Once upon a time, online advertising had a shady reputation. Luckily for publishers, that’s all in the past.
Online advertising is a way of life, and a way of business. There are at least seven different legitimate ways respected publishers are making money through online advertising. And this post is about why they’re using online advertising to begin with.
The online advertising industry has improved its reputation, and consumers have become more accustomed to seeing these ads. Even the once-dreaded popup ad has become routine, especially when it’s carefully aligned with your content, which is a Mequoda Best Practice.
The benefits of online advertising, from popups to native advertising, are numerous. On your own website or any other, you can build traffic readily, especially when you’re doing it in conjunction with organic audience development efforts.
The five huge benefits of online advertising
Benefit of online advertising #1: Cost efficiency
Your online ads will be viewed by millions of people, 24 hours a day. You can’t say that about print advertising or direct mail. Plus, when you have your own website, consider cooperative advertising efforts such as banner swaps. You can’t get much more cost-effective than free!
Social media, of course, can also be free via posts and Tweets. And pay-per-impression or pay-per-click advertising allows you to pay only when your ad is seen or clicked on. The beauty of the web is that hosts like Google can deliver your ads directly to people who are interested in your products, delivering far more bang for your buck than other types of advertising.
Benefit of online advertising #2: Native advertising/advertorials
Advertorials, also known as native advertising, were once anathema to print publishers. But today, with greater care taken to produce truly relevant and valuable content, and to mark the advertorial as exactly what it is, advertorials are becoming much more widely accepted on the Internet.
The best advertorials showcase the advertiser’s expertise without being blatantly promotional. Check out all the different types of native ads, and then a few native advertising examples who are knocking it out of the park.
Benefit of online advertising #3: Segmenting
The Internet is the easiest place to advertise directly to your market. If you publish knitting magazines, you can get 100% relevancy by advertising on knitting sites and yarn shops.
If you’re a regional magazine, you can limit your advertising to specific geographic areas. There’s no waste and lots of direct contact with exactly the people who will appreciate your content.
Benefit of online advertising #4: Interactivity
Now that you can include videos, surveys and other interactive activities in your ads, you have many more opportunities to engage with your audience. Let your potential customers have fun, share your clever ads and become ever more loyal to you, using all the technology that’s available today.
Benefit of online advertising #5: Options
The there are so many different types of web advertising. In addition to native ads, there’s the most hugely profitable sponsorship advertising models, like CPM, CPA, CPC, DIR, and our favorite, SEA. And within all of these, there are even more ways to accomplish your sales and traffic goals.