Internet Marketing Tips, Tools and Strategies

Display advertising has been around for 15 years and is one of many forms of online advertising that is available to businesses. According to emarketer.com search engine advertising generates the most money with 12 million spent with Google alone last year. Display marketing has a lot of benefits that most businesses have yet to tap into, and 5 billion was spent on display advertising in 2009.

Display advertising is very similar in function to print or television advertising. Display ads can be found in the form of banner ads on many web pages. Banner ads are typically made up of images, text, or can be done in Flash (video ads are becoming more and more popular). The key to display ad success is that they load quickly and smoothly, have a way to grab someone’s attention, and a great call to action. Average ads produce below average results with display, so make sure you create 8-10 ads to start and constantly test and refine to see what is working.

A display ad is usually simple and to the point. It will contain both graphics and type with a message that encourages the viewer to click through to the landing page or website. Display ads are also a place to push your brand messaging. Some people will see the display ad and not click through but they are still internalizing the message and will remember your product or service down the line. The ultimate goal of a display ad is to be clicked on and bring the consumer to a web page to make a purchase or inquiry. However embedding brand awareness into the consumer can also make this happen even if it isn’t immediate.

Research has proven that display ads have increased advertiser web visits by 46%. And 27% were more likely to make an online purchase while 17% were more likely to buy from a retail store.
You can tailor your display marketing campaign to meet the needs of your business. There is flexibility to send your ad to a broad audience or to pare down the results so that you limit who sees your ad thus increasing the quality (and cost) of the customer who sees your ad. You will improve website visitation and consistently build brand awareness throughout the campaign.

These unique benefits of display advertising make it a great addition to any online advertising plan.

Online display ads or Content Network advertising, has proven effective even if the visitor does not click through the ad the first time they see it. In fact display ads often have a low number of clicks but still manage to generate nearly a 50% increase in website visitation on average.

When deciding to run a display ad campaign, consider these types of display advertising strategies:

1. Category
Categorize your product or service in an area like baby products, women's footwear, home appliances, etc. When you've decided what category you fall into put your display ads on sites that also fit in this category such as a baby web store, shoe site or house building sites. This targets your audience more effectively.

2. Contextual
Take category advertising one step farther and combine it with contextual advertising. To do this you would place your ad on a website that has content that corresponds with your product or service. An example of this would be an online car discussion group, or a mother's organization/scheduling website.

3. Retargeting
Retargeting takes display advertising to a more targeted level. A retargeted display ad takes note that you visited Amazon.com earlier in your web browsing by placing a “cookie” on your computer. This is completely safe and will not interrupt your web browsing. As you move along with your internet usage a display ad for Amazon will appear on another site. Consider it a follow-up for consumers who have visited your site. This is more expensive than the average display ad but the value is definitely greater.

4. Behavioral
In this type of display ad your online habits are recorded in your cookies. If someone has been searching several different websites for information on bankruptcy law then you can target them as a viable lead and put a display ad for your bankruptcy law firm on a webpage they visit. This technology provides a smaller reach however the audience that sees the ad is far more qualified to act by clicking on the ad and taking action.

Display advertisements can be found on most web pages, especially free email providers. These ads pull double duty as pay-per-click ads, but they also raise consumer awareness of the brand being advertised. You get the benefit of the consumer seeing your brand message even if they don't click through.

In internet marketing a lot of emphasis is put on pay-per-click campaigns. These campaigns allow you to target keywords relating to your product or service and bid on those keywords and be found on the search results pages. The higher the bid the better your placement will be on the search engine results page and the more likely your ad will be clicked on by a potential consumer.
 
This type of campaign can be a great source of targeted traffic, but it doesn't do a lot for your long term brand recognition, nor does it tend to drive inexpensive traffic. PPC costs are rising each month and a good way to get more traffic is through the Content Networks. All those banner ads and text ads you see on major sites like ESPN, Facebook, HGTV, Blogs, and most of your major sites online now allow display advertising Brand marketing and brand awareness come from repeated exposure to your brand that doesn't necessarily result in a sale. You're continually reminding your audience what you have to offer so that when they are ready to buy they think of you.

The major difference between traditional pay per click advertising and display advertising is how you target your audience. PPC allows you to really narrow down who sees your ad and you can feel fairly confident that a visitor who clicks on your ad is looking to make a purchase. Display advertising is an ad that appears in a paid space on someone else’s site. Impression costs vary depending on the site, size of the ad, quality of the landing page, and a few other factors.

These ads have traditionally been less targeted than search engine ads but that has recently begun to change. Through the use of “cookies” in your browser display ads are now starting to appear with direct correlation to searches you've been conducting. Also, sites are using “Re-Marketing” cookies to display targeted ads to prospects after they have been to a specific site. Re-Marketing allows business to brand their company really effectively and keep in front of the target.

This new technology has totally changed the value of display ads as well as their success. You can now improve brand recognition and improve your reach to targeted leads all with display advertising.