What are some places to advertise online?
With millions using the Internet each day, businesses find themselves searching for the best ways to reach these potential customers. Traditional advertising methods like newspaper and billboard ads are still effective, but have a limited target area. The Internet, however, makes it possible to get your message in front of customers around the globe. If you're interested in advertising online, you have a number of options to choose from.
Google offers two ways to advertise online: on the Google search results page through Google Adwords, and on personal websites through Google AdSense. A business using Google AdWords buys advertising space on pages when users submit a Google search using the keywords tied to the ad. Ads can appear either on the right side of the page under Sponsored Links or above the search results. The business creates text ads that link back to its website when clicked on. Then it buys keywords connected to the ads. Each keyword has a cost per click that the business pays once a user clicks on its ad. The higher the cost per click a business pays, the higher its ad appears in the Sponsored Links section. A business using Google AdSense buys ads that go on personal websites like blogs. When a visitor clicks on an ad and makes a purchase, the business pays the owner of the website through Google.
Social Media Sites
Social media are up-and-coming forms of online advertising. Facebook, the most popular, had more than 400,000,000 active users worldwide in 2010, giving a business the opportunity to reach millions of prospective customers through its message. A business advertising on Facebook begins by designing its ad, creating a title and copy for the ad and uploading an optional graphic. Ads can be directed to the business's website, its free Facebook page or even to many of Facebook's games and applications. After creating the ad, the business chooses its target audience. The default settings for Facebook target all users ages 18 and older, but Facebook recommends customizing the settings to fit the targeted audience. A business can target by the following criteria: location; age; sex; keywords; education; workplace; relationship status or interests. The business then determines its ad budget by choosing pay per click or pay per view. The minimum budget is $1 a day. The business can determine its budget by how many clicks or views it would like to receive and how much it would like to pay for each one.
Local Newspaper Websites
Business can still use newspaper ads to target local, potential customers. Instead of the traditional print ad, however, businesses can reach a broader potential customer base by advertising on a newspaper's online version. Newspapers affiliated with the Gannett Corporation receive more than 49 million page views a month, reaching millions of potential customers. A business can target one location, and larger businesses can target the entire Gannet network. Advertising options include island ads, skyscrapers, breakout ads, classified ads and sliding pencil ads, which appear as a strip ad at the top of the page and expand the first time a customer visits the page. Many Gannett markets offer mobile advertising options for reaching users accessing the Internet from cell phones. Large newspaper chains, like Gannett, often partner with specialized websites like Careerbuilder.com for jobs and recruiting, Homefinder.com for real estate, Cars.com for automotive ads and Apartments.com for rental property, that allow businesses to advertise nationally.
