It is an unfortunate reality of any online business is that online advertising is the only quick and reliable way to drive customers to your website (unlike the effects of SEO and search engine marketing which take longer to kick in). If you want your web business to be attracting customers from day one you need to look at one of the varied online advertising options available to you. Here we explain the most important types of online advertising on the market.
Pay per click or PPC – one of the most commonly used forms of online advertising popularised by the market leader Google Adwords. Usually presented in the form of text adverts on search engine results pages or sponsored links on participating website – as the name suggests you only pay when someone clicks one of the adverts and visits your site. Factor in keyword targeting and intelligent daily budgetary controls and you can see why most online businesses can benefit from PPC.
Email marketing – think about the demographic of potential customers for your business and contact a an email marketing expert or list broker to help you develop a list of potential email contacts. You can then create a tailored (mindful of your key demographic) marketing email detailing your product, its benefits or some form of special offer with links back to your website and send it to the targeted email list. This is a great way to reach out to a large number of people in a controlled and highly targeted way and can be a very cost effective way of attracting new customers.
Banner advertising – the original form of online advertising usually in the form of images or short animations. Banner ads appear across all types of websites and generally you can purchase inventory directly from the websites or an online ad broker who will offer placement across a network of sites. Not as popular as PPC because as a rule you pay for the number of times you advert is shown or for a period of time rather than the performance model inherent in PPC. That said banner ads still work and can be a very effective way of improving brand awareness.
Newsletters – offer a simple sign up form on your website that allows customers to subscribe to a newsletter that gives regular product updates, company news and useful information along with special offers and sales messages.
