The simple definition of online advertising is using the internet in order to market services or products to surfers. There are various forms of advertising. Let’s take a closer look at these various methods and exactly how they function.

The Interstitial Ad is another method of advertising. These ads generally appear before an expected site loads but occasionally after visiting a website. Let’s say you are looking for video of your favorite college football team. You search for their website and click the link and up comes an ad for sweatshirts and baseball caps with the team logo. This is an example of an interstitial ad.

Since we constantly are inundated with advertising we learn to block out and filter what we don’t want to view. Banners are easily ignored. Interstitial ads may be viewed by more people just by the nature of them showing up as an “in between” web page. A large number of surfers do not appreciate having these obtrusive ads show up and software is available which enables a surfer to ignore these ads, so they may not be as effective in reaching your target.

The banner ad is the most common type of advertisement. This is usually a visual ad, on a web page, in the form of a JPEG, GIF, or PNG image that links to the advertiser’s website. The ads can also be constructed using JavaScript or other programming languages such as Flash, Shockwave or Java and may include sound, video or animation to increase their impact. These ads are referred to as Banner Ads because they are usually tall and narrow or wide and short, this “aspect-ratio” gives them the ‘appearance’ of a banner.

Facebook, MySpace, Friendster and other social networking sites are becoming more popular than ever and as a result social network advertising increases. Placing these ads on these social networking sites is particularly beneficial because the advertisers can target the specific demographics they are looking to reach.

There are other “social” websites on which you can advertise like websites for a performing artist or television show you follow. Ads on these sites can be site specific like band t-shirts or apparel worn by your favorite actors, but they can also be targeted using specific keywords on the site. For example if you are on a website forum discussing your celebrity and you post a topic about the purse an actress is carrying, you may start to see banner ads for designer bags, clothes and other related items.

If you decide to join an online forum about your favorite hobby or television show, you may be asked if you would like to opt-in the website’s mailing list. These lists are used to keep interested site visitors informed about upcoming special offers, sales or discounts. They require that you opt-in to receive the mailing. That is you give your permission to the site owner to send you email notices. This type of email advertising is different from spam email in that you have requested it be sent to you. This opt-in feature is usually available at check out on many e-commerce sites.

If you visit the website of your favorite newspaper you will likely come across many of these types of online advertising from banner ads and interstitial ads to rich media or interactive media and yes classifieds. Just like your print newspaper. Unlike traditional print classifieds, online classifieds are usually searchable making finding what you want quicker and easier.

There are numerous different ways to advertise online and with the internet constantly evolving, surely there will be new cutting-edge ways of advertising in the near future.

Author Bio: Written by Jacqueline Star, an expert in Online Advertising. An SEO agency can help your site get listed in the major search engines. Jazel Auto specializes in SEO, website management and inventory management of Car Dealer Websites.

Category: Internet
Keywords: online advertising, advertising, marketing, internet, ads, banner ads, business