In the last article we looked at Google AdWords, a system devised by Google whereby advertisers' products appear on search results and web pages depending on the keywords the advertiser picks. When a person clicks on these ads, they are brought to the website of the advertiser. The advertiser then pays Google for each "click" - i.e. for each time the Google ad brings customers to their site.
AdWords is just one of a number of examples of Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising used by Google. Rivals Yahoo and MSN also have their own pay per click systems, and together with Google constitute the Big Three. In addition to the Big Three exists an ever-growing number of companies who also belong to this increasingly competitive market.
PPC ads come in many different types and usually these types overlap. For example Google provides text ads in search results, but also provides the same text ads on static pages. It also provides graphical ads and banners.
Google AdWords/AdSense are, as we read earlier, based on keywords, with advertisers bidding on the cost per click (CPC) of each ad relative to their keywords. In other words, the higher they're willing to pay for their keywords (per click), the higher their position will be.
CPM, Cost Per Mille, or Cost Per Thousand (Mille means thousand in Latin) are advertisements whereby the advertiser pays a flat fee for every thousand ad impressions. So if, say, the ad has a CPM of €10, then it costs €10 for every 1,000 impressions of that ad.
CPA, Cost Per Action or Cost Per Acquisition ads work on the principle that the advertiser only pays when a specific criteria is met, usually a transaction has to be completed or a person who has been referred by the ad has to register with the site it was led to. Examples of this would be third party companies offering affiliate deals to webmasters. Google, too, have expanded their AdSense portfolio to include such adverts, and provide a range of ready-made affiliate ad blocks and banners which they call referral ads.
From a webmaster point of view these type of ads generally pay more than pay per click ads, but are dependant on the criteria being met - i.e. the person registering and downloading the product or signing up and buying something from that website with the transaction monitored by cookies. For this reason it can be generally seen as something of a long term strategy or even a long-shot when compared to the instant earning potential of pay per click ads. In order to make these ads pay well, therefore, the ads must match the content as well as possible and a clever webmaster is therefore able to maximise the earning potential of their websites by matching their content to niche ads and affiliates.
Traditionally the main staples of internet ads were jpgs and gifs, especially animated gifs as well as rich text or simple text adverts. These advertisement types developed over time and became more and more elaborate as the technology progressed and bandwidth became greater and broadband internet more widely available. Increasingly, advertisers are beginning to see the vast potential offered by Flash technology. Developed by Macromedia, but as of 2005 owned by Adobe, Flash technology has developed from what begun as a medium for web animations into a full multimedia platform in its own right, encompassing aural as well as visual elements. It is also interactive, with Flash buttons, menus and even Flash games and, from version 6 onward, the ability to display video. Indeed now a webpage can play full video ads in the screen just like TV ads with adjustable sound, and increased interactivity. For example one popular type of ad is the interactive video ad where mousing over the ad or clicking in the ad window will cause the objects/people/players in the ad to move and talk.
As with any type of advertising, some ads can be quite subtle and clever, whilst others can be quite brash, blatant and unashamedly in your face. This is particularly true of ads that make sound, a personal peeve of mine. This dislike of noisy ads is no doubt shared by anyone who, sitting in a public office, has been assaulted by the ear-splitting screams of an over-exuberant smily face. When I hear any noise of out ads I click on the back button immediately with a vow never to return to that page again and I'm not the only one either.
There's a lesson here for webmasters; its vital one chooses their ads carefully and not put monetizing ones site above the people who would read it.
If the Internet has given the world anything, it's an acute pandemic of Attention Deficit Disorder.
At no other time in history has so much knowledge been available to humanity, and there quite simply isn't enough time to take in even the tiniest fraction of it. This has had the effect of making backclickers of us all. All it takes is one cursory glance at a page to see whether we like the page or not and if we don't we've already clicked the back button and moved onto the next one. This we do reflexively, just like zapping through channels on TV - there's just too much out there, and over half of it seems to be ads.
Some people think they can just splatter ads everywhere and make a fortune from doing nothing but as I said earlier, it doesn't work that way. Ads need to be carefully selected to suit the page and much thought also has to go into their placement and presentation. Successful monetization campaigns are the result of careful experimentation and analysis. In addition to viewing your ad statistics it's recommended that you use services like Google Analytics to view page impressions and other statistics in order to better craft your ad campaign.
A final note; one should always beware of advertising spyware on your site or hosting banners that contain malicious code. Spyware is any program that that, once activated, secretly reports on users' activity their backs. Not only does spyware constitute an invasion of privacy but can also slow down system and network performance and cause system instability.
Many programs, such as screensavers and other more gimmicky downloads offered on some ads, are spyware or contain spyware elements. This is not to say that all of them contain spyware but in any business one should be very careful as to who the associate with as you may find yourself guilty by association. If you are unsure at any time, download some anti-spyware software such as Spybot Search & Destroy or AVG Anti-spyware.
As for malicious code, many unscrupulous advertisers even go so far as to install malicious scripts into their banner ads which then attack and infect unprotected browsers. For this reason webmasters should be very careful about whose adverts they host, as an infected banner ad like this could damage their reputation irreparably, both with search engines and with their target market.
Here's another security applications list with a number of anti-spyware and anti-virus programs and other security tools to help you detect and remove various types of scripts and malware from Windows PCs.
The following is a list of companies providing PPC, PPM, affiliate and other advertising sorts online. This list is not an endorsement of any of the companies and it is by no means a definitive list of companies. If you feel we have left any out or wish to add to our list, or you feel that some companies deserve to be stricken from the list due to suspect practices (malicious code, spyware, etc) please don't hesitate to contact us.
We provide many advertising services to our customers. We can provide advice and consultation for those who are interested in advertising their product online, using internet advertising to drive traffic to their site or setting up their own Pay Per Click, PPM or affiliate ads on their site to bring in extra revenue.
We can also help to design and create advertisements or advertising units, banners or multimedia and video advertisements. For more more information Contactus today.
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