When it comes to online advertising you’re spoilt for choice with the variety of positions and types of ads available, the only hard part is picking one. Firstly, you need to be aware of which types of on-site ads are out there, then you’ll be able to weigh up which ones can help you with a successful advertising campaign.

Note: This guide focuses on more ‘traditional’ on-site SEM, such as banners and text ads, rather than more contemporary advertising that integrates the use of social media, blogs etc.

Text Ads/PPC:

Text ads are the oldest and most basic form of online advertising as they’re literally just text hyperlinks. Text ads can be placed anywhere on sites and are usually only a couple of sentences long, though the maximum limit is around 4 sentences.

Text ads rely on their wording to attract clicks and still have a respectable click through rate (CTR) when compared to banner ads or skyscrapers. They’ll usually be sold on a PPC (pay per click) basis, meaning advertisers are charged an agreed rate every time the link is clicked.

Cost: Low
Visibility: Usually Low
Business Size: All, however smaller businesses benefit from the low cost

Banner Ads:

Banner ads are probably the most popular online advertising option as the majority of sites will have banner advertising of some sort due to their size. Many sites are now opted into Google’s Display Network in which Google will place banners and other rich media ads onto participating sites.

Banners are typically 468×60 pixels so they nicely fit into most horizontal gaps and are often placed at the top of pages for maximum exposure. They can be static or an animated (dynamic) image and they’ll click through to the site of the company advertising. Banners are sold in pretty much every way going, including CPM (cost per 1,000 views), PPC (pay per click) or weekly/monthly/yearly charges.

Cost: Medium
Visibility: Medium/High depending on banner size
Business Size: All

Pop-Up/Pop-Under Ads:

Undoubtedly the most annoying type of online advertising is the pop-up ad. Pop-up’s happen when you open a certain web pages and your browser automatically opens up another page with the ad on.

They’re not always full pages though they always fill up a larger chunk of your screen with an ad that is more often than not, completely unrelated to your interests or the website you’re on. Pop-up’s are mainly just seen as spam now and are avoided by most marketers and advertising specialists.

Equally annoying are pop-under ads, which act in the same way as pop-ups except they remain behind the browser as opposed to appearing in front of the screen you’re currently working on. As they’re less imposing pop-under’s are seen as an acceptable replacement to the pop-up, but still vastly avoided by marketers.

Cost: Low/Medium
Visibility: High
Business Size: All

Unicast Ads:

Unicast ads are pop-ups that run TV commercials with full audio and video content. Generally, they’re regarded higher than other pop ads as videos, particularly commercials, can often be entertaining or humorous. They have a much higher CTR than generic pop-ups as they require a click through to access the actual website.

Cost: Medium/High (due to video production)
Visibility: High
Business Size: Medium/High

Skyscraper/Sidebar Ads:

Skyscraper ads, also called sidebar ads, are the vertical images or creatives that are usually found running vertically along the right hand side of a web page.  They work in the same way banner ads do, except they’re often visible for longer period of time as the length of them means you can’t scroll past them as easily. They tend to have a higher CTR, usually 2 or 3 times higher than banners.

As their visibility is high, skyscrapers are often used as a method of brand awareness and not necessarily just to attract potential sales/customers. Because of this, they don’t necessarily show a high ROI even though clicks may be high. Success with this type of advertising can only be measured on what the intended outcome is.

Cost: High
Visibility: High
Business Size: Medium/High

Floating Ads:

Floating ads speak for themselves. Floating ads hover, usually in the middle of your screen, when you access certain web pages. They can last anything up to 30 seconds and are often big enough so that you can’t see much else unless you click off or it times out. They’re usually quite targeted and have a good CTR although they’re often banded in the same class as pop-ups for being an unwelcome annoyance.

Cost: Medium/High
Visibility: High
Business Size: All

Peel Back Ads:

Peel back ads will usually appear in the top right hand corner of a webpage and will look like the corner of a page being peeled down (funnily enough). Once you click on it, it will completely peel back to reveal a full ad, obscuring a significant chunk of the page. Most of the time they’ll only feature on homepages, though they can be found throughout sites.

Cost: Medium
Visibility: Medium (depend on being clicked)
Business Size: All

Expanding Ads:

Expanding ads are similar to peel back ads and are often designed as banner ads that sit the top of a webpage. Once you roll over the ad with your curser (you don’t need to click) it will then expand to a larger ad or sometimes a video, again, obscuring a lot of the page and drawing your attention to it.

They’re always on homepages and are seen as a type of homepage sponsorship as the initial banner is usually larger than a typical 468×60 horizontal banner.

Cost: High
Visibility: High
Business Size: Large

Interstitial Ads:

Interstitial ads are full pages that can be inserted in between the current page you’re on, and the destination page you’ve just clicked through too. They’ll nearly always be relevant to the pages you’re on and can either be on a timer, giving the audience enough time to read them, or you’ll find a ‘Skip this ad’ button somewhere on the page (or often both).

They can contain static images but are often videos given the fact that they have a guaranteed and mostly targeted audience.

Cost: High
Visibility: High
Business Size: Large

For those of you trying to advertise on a budget, the thought of entering a contract and paying a set monthly bill may not be the most appealing offer. An alternative, which has quickly risen up the ranks of popularity in the last few years, is Pay Per Click (PPC) or Cost Per Click (CPC) advertising.

An easy choice for individuals or smaller businesses, PPC advertising combines a manageable deposit account with the simplicity of text and smaller banner ads. The main benefits of PPC is usually highlighted as the quality of traffic clicking on links.

Text ads and banner ads aren’t always the easiest to spot on sites that can often be rife with big towers or Google Display Ads. However, they are usually product specific which means that the traffic that does eventually click on them is often extremely qualified, expressing a distinct interest in the product.

It’s important to understand that PPC advertising isn’t as simple as writing a quick sentence about your product and hoping someone clicks on it. As with any other forms of online advertising PPC takes a great deal of time and consideration, and from content to context, everything needs to be thought out.

Here are some of the most important things to bear in mind if you’re either thinking about starting up a PPC account, or if you’re wondering why your PPC campaign isn’t working.

Content and Keywords

As PPC campaigns can rely on search engines like Google or Bing for their traffic, the content of the ads is vital if you want your links to be found, let alone clicked. Using one of the numerous keyword tools that are around you’ll be able to see which terms are most searched for around your product and how much competition you could be facing.

It’s always a good idea to consult with a keyword checker as it’ll give you a great foundation for your ad copy while helping you target the right audience – but it doesn’t stop there.

Now you’ve got your keywords you’ll need to pad around them, and here’s where it can get tricky. There’s a fine line between a persuasive ad and one that looks like spam. Remember that while a ‘Free’ offer might be a great thing, the word free has its own spammy connotations and you might find it to be a hindrance depending on the service you’re trying to offer.

For example, if you’re advertising tech products in a tech environment then your audience is probably well practised at spotting spam and may not be willing to put as much trust in your offer.

It’s also important to reinforce your product. Of course this is dependant on the kind of ad you’re running. You won’t have as much flexibility if you’ve got a small text ad but if you can maximise your word count then do it. It can help to emphasis the quality of your product and describe it in as much detail as you can but, don’t swamp your audience with information.

Call to Action!

The other thing you should always include in your PPC ad is a call to action – without one you’re audience isn’t being given direction, they’re not being told go to and buy your product or go and look at your website.

Using well placed and written ‘direct language’ can guide your audience to buying your product. A call to action also gives impact to your ad text, for example ‘Sign up now!’ is much more persuasive (and eye catching) than ‘You can sign up on our site’.

Considering Context

If you think you’ve got the perfect ad that maximises your keywords and gives your audience a call to action, then the next step is to find the right outlet.

Context is everything when it comes to advertising so it helps to think it through carefully and find a site that will give you an audience with your desired intent. There’s no point advertising your web hosting services on a website promoting lawnmowers, its just common sense and it certainly won’t get you clicks and sales – and you’ll end up paying for irrelevant clicks.

The easiest way to find the right advertising space is to use resources like forums or if you already have a site in mind then try and find reviews or talk to a member of the team to get an idea of things like site traffic and click through rates (CTR’s).

If you find the right advertising outlet, you’re more likely to find users with the right intent.

Managing your PPC

Even after you think you’ve mastered all of the above, you’ll never really get a representation of how good your ads are unless you manage your PPC campaign with an analytics tool.

Free tools like Google Analytics are easy to get your hands on and pretty simple to use. The best way to maximise them would be to run a couple of different ads at one time, try a mixture of the same ad on different sites, or use one site but maybe 2 different creatives/texts and see which combination of things is working for you.

Finally…

If you put all of these points together then you should be well on your way to managing a well placed and well written PPC campaign. Naturally, getting the balance of keywords, text, creatives etc. can take time so don’t be disheartened if your first, second, or even third and fourth campaigns don’t quite pan out.

Remember that PPC is a way of getting targeted traffic in an environment that suits your budget, so you can always be a little hesitant and opt for some low cost PPC’s/CPC’s to start with and build your way up from there.

See also: How PPC Advertising Can Help Your Business

Online advertising can be a daunting task; there’s a lot to take in and there are all sorts of questions that need to be addresses before you start. ‘Where do I need to advertise? What ads will work best for this product? How shall I word my ad?’ – These are just a few examples of questions that need answering as part of your online advertising strategy.

The trick is to find the right outlet. Of course, if your product or your ads are poor then your outlet isn’t going to matter but providing you’ve got those bits right, it’s vital to pick an advertising placement that is both relevant to your product and preferably targeting buyers at their point of purchase.

Banner ads have proven to be an increasingly popular form of online advertising with advertising trade body, PricewaterhouseCoopers, reporting that online advertising on ad networks was up by 13.5% in 2010. This means that sites like online directories are seeing an increasing number of ads, among the most popular of which are banner ads.

Although banner ads can produce some great results, they won’t come out of no-where. Campaigns have to be carefully thought out and there are several steps that you need to make sure you take.

Make sure you… Know your campaign

Firstly you need to decide what your campaign is promoting. Decide which offer you want to run per banner and think hard about what kind of audience you want to target.

Taking an old or vague banner and throwing it onto multiple sites loosely based around your industry isn’t going to help you. You need to be specific in what you’re advertising and who your audience is, then choose an advertising outlet accordingly.

Make sure you… Design your ad well

A well designed ad will attract interest; it’s as simple as that. Use of colour, graphics and animations are important and will grab the attention of potential customers/visitors.

If you have the programs and skilled staff to design dynamic ads then make the most of this. A dynamic banner could allow you to fit more information in (as the image changes), or give you the room to make certain key points physically bigger (one point per image, for example, rather than all in one static banner).

However, remember that banner ads aren’t massive so too much can make your ad look cluttered and dilute your message. Also remember that ads are a representation of your business so a well designed banner will make you look professional and trustworthy.

Make sure you… Write your ad well

Writing your ad is just as important as designing the graphics. A well written ad should be short and memorable with just the right amount of information and an obvious call to action or direction to aid your customers. Again, don’t clutter your banner with text or it can detract from your product and message.

Make sure you… Get your audience right

As mentioned earlier, it doesn’t matter if you want sales or just brand awareness, simply throwing your banner on any site won’t help you. Try and advertise on a site that’s specific to your industry and your product.

For example, if you’re advertising online backup services, you don’t want to appear on a website for garden sheds, no matter how much traffic the site gets. It might cost you slightly more to advertise on websites that cater to your niche but remember that the quality of your traffic will be better.

Make sure you… Link to the right pages

You’re only going to make the most out of your banner ad if you’re honest and accurate in what you’re advertising. Make sure your banners click through to the right pages or specifically designed landing pages.

It’s an unwritten rule that you need to display your offer within 1 or 2 clicks (max) of landing on the page. However, you ideally want a landing page for each offer with the promotion displayed clearly.

You also need to check and double check that the link in your banner works. There’s nothing more annoying than clicking on a great ad that has either a broken link or takes you to the wrong page.

Make sure you… Track your ads

Probably the most important step to banner advertising (or any advertising) is monitoring your stats. Using something like Google Analytics to track your click through rates (CTR’s) can be a good indication of whether or not your banner is working.

If your ad is sales based then definitely invest in software that will be able to track your conversions so you can see exactly how beneficial your banner has been. Tracking your visitors bounce rate and navigation path is also helpful in seeing at which point they leave your site. This can help you to determining the effectiveness of your landing pages.