online advertising

If you're serious about promoting your site, and you have a budget even a small one to back you up, your first promotional dollars should go to online advertising, where you have the best shot at increasing traffic and the greatest ability to track results.

When planning an online advertising campaign, first think about your goals: What are you trying to accomplish with this ad campaign? Are you trying to increase awareness? Drive traffic? Increase sales?

"Where advertisers need to spend the most time is thinking about their objectives," says Internet advertising pioneer Rick Boyce , who's considered by many the father of the ad banner. "The medium is so infinitely flexible, you can do almost anything. So we always counsel people to really think about what they want to achieve."

But this crucial first step is often skipped, Boyce says, as advertisers jump ahead to tactics: where the ad will appear or what it will look like. "As in many businesses, sometimes the least amount of thought goes into strategy. No one ever answers the question, 'What the heck are we trying to achieve here?'"

crafting a successful campaign

Once you know what you're trying to achieve with your ads, you can craft a campaign aimed at meeting your specific needs. Whatever your aspiration, there are five key factors that help your ad succeed.

5 keys to a successful ad campaign:

  1. Contextual placement

  2. A good offer

  3. Clear language

  4. Compelling visuals

  5. Rigorous analysis

contextual placement The greatest strength of online advertising is its ability to put the right message in front of the right user at exactly the right time. At any given moment, web users are researching and reading and doing just about everything online. Your goal is to reach them at moments when your site or product is most relevant.

"Contextually relevant placement is a key factor in successful campaigns," says Peter Naylor , VP/GM of advertising sales at iVillage. "If you're selling mortgages, for instance, you want to be in the finance area of a site, and more importantly, the real estate area."

Search engines provide the most obvious example of contextual placement, because people use them when they're actively seeking a site or solution. A company that makes, say, devices that repel rodents, will always want to appear on the results for "mousetrap."

But it's important to look beyond the obvious, Naylor says. Sometimes an indirect approach works best: "If you're Glaxo Smith Kline and you're marketing Paxil [an anti-anxiety drug] your first instinct will be to advertise in the Health, Anxiety, and Depression areas on a site."

"But the users in these areas are already self-diagnosed," Naylor explains. "What you need to do is target topics that cause anxiety. You need to be in the work area, because people are anxious about their careers. You need to be in the relationships area, because people are anxious about their relationships. You need to be in the fitness area, because people are anxious about being overweight."

a good offer The best way to capture the attention of web users is to make an offer they can't refuse either because it perfectly meets their needs at the time or because it's too good to pass up.

Remember: Web users tend to be single-minded. At any given moment, they're focused on a particular task, and determined to get it done. If your ad doesn't further their goal or give them a compelling reason to wander off-task they're unlikely to follow it.

So ads promoting immediately relevant services are the most likely to get attention. But less-relevant ads can also get noticed if they play their communication cards right.

clickthrough isn't everything

The great promise of online advertising is its measurability: You can measure response to an ad because you can measure exactly how many people saw it, and how many clicked through.

But there's more than one way for an ad to be effective. And by focusing solely on response rate, advertisers risk missing the point.

"All people talk about is 'How many people saw the ad? How many people clicked on the ad?'" says Rick Boyce. "The click rate became the determinant of success: Ads that had a high click rate and the sites on which they ran are considered successful, and those that had fewer clicks are considered less successful."

"So unfortunately, every advertiser on the Internet now thinks like a direct marketer, whether they are or not," Boyce says. "And that just makes no sense."

A successful ad, he explains, isn't measured by response alone. Ads shape brand perceptions and drive purchase decisions in more subtle ways than just inspiring a click. And the Internet works as well as other media in meeting these goals: "You can use the web to build awareness of your brand," Boyce says. "Or to add frequency to a TV or print campaign. Or to reach an audience you're not getting adequately in other media forms."

But still advertisers obsess over clickthrough.

"No one is ever going to click on a tomato sauce ad," Boyce says. "And that's okay. The user doesn't need to click to get the message. But nevertheless, mark my words, if there are tomato sauce companies advertising online, they are evaluating their success by how many people clicked on their ad.


"Generally, there are two things that make people click the creative and the offer," Naylor says. So if your goal like most advertisers is to inspire clickthrough, you'll need either eye-grabbing visuals or a great sale to both draw users' interest and inspire immediate action.

But how good does the offer need to be? "If you're offering me free shipping or two-for-one, that's a good offer," Naylor says. "But if you're only offering free shipping for orders over $100 or 'Buy six, get one free,' well, that's less appealing. So the specific offer has a lot to do with whether or not a user clicks through."

clear language In ads as in everything else online I offer you this advice: Be clear, not clever. Web users don't like surprises. They usually want to know what they're getting before they click. So you're more likely to lure them in with a clear, straightforward offer than a clever riddle. (See naming site sections, p. 122.)

compelling visuals Although relevant, clearly described services are most likely to draw the user's attention, other ads do get clicked. Why? Usually the answer lies in the "creative," as it's called in the advertising world: The words, images, and sometimes sounds that make up the campaign. Provocative questions, cute animals, addictive games all of these can draw in users who would otherwise have little interest in the product being sold.

And the ad type and placement can also help. "These days, the golden rules are that bigger is better," Naylor says. "People like bigger ad units. They like rich media, not GIF media. They like interactivity, as opposed to just flat. And clutter is bad. In the old days, we'd run five banners on page. Now advertisers want to be one of two ads, or the only ad. Share of voice is important."

But remember, there's a fine line between grabbing someone's attention and driving them crazy. As Steve Mulder, user experience manager for Terra-Lycos, says: "Intrusive ads are not the way to begin a long-term relationship with a customer."

rigorous analysis Like everything else online, the success of web ads can be measured and measured to death. You can track how well each ad performs and how well each does on each site. If you view this as an ongoing challenge, you can build an increasingly clear picture of which ads succeed and why: Certain images, words, or colors may draw your users' attention. Certain promotions may prove persuasive. Certain ad types or placement may be more effective than others. All this, you can learn. And you should.

steal these ideas: 6 ads that get noticed

1. contextual ads

Contextual ads get noticed because they reach the right user in the right place at exactly the right time. In some cases, the ad offers information or services that are at the top of the user's mind. In others, they offer a relevant service at a relevant moment, as in the following American Express ad, which was integrated into the check-out phase on Expedia.com.

American Express ad on Expedia. This simple promotional message just a logo and some text was perfectly positioned on the Expedia check-out page, just as users were asked for their credit card. A perfect example of contextual messaging. There's no better time to mention a product than when you're reaching into your wallet. And if that product's a credit card, then better yet.

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2. compelling ads

Compelling ads get noticed because they catch the users' eye either with images or words. Some things that draw the user in: Images of cute animals or people. The words "free" and "new." And, of course, anything they happen to be looking for at the moment (See contextual ads, previous.)

Bronx Zoo ad on The New York Times. This baby gorilla is the best possible salesman for the Bronx Zoo. Even if you don't like zoos, even if you don't live in New York, this ad gets you thinking about paying the little fella a visit. And monkeys don't work just for the Zoo pictures of animals seem to do well across the board in ad banners.

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3. entertaining ads

Entertaining ads get noticed because they look fun, and they engage the user. These ads usually make use of some form of "rich media," which makes it possible to embed complex animation or simple interactive games. The downside is that they're expensive for the advertiser and slow-loading on the site. So users may not wait long enough to see what the fuss is about.

MSN ad on The New York Times. This animated ad invites users to take aim at the moving ducks. Each time you hit one, it exposes the name for one of the Microsoft Network's sites and describes the target audience you'd find there. Target practice...target audience...Get it? Very clever. But more important: Fun.

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4. functional ads

Functional ads get noticed because they offer the viewers a useful tool they can immediately put to work, like a search form or a scrolling menu. Even if the tool's purpose wasn't one the viewer particularly needed, they may be drawn in by its functionality. People like to play, after all, and if a tool beckons to them, they'll often take the bait. It's worth noting that these ads don't always have completely working parts. They may provide just an image of a tool to draw the user in. In these cases, the advertiser should be sure to actually offer the real tool on the page to which you link the user. That is, if you hope to keep them.

eDiets ad on iVillage. The pull-down menus in this ad draw users in, urging them in to choose their height and weight...and think about diets, of course.

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5. deceptive ads

Deceptive ads get noticed because they trick you into believing they're part of the normal interface by flashing a fake error message or dialog box. These ads work in that people click on them, alright. But none of the users who click will stay on your site. They'll curse and mutter and go back to where they came from. Needless to say, this is not the kind of audience response most sites are looking for.

Ad on HotBot. This ad grabbed my attention, because of its warning sign and dialog-box appearance. But I knew better than to click through, having made that mistake several years before. It's a trick that only works once.

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6. no-nonsense ads

No-nonsense ads get attention not by standing up and screaming and calling attention to themselves, but by very quietly and subtly offering the user precisely what he was looking for. These ads achieve the best at times remarkable results on search engines like Google, where they can be targeted to specific user searches.

Bookfinder ad on Google. This ad grabbed my attention because it was exactly what I was looking for when I searched for "used bookstores." I wanted used books, and I found them, by golly.

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annoying ads

Annoying ads get noticed because they don't give you any choice but to look at them. Either they pop up in a new window and obscure your work, or they mesmerize you with seizure-inducing flashiness. In some ways they work: It is, indeed, hard not to look at them. But then all you want to do is look away as soon as possible: even if it means leaving the site or scrolling down the page.




The Unusually Useful Web Book
The Unusually Useful Web Book
ISBN: 0735712069
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 195
Authors: June Cohen

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