More businesses than ever are deciding to advertise online in addition to continuing their traditional campaigns. Around five years ago, online advertising may have seemed like a bit of a foreign concept but the reality is that more people are using the net than ever before. This method of advertising allows businesses to easily target their target audience based on their interests.
The first method we’ll explore is advertising via Social Networking sites. It’s mind blowing how many hours young people will spend on these sites, I personally know people have thousands of Facebook friends and spend all day chit chatting with their pals. Even older people such as their parents or even grandparents are getting into the swing of Facebook. Placing ads on these social networking sites is particularly beneficial because the advertisers can target the specific demographics they are looking to reach.
Another way of advertising is by placing ads on interest specific forums. For example, if you are on a forum dedicated to expensive designer handbags, you may start to see ads for department stores and luxury stores and related products. If you decide to join a forum, you may be asked if you would like to opt-in the website’s mailing list. These lists are frequently used to advertise products you may be interested in. You would need to opt in first before you receive any mailings. That is you give your permission to the site owner to send you email notices.
The Interstitial Ad is another way of advertising. These ads generally loads for a few seconds before the one you want to visit but occasionally will also appear after visiting a website. Let’s say you are looking for video about stylish boots to wear during the winter months. You search for their website and click the link and up various ads for shoe stores. This is an example of an interstitial ad.
The most common type of ad used is the banner ad. These banners are usually jpg file and in some cases may be constructed using flash. Often times they will be animated and once in a while they might utilize sound. These ads are commonly referred to as Banner Ads because they are generally tall and narrow or wide and short, this “aspect-ratio” gives them the ‘appearance’ of a banner. Banner ads are often ignored by consumers because they are quite common unless the ad really holds the interest of the surfer.
A large number of surfers do not appreciate having these obtrusive ads show up and software is available which enables a surfer to ignore these ads, so they may not be as effective in reaching your target. Interstitial ads may be viewed by more people just by the nature of them showing up as an “in between” web page.
The next time you get online and surf, pay attention to the different ads you come across when you visit various forums, video sites and even news sites. You might be surprised at how targeted the advertising is!
