can measure ad success such as click-through rate, page impressions, cost per sale, etc.

For online advertising you will usually need to buy space in the high-traffic websites, to post your ad. You can also do ad-exchange with some websites. This article talks about some of the most popular types of online advertising.

Banner Ads

Banner advertising was the first kind of advertising ever done on the net. A banner can highlight your product/service/offer and by clicking on it the user will be taken to your website, where you can create a suitable landing page to provide his further information. Banner spaces are usually sold by impressions, or banner views, but it is sometimes sold by click-thru, when you pay only when the user clicks on the banner.

To post a banner ad, you can do either or all of the following:

    * Banner exchange where another website displays your ad in exchange of you displaying for them
    * Pay publisher sites to post your banner

    * Pay a banner network to post the banner ad on a number of publisher sites

Pop-up Ads

It's the thing of the past now. With a variety of pop-up blockers available freely, it makes no sense in investing in this form of advertising as it irritates the viewer.

Floating Ads

These ads appear when you first go to a webpage, and they "float" over the page for five to 30 seconds. While they are on the screen, they obscure your view of the page you are trying to read, and they often block mouse input as well. These ads appear each time that page is refreshed.

Floating ads are popular for several reasons:

    * They grab the viewer's attention and cannot be ignored
    * They are animated
    * They have audio/video content like TV ads
    * They can take up the entire screen, therefore from a branding standpoint, they are much more powerful than a banner ad or a sidebar ad
    * They have a high click-through rate of about 3 percent

However, many users get highly irritated because of these ads.

Interstitial Ads

Interstitial pages are a form of advertisement on the web that appears between web pages that the user requests. Because interstitials load in the background, they are a preferred way of delivering ads that contain large graphics, streaming media, or applets.

Unicast Ads

A unicast ad is basically a TV commercial that runs in the browser window. It has enriched audio/video content. The ads can last anywhere from 10 to 30 seconds. These ads have similar branding power as a TV commercial. However, a unicast ad offers something that TV ads cannot -- the ability to click on the ad for more information. These ads are getting very effective, as the average click-through rate is 5%.

Takeover Ads

Viewers visiting the website will see a large ad when they first come, and then the continuity is maintained by reiterating the same message throughout the site in the form of banners, side bars or buttons. The approach works very well for branding because the brand is visible to viewers throughout the visit to the site. Click-through rates are also high.

Contextual Ads

Contextual advertising is a type of online advertising commonly used for content-based websites. With contextual advertising, targeted ads appear based on the page's actual content. First, a contextual advertising system scans the text of a webpage for keyword phrases. Then, the system returns specific, targeted ads based on the content people are viewing. This is becoming very popular as the ads can be targeted based on the users' interests.

There are many other ways in which you can advertise like embedding your ad/brand in online games, chat rooms, etc. Rich media interactive ads can also be creatively used in a lot of different ways. Once you get started - you'll be able to explore great opportunities in this area.

About The Author:
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