Online advertising has its advantages and disadvantages, and the relevance of these issues will vary depending on your business and the type of advertising you are considering. Whilst online advertising is extremely popular, it is not always used as effectively as possible, and sometimes it is just inappropriate. It can be extremely useful, however, so it is certainly worth careful consideration.

Cost

A major factor to consider is cost. Some online advertising is charged at a rate of pay per impression (PPI). This means that you pay a fee every time a page with your advertisement is loaded by a site visitor. Others, such as some options of the highly popular Google AdWords service, are charged on a pay-per-click (PPC) basis. In both cases, you need to think very carefully about the conversion of impressions or clicks to sales. If every impression is costing you 10p, and you are getting one sale for every 100 impressions, that's £10 off the profits of every sale generated through your advertising – fine if you're advertising cars, but not so good if you're selling much less expensive items.

When you're considering paying for online advertising, think carefully about how the cost will compare to other methods of advertising, such as television and magazine advertisements, billboards, radio ads, sponsorship and so on. Is it worth paying £1000/week on PPI banners when you could rent a billboard for considerably less?

PPI and PPC

The major benefit of PPC over PPI is that, of course, you probably won't end up paying as much: you only pay for clicks onto your site, which are much more likely to be converted into sales than mere impressions, since they involve an active effort on visitors' parts. Depending on the popularity of the keywords with which you choose to associate your PPC advertisements, clicks can range in price from 10p to whatever you're willing to pay for a top spot.

However, PPC ads are usually text-only. If you have, or are trying to build, a strong brand, PPI advertising may be worth paying for, because even when people don't click your ad, every time they see it, your logo or brand name will be strengthened in their minds.

Appropriateness

If you're a graphic designer, online advertising will probably be useful for you, because of the visual nature of your service. Some businesses are better suited to online advertising than others. Of course, you can still have a website, but not invest in other online advertising – so even if you're selling a service or a product which isn't particularly visual, there's no reason why you shouldn't have a website which sells your wares or offers information to your customers. You just might not get much value out of putting up banners.

A major benefit of online advertising in general is that it is well-targeted. Pay-per-click adverts only appear on pages which feature keywords relevant to your advert, and you can negotiate with site owners about where to place banners if you opt for a PPI scheme.

Another important feature is that you can update your advert almost instantly; business cards go out of date, and your customers could be telephoning the wrong number for months after you change. But with online advertising, you can be sure that people will get the most up-to-date information very rapidly.

Search Engine Optimisation

The best thing about search engine optimisation (SEO) as a method of internet marketing is that it is extremely cost-effective. Even if you employ an SEO consultant to advise you on optimisation, this can be a lot cheaper than paying for PPI or PPC advertising, and a well-optimised site appearing high in the search engine rankings gains credibility with visitors, who will be more convinced of the relevance of your site to their search terms.

Bear in mind, however, that optimising your website takes time. You cannot get to the number one position on a search for a competitive search term overnight; you need to commit yourself to about six months of work if you really want to see some results. However, it's worth it. Well-optimised sites rely on high-quality, keyword-rich content, and interlinking with other relevant websites.

Avoid any SEO companies that try to convince you it's all in the meta tags, or worse still, use unethical and dangerous practices such as cloaked text or gateway pages: these can get you banned from many search engines. It's very unlikely that Google's algorithms, or anyone else's, are going to start ignoring content and linking any time soon, so these are the points to focus on. It is a long-term solution, although it will involve a long-term commitment.

There are many articles on Domainmonster.com with more information about search engines and optimisation.

Points to Remember

Banner advertising is very popular, as a browse around most advertising websites will show you. Banners can be very effective for strengthening brand awareness, and can generate a few clicks into the bargain. Beware, though: many internet users have developed banner-blindness, and automatically ignore anything that looks like a manically blinking "Free* iPod!" or "Find Local Singles!" banner. Also, what seems to be a lot of traffic heading to your site can be the result of people accidentally clicking your banner.

Online advertising is (or at least, should be) non-intrusive: your adverts shouldn't be annoying. While pop-ups, noises, flashing banners and the new wave of Flash adverts which encroach on the rest of the content of a web page may attract a lot of traffic, you may be damaging your brand's reputation in the long-term.

Viral marketing, product information, activities and games for site visitors, coupons, sponsorship, and free gifts can all help to bolster your brand and draw visitors to your site. If you run TV advertisements, you could put them on your website, as Apple have done so successfully with their Mac/PC ads.

You could also consider building forums, groups and other online communities around your product or service – these can offer an excellent opportunity for integrated marketing, as well as the chance to gather customer feedback and suggestions in various ways.

The internet offers a unique opportunity to use innovative marketing methods and brand strengthening techniques. Do some research before you start into what will work best for your business, and make sure that search engine optimisation is a priority, alongside other sorts of advertising. Online advertising can be of value for nearly everyone, but it must be employed in a way that's right for your business.

By Natalie Catchpole

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