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"AFFINITY LINKS"
Portal sites of relevance to clients' products or services are researched,
submissions are drafted and submitted, and follow-up takes place
to monitor results. Affinity links are discretionary for the site
owner, our experience has shown that many sites fail to include
a link on the first submission and must be re-contacted for us to
be successful. We also recommend a quarterly search to find newly
launched or renovated sites of relevance to approach for affinity
links.
ONLINE ADVERTISING
The Web's targeting and tracking capabilities make it one of the
most responsive - and trackable -- mediums available to advertisers.
Web advertising is unique from other forms of advertising, in that
it enables consumers to directly interact with the advertisement
(e.g. click on the banner). The Web allows an advertiser to choose
if they want to achieve the broadest exposure through the use of
very general, "universal" sites; or utilize extensive
targeting to reach only the most viable consumers for their products
or services. Which route advertisers choose, obviously, depends
on their target markets - how broad based the product or service
is.
With approximately 20 million Web content areas online, many advertisers
can find appropriate sites for targeting their message, if they
so choose. There are varying levels of professionalism in the administration
of these sites, however.
Relevancy is key to a successful online advertising program. Placing
banners in places where viewers have the most interest in what you
are "selling" encourages more click-throughs and increased
brand awareness among target audiences.
Viable on-line advertising opportunities might include securing
fixed category and keywords with search engines and directories
such as Infoseek or Yahoo! and exploring very targeted industry-specific
vertical sites.
As mentioned under "Affinity Links," we caution that vertical
sites experience varying levels of administrative professionalism
and must be carefully evaluated before advertising is placed.
KEYWORD BANNERS
Just a few years ago, search engines began selling banners tied
to "keywords" searchers typed in, and soon all the search
engines offered this service to advertisers. This helped address
the problem of rising to the top of the search results, always a
difficult and challenging task.
Selling for up to $50 per thousand impressions, keyword banners
provide a way to reach targeted audiences, who can then see and
click on the ad banner to go to the sponsor's Web site.
"Click-through" or the percentages of people who actually
click on an ad banner versus those who merely are presented with
it, tend to be higher and more consistent when keyword banners are
used. The overall industry average of click-through is less than
1 percent, while some clients have experienced up to 12 percent
click-through on keyword banners.
Continue to part 4 of 4 >
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