Online Advertising

Online Advertising

If you are reading this post, I am positive that you know what online advertising is. It is a form of advertising that uses the internet as the means of delivery marketing messages and promotions to potential customers and clients. It includes banner ads, ad networks, e-mail advertising and search engine results pages.

There is a number of ways in which online advertising is purchased: Cost Per Impression, Cost Per Visitor, Cost Per Click, and Cost Per Action. The names are self-explanatory.

Cost Per Impression means that advertisers literally pay for the 'impression' of their ad to a specific audience.

Cost Per Visitor means that advertisers pay for the visit of a targeted visitor to their websites.

Cost Per Click means that advertisers pay when a targeted user clicks on their advertisement is redirected to the advertiser's website.

Cost Per Action means that the advertiser pays only for a completion of a certain transaction by the user (i.e. purchase). This type is mostly used in the affiliate marketing branch of businesses, and is generally not viable/available to small and medium sized businesses.

Research shows that users consider the search engine results pages to be the most useful and the least disruptive, while the floating media-rich advertisement (an ad which floats across the screen) and the expanding media-rich advertisement (an ad which increases and may change the contents of the webpage) are among users' least favorite types.