Contextual Display Advertising - For Many Advertisers, Context is King

Contextual can mean different things to different marketers. Whatever it means, it's a way to drive return on investment in advertising.

More specifically, for some, contextual means search advertising.

When Google unveiled its AdWords platform in the year 2000, a new opportunity in contextual advertising was born. After users entered a query, they would now be shown a relatively unobtrusive ad in the right hand column that was contextually relevant to their request. For example, if the user said "new car", contextual display ads would be shown from advertisers from automobile advertisers.

What a boon to advertising! Here was a unique opportunity to capture the consumer as they were researching and preparing to buy any particular product. In marketing speak, this was near the bottom of the purchase funnel - just before the consumer strikes. And, the simplicity of tracking purchases online made it easy to justify ad campaign budget and resulted in driving marketing to new levels of success.  

Search advertising isn't the only contextual opportunity and it just so happens Google is the leading player in another online contextual advertising marketplace.

Known to webmasters as Google's AdSense platform and begun in 2003, website owners could sign up put a small snippet of Google AdSense code into the HTML of their web pages. When the web page loads in the user's browser, an ad is shown.

At first it was only text ads, and Google has since added graphical display ads. What's significant for publishers and marketers alike was that each text or graphical display ad was contextual. If the site was about sports, Google's AdSense technology would show sports display advertising. If it was about home decoration products, it would show - you guessed it - ads from home decoration marketers.

Other contextual advertising opportunities are also available online. Whereas Google's technology reads a page and determines the appropriate ad via a bot, some online ad networks have grouped similar sites together into contextual blocks, such as finance websites, and repackaged them to marketers. Specific Media, Advertising.com and Valueclick are a few of the names you may have heard of.

Banner Advertising Secrets - How to Place Simple Banner Ads For Tidal Waves of Traffic

One thing that almost no one knows about banner advertising is that it can still be immensely profitable, if done right. What is banner advertising? It is the process of placing banners that advertise your offers on sites that usually get lots of traffic. If you target your ads right, it can be a reliable source of visitors for you.

Here is how to place simple banner ads for tidal waves of traffic:

Step #1: Create Your Banner Creative

To get this method of advertising to work, obviously you need an ad that works! I find that the best kinds of ads are not actually graphic ads in the sense of the word - but text ads. In other words, create a graphic, but only put text in it! People have been conditioned to ignore graphic ads, but when they see a prominent text link, they will click on it. Want to create ads that are almost guaranteed to work? Take your copy from other places where you are getting good results (such as perhaps your signature file on forums, pay per click ads etc), and plug the same text into your ad!

Step #2: Find Banner Networks To Advertise In

Now it's time to find some networks to place your ad in. The one I'm using is AdBrite, but there are other networks like Tribal Fusion, Blue Lithium and of course Google AdWords Image Ads! Google's Image Ads basically works like normal AdWords ads, except you get to place banners to work alongside your text ads.

Step #3: Track And Test

Consistently track and test your campaigns. Create alternative banners to 'compete' against your own banners, so that you will know which ads perform best for you. Spend more money on campaigns that work, and dump those that don't.

Display Advertising Sizes - Which Banner Ads Are Best For Your Website?

As a webmaster, you likely use advertising as your primary source of income. Therefore, it is critical that before a website is ever built, you should strongly consider what sizes will make the most sense for your website.

Undoubtedly, you will have ads both above and below the fold - meaning above the bottom of an open browser window when your site's web page first loads. You will also be able to make these placements either text or graphical display ads.

Standard ad sizes are generally guided by the Internet Advertising Bureau and even though there are many, many sizes, the most popular for web publishers and advertisers are the 728x90, 300x250 and 160x600 (or 120x600) ad units.

This isn't to say there aren't other well-placed sizes that earn a LOT of money. But these are the most popular ad unit sizes in use today.

The 728x90

Commonly referred to as a "leaderboard," most sites have a leaderboard at the top of their interior pages if not the home page, too. With the largest screen space among the three most popular ad sizes, the leaderboard provides advertisers ample horizontal space for messaging and calls to action. Often the difficulty with these ads is the "banner blindess" inherent. Users are so used to seeing this at the top of the page that they don't see the ad space anymore.

For Google AdSense web publishers, the 728x90 ad units will be populated by 3-234x60 text ads across the unit.

The 160x600 (or 120x600)

Known as the skyscraper or sidebar, this vertical ad unit is often used in tandem with the 728x90 to frame the content of a page. A tantalizing opportunity for advertisers working with publishers directly is the ability to "roadblock" a page and simultaneously run a graphical display ad in the leaderboard and skyscraper positions. 

But for smaller websites that will just use advertising tools such as AdSense, the roadblock is less of a concern. The skyscraper also runs the risk of "banner blindness" and can hold up to 5 Google AdSense text ads.

Better Brand Positioning Through Online Advertising Banners

Aside from television, the world wide web is perhaps the most potent means of advertising these days. Advertisements on the net covers not only those entities conducting transactions online but even those offline businesses. Offline businesses are now extending their services to the net to reach out to a larger scope of their target market and at the same time provide convenient customer services. Not only do they need the internet for their services but also they need it as a medium to advertise. Not to mention that marketing on the net is less expensive than on television. With this influx of web sites and internet users, promoting on the web also increased in demand.

Further, more online advertising methods are cropping up to cater to the demands of advertisers as well as to cope with the discriminating preferences of internet users. Webmasters and internet techies continuously devise new approaches in promoting on the net. They had to do this since there are millions of products, services, and companies that are banking on the internet as their advertising medium. Such complexities must be dealt with. Just as fast as technology develops, so does advertisements on the net. So, don't be surprised every time you see new ads popping in your computer screens whenever you surf the net.

Online advertising banners are one of the more common methods of advertising online. These are very noticeable ads in web pages because of its size and perhaps its location on the web page, too. Online advertising banners are specifically designed to be placed in areas of a web page that are easily noticed by internet users. Banners are especially effective when you are trying to establish your brand image on the net. To have effective online advertising banners, you have to pay particular attention on how your banner would appear. The quality of your banner would most likely reflect your brand's image over the internet.

That is why, when you intend to do banner advertisements, you need to be quite meticulous with the details of your banners. Pay attention to the colors, language, and graphics to be used. It must blend with the product or service that you are promoting. With the visibility of your online advertising banners, you will be able to further emphasize your brand to many internet users. The number of banners you place over the internet is also important since if you have more ads displayed in various web sites, then you can find more potential customers. Visible internet banners can also greatly influence more potential customers especially when your product or service is quite unique and has few competitors.

You can have your own following in this case. So, whenever a customer needs a particular product, your brand must first come to mind. Even in tight competition, online advertising banners can help you better position your brand online. With the number of banners that you will be scattering all over the net, you can be way ahead the competition. Visual advertising often has a subliminal effect on the people that see it. It results to better brand retention among your potential customers. Keep your online advertising banners strategically spread on the internet for better visibility.

Advertising Tips - How to Make a Great Online Ad

We have all seen online ads a thousand times; sometimes even a thousand times a day. We have become so desensitized to these ads that in order for a business to succeed through online ads, they must find a way to stand out from the rest and grab our attention. So if you are a business owner, or a marketing campaign leader, you may be wondering what you can do to make the best and most effective online ad.

First off, you need to think about the ad itself. Remember that you want to catch the consumer's attention, but you do not want to catch it in a bad way. For this reason, it may be wise to avoid really bright, flashing ads. Those kinds of ads actually tend to annoy potential customers. You want a bright color, but not blindingly so. You will need to have a focal point for your ad, to draw the attention and keep it. For example, if you are running a 20% off sale at your business, 20% should probably be in the largest font, so that it's the first thing the customer sees. Hopefully, they will be interested in knowing what that 20% is for, and read the rest of your ad.

The next tip to remember is placement. While it may seem that the very top of the page is the best place to stick an online ad, it is also the most used, and as a result, we have learned to tune it out. You may even find that the bottom of the page could be the most effective for your business.
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