What is Online Advertising?

Online advertising means promoting things on the internet through mobiles or laptops. It is like putting ads on websites and other online places. These ads show up on computers, tablets, smart TVs, and phones when people use the internet. This kind of advertising has been around the world for about 25 years, ever since the internet became popular.

We also call it internet advertising, web advertising, digital advertising, and online marketing – they all mean the same thing as online advertising.

Online advertising is a fast-growing way for companies to promote themselves. It can be helpful when done right. Online advertising is great because it is open to lots of different companies, it does not cost too much, and it is easy to control. This means many businesses can use it to talk to people all around the world. If you know how online advertising works, you can get more customers, connect with more people, and find out what those people really like.

Online advertising – channels

Online advertising is like regular advertising, but it is more complex due to technology. It involves showing promotions on software, websites, videos, and even mobile apps. There are various kinds of online ads and places they can appear, which we call advertising channels. 

 Text Ads 

A text ad is like a clickable sentence. When you click on it, you go to a website, or a page made by a company. These ads are often found within the words of blog posts. But sometimes, they can also stand alone, like their own little piece of text.

 Display Ads

 Display ads show up next to the stuff you are looking at. They usually have ads about things that fit with what the page or article is talking about.

 For example, you might see ads for grass cutters on pages about gardening. You can find these display ads in emails, webpages, and apps.

 Banner Ads 

Banner ads are like billboards on websites. They used to be popular, but now they are not seen as much. You might still spot them on webpages and apps, though not as often.

Online advertisers used banner ads too much. They used them so often that people started ignoring them. This is called "banner blindness". It is when people's brains automatically ignore the banners, just like tuning out background noise.

 Native Ads

 A native ad is like a secretly placed advertisement in an online article. It tries to look just like the regular content you read, but it is actually paid for by a company.

The purpose of a native ad is the same as any other ad – to make you interested in a product or service.

Sometimes, advertisers hide these ads well. They mix them into the text so you can not tell if they are a part of the article or an ad, until you click on them.

Some people find this difficult and do not like it. They think it is not fair.

However, on most blogs, native ads are labeled as ads. You might see something like 'Sponsor’s Message' to let you know it is not regular content.

Social Media Ads

Ads on social media show up on websites such as Facebook, which are online places where people connect. These ads often look like normal posts or messages on social media.

Usually, the ads you see on social media are related to things you like or are interested in. 

Affiliate Links 

An affiliate link is a special web link that includes the username of affiliate or ID. Companies use these links to track the visitors sent by a promotional campaign to their website. This is all part of a program called 'affiliate program.'

In affiliate marketing, companies ask affiliates to help sell their products or services online.

When you join a website of company as an affiliate, they provide you with a unique link to their site. You then put this link on your own website. When people who visit your site click on the link, they are taken to the website of company.

As an affiliate, you earn a commission. Your commission is based on the number of people you refer to or the sales that happen through your referrals. In simpler terms, it is like getting a reward for bringing in customers or making sales happen for the company. 

Online Video Advertisements

Before you watch a video on the internet, you might see online video ads. These ads are becoming more popular on websites like YouTube and Vimeo.

Think of these video ads as like the commercials you see on TV. The difference is advertisers can track how well an online video ad works better than a TV ad.

For instance, when a TV ad plays, we do not know what the person watching does afterward. But with an online video ad, if the person clicks on the ad, we can see that they did. We can even find out which websites they visit after clicking the ad. 

In-App Ads

In-app ads are like commercials inside a computer program. They can be ads that fit right in, ads with words, picture ads, or a mix of these.

People have started to like this kind of advertising more in the last five years. Since more people are using mobile devices, advertisers have used in-app ads to promote things.

Email Ads

Ads in emails can look like regular text, pictures, or match the email's style.

For businesses, emailing people directly is useful. So, email ads are one of the best ways to advertise.

This includes sending emails, showing ads on search pages, social media posts, various kinds of picture ads, and ads on phones.

Content Marketing 

Content marketing is a wonderful way to share your brand and message with the right people. The main goal is to boost the number of visitors to your website without having to pay for ads. This is done by making your website show up higher on search engines. Once you have your plan and content ready, you can also pay to have your content featured on websites that make sense for your audience. Paying for ads can make the money you invest in content marketing go even further. If you do not promote your content, the money you spent making it might not end up being worth it.

Search Engine Marketing

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a method to make your website more noticeable on search engine result pages (like Google) by paying for a special spot. It is different from SEO, which aims to show up high on search engines without paying. To see how well it works, businesses can measure the cost of each click or each time the ad is shown.

Advantages of Online Advertising 

Many companies want to establish themselves online nowadays. Here are the key reasons why using online ads can help them in doing so:

Effectiveness:

When you can correctly divide your online audience into specific groups, you have more choices and platforms to connect with the people you want to reach. This boosts the possible success of your advertising efforts.

Measuring and keeping tabs:

With the help of modern tools for analyzing data, you can easily figure out how well your online ads are doing. The data you collect might even give you a better picture of your audience compared to old-fashioned ways, as it is not just focused on a small group of people.

Getting Things Done Faster:

Businesses can quickly do important things like planning and making materials by using online ads.

They can easily make and show ads on different online platforms very quickly.

 Adaptable and Handy:

You can show pictures, videos, and words to the people you want to reach, no matter where you are or what time it is. If a business puts an ad in the right place at the right time, lots of people could see it. You only need a device with Internet to do all of this.

 Affordable Option: 

Internet advertising is usually cheaper than the budget needed for impactful offline ads.

User interaction: 

The Internet lets people interact a lot. Brands can send messages and get comments, likes, and questions from users. This helps businesses understand better what users like, worry about, and think, and they can talk back quickly.