Advertising on Internet

Advertising on Internet

Ever since the advent of Internet, advertising on the World Wide Web has been very popular.
 Many corporations, companies and business have taken advantage of this and you can see ads
on any web pages you visit. Consumer can go to any search engine and type the keyword
relating to what they are looking for and hit search and they will be provided with a huge
list from which they can select. This is a very cost effective and time saving method of
advertising.


It has become really easy for any business to have a personalized website by which they can advertise, directly interact with the customer; provide details about their product and services. Regular newsletters, offers, discounts can be pasted on site to increase the interest of the
website visitors.

Since it’s easy to reach any kind of audience concerning any kind of business, the possibility of misuse is always there. Based on this Internet advertising is classified into two kinds of advertisement, legal online advertising and illegal online advertising.

Legal online advertising includes online advertising directories, search engine advertising, e-mail advertising, and desktop advertising. Illegal advertising is more commonly know as
spamming. This is usually done by altering some system settings with the help of external applications after which pop-ups are sent to a particular network or computer. The external applications are known as adware or spyware. Some of these are really harmful, the most
famous being Trojans, which are very hard to uninstall and remove from the system. 

With the increase in technology, special effects are being used to make advertisement more interesting. Vivid colors, good page layout and lots of imagination is involved.
Typically Adobe Flash is used to design advertisements these days. Depending on the
technology being used to design advertisements can be classified into various categories.
Banner ads are animations displayed on the website usually created in HTML or Eudora.
There is a range of type and sizes of the ads.

Trick banner ads are banner ads that have an 
extra functionality of dialog boxes and buttons and are displayed as an alert or error message.
A pop-up is an advertisement displayed in a new window that covers up the active web page.
A pop-under advertisement opens in another window that is under the active web page
and can be seen after the present window is either closed or minimized.
Interstitial ads are those that are displayed before directing over to the desired page.
Wallpaper ads form the background of the web page.

The ads that float on the screen are known as a floating ad.
Polite ads download on a low pace without interrupting the normal functioning of the website.
An ad that enlarges and changes the contents of the page being displayed is known as
expanding ad.
Advertisements which are displayed in a video form on a website is known as a video ad.
There are many ways by which advertising slots can be purchased on Internet
like CPM, CPV, CPC, CPA, CPL and CPO. CPM or cost per mil means that the advertiser is
meant to pay for a particular number of people to whom the advertisement will be exposed. 
CPV or cost per visitor means that the advertiser is meant to pay for the people to whom the advertisement was delivered. CPC or cost per click means paying for the number of clicks
made on the advertisement by the visitors. Although the advertisement is put up on the website,
the amount is paid only after the visitor clicks on the URL of the advertisement. CPA or cost per action means that the advertisement publisher bares all the charges of advertisement, but he
gets paid only if the visitor clicks on the advertisement and purchases a product or signs-up for a service. CPL or cost per lead is similar to CPA, only that the visitor doesn’t have to necessarily
buy anything; he or she can simply apply to get regular newsletters and special offers. CPO
or cost per order is where the advertiser pays each time an order is placed.
Online advertisements cannot only be used to promote a product or service but in fact they
can be used for purposes like promoting charity and spreading education

Advertising for Free

Advertising for free seems like an impossible thing when heard. But there are several ways
by which the cost of advertisement can be conserved, with the help of some imagination and creativity.

A business wanting to advertise, can write articles related to their field of expertise that can
be submitted to media and publications having interest in that particular field. The advertising
article can have information about the company and dealership opportunity. Due to the rise in
Internet users and websites, new websites have sprung up which offer free services. Articles
can be written for these websites and they can be broadcasted for free, which will be
viewed by hundreds of people everyday.


Once the business has gained some recognition, within no time it will gain popularity also
among the crowds. This popularity can lead to them being invited on radio and television
talk shows and even to interviews. Such kind of opportunities shouldn’t be missed as they
provide a chance for free promotion. If it is taking a long time to get a break, the producer
can be addressed with a letter that can be followed up by a telephone call or in-person visit.

During the visit, the nature of expertise can be discussed about the business, which will
be of interest to the viewers of the particular channel. Once a businessperson gains the status
of being public-friendly, more offers start pouring in.

Free bulletin board located in the neighborhood, like in grocery stores, libraries, and salons, are another good idea. Advertising circulars can be posted on such boards for free. Circulars for
mass distribution can be handed out at the mall, shopping center, bus stops, particularly on
weekends when there is a big rush. Students can be hired on part time basis for this purpose.

Promotional advertisement can be printed on the envelopes used by the business firms.
Both the sender and the receiver can view this advertisement.  Promotional offers can be
sent to customers by postcards, which should be utilized to its full, leaving only place
left for writing the address.

Some of the new mail order publications offer free first time and seasonal deductions 
for advertisers. Other publications offer pay per inquiry space. Inquiries can be made
about stand-by space, which means that the publication holds the submission of
advertisement until the space is not sold and in that case, thirty three percent saving
can be achieved. Usually local newspapers provide these kinds of offers.

If the business is involved in ad sheet or catalog publishing, other publishers can be
contacted for the purpose of bartering an advertising exchange. They can place advertisement
in their publication, in return for placing their advertisement in the business’s publication.

Free offers can be provided to the customer. This can be done by emailing or printing
newsletter about information regarding the area of interest of the targeted customers
and can be made popular by using tag lines. Attach a free coupon with it, which the
customers can use it for shopping, if a criterion is met like minimum purchase of $ 50.
By this the response will be huge and most of them will purchase something or the other
to avail the free offer. The basic ingredient for advertising for free is imagination and
research. Opportunities should be searched and a strong working force should be
applied to increase the sales. 


 Advertising in Yellow Pages

Some people believe that yellow pages do not receive response like other advertising
methods do and this is true to some extent but not in totality. When talking about
traditional yellow pages, there sure is a decline in number of people opting for
advertising in it. According to a recent report, even the most attractive advertisement
in a particular section is not getting the response from callers like they used to get before.
On the contrary, the prices of placing ads in directories are on a rise, which speaks a
different, story altogether.

In reality different categories are witnessing different rates of decline. Like the
lawyers category is seeing the maximum decline, where as emergency service
provider’s section has the same call rate. And sections like mobile phones, real
estate and furniture are seeing a rise due to the increasing customer demand.

Altering the size of the advertisement or changing the look cannot do wonders any more.
Experts suggest that relying on yellow pages to get customers isn’t enough. Other options
should be considered as well along with it. With the Internet reaching every home, nearly
half of the Internet users use the net everyday. They prefer to buy stuff online, from the
comfort of their homes. Research should be done on the Internet to get reviews about the
product. People, who don’t usually shop online, also are also opting to shop online as
information is provided at the click of a mouse. It is easier for people to trust as customers
who used the product give their feedback about the product after using it.

A relatively newer concept is the yellow pages going online. The good thing about
them is that they are updated frequently unlike the printed directories and can be
viewed from any part of the world. According to researches conducted, the response
increased by twenty five percent every year. So those who are interested to invest
in yellow pages advertising can think of going online.  Directories are submitted
to search engines, which on typing a keyword or phrase bring the results. Small and
local businesses, too, can land on the pages brought by the result. The cost of creating
a website can be saved if all the relevant information about the company is included
in the online yellow pages. Look out for the date to renew the directory listing, and if
there is a need to change the advertisement, it is not a big problem on online yellow pages.
Some starter websites offer to place advertisement in their yellow pages for free.

Search out for such websites on the Internet. 
Larger businesses can start their own websites and place links in the online yellow pages.
Articles can be framed about the business and can be submitted to Ezines and websites
related to the area of business. Some websites also allow posting articles for free.
The purpose of the yellow pages is basically to get potential customers but that doesn’t
mean that existing customers should be neglected. Steps should be taken to strengthen the relationship with them and to retain their trust by maintaining the standard of the products
supplied to them. Once they are completely satisfied, the price-rise won’t bother them and
they will talk about the company to people they know, which will fetch new customers.

The objective is to work smartly and select the right method of advertising. If a business
isn’t using any other method for advertising apart from using yellow pages, it can cause
problems and the products may not sell. Analyze how much money is spent on placing
ads in directories and estimate whether the amount of customers the business gets is
desirable. Whenever a call is received from a potential customer, ask them how they
got to know about the enterprise. This will help to analyze which advertising method
is ideal for the business. It is never late to correct the mistake and go for the right method.