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What Are the Benefits of Online Media Advertising?

Whitney Leigh White
Whitney Leigh White

Advertising has been a part of all business’s marketing plans for a long time. Throughout the 1990s and the first part of the 21st century, however, many businesses discovered the importance of online media advertising. People of all ages and races all across the world use the Internet, making it imperative for any type of business to include online media advertising in its marketing plan. This form of advertising is very beneficial to businesses because it is inexpensive, it enables a business to easily measure which advertising ads and videos are working, and it enables businesses to deeply inform consumers about a product and/or service.

Many businesses turn to online media advertising because it is so inexpensive, especially when compared to advertising on television and the radio. Even though it is much less expensive, advertising online still has the ability to reach more people than TV and radio advertising because the Internet is used on a global basis, whereas certain TV stations and radio stations are seen and heard only in certain geographical locations. A large number of businesses find online advertising beneficial because it offers flexible payment plans, including pay-per-click (PPC) methods. Payment for PPC advertisements has to be paid for only when a consumer actually clicks on the ad, and the cost for these types of advertisements is very small for each customer who clicks on them. This is completely unlike TV and radio advertisements that must be paid for upfront.

Woman doing a handstand with a computer
Woman doing a handstand with a computer

The ability to measure the effectiveness of online advertising is one of its major benefits. As companies utilize TV and radio advertisements, they often are unable to determine which ones are catching consumers’ attention and actually persuading them to purchase a product and/or service; this is completely unlike online media advertising. The performance of each online advertisement that a business distributes can be easily tracked. Even more importantly, the conversion rate of each advertisement also can be tracked, which is what allows a business to determine which online ads are effectively leading a consumer to purchase a product and/or service.

Utilizing online media advertising also enables a business to reap in the benefits of deeply informing consumers of a product and/or service. Most businesses will create an online media ad that is clickable, enabling the consumer to be linked to another page that provides even further information on the product or service being advertised. The more informed a consumer is about a product and/or service, the more likely he or she to purchase it.

Discussion Comments

Oceana

@shell4life – I have to disagree with you here. I find animated ads and videos annoying, and I think that they are intrusive to people who are just trying to read an article on a site.

I don't like things moving across my screen, and I really hate being surprised by sudden sounds and videos. If a person is going to advertise online, I think they should make their ad more like the ads found in magazines. The best ad is one that stays still and lets the reader decide whether or not to pay attention to it.

If you use flashy online advertising, you risk alienating potential customers. These ads remind me of annoying, loud car salesmen on TV ads, and I don't know anyone who likes this type of ad.

shell4life

Online media marketing is so much better than marketing through print publications, in my opinion. You have the option of using video or animation, whereas a printed ad will just lay there. It would have to rely on bright colors and bold design to get any attention.

Many online ads use quick motion or flashing words that grab your eye. Even if you don't want to, you can't help but look at them. I have often clicked on animated ads while trying to minimize them, and I probably made somebody a little bit of money accidentally!

Video ads are even better, because they start to play automatically when you visit a site. Often, people will watch a few seconds at least, just to see what the video is.

cloudel

I think that pay-per-click ads are the best online advertising strategy a business can have. They are not at risk of losing money, like they are for running TV or radio ads that might not get them any new business.

I had a blog with a few pay-per-click ads on it, but I never generated enough traffic to get paid. I know that if I had been able to attract more readers, I could have made some money off of these ads, but the good news is that the businesses who placed ads on my site were not out any money.

Popular websites must make a killing off of these ads. I hope that the people who click on them usually end up buying something, because the bill for the advertiser could get pretty high!

kylee07drg

I am a sales representative at a newspaper, and we have an online version that has become very popular with both our subscribers and our advertisers. Our graphics team can design an ad with basic information or with an option to link to the client's website, and I always recommend that the clients include this link.

The one exception would be clients who don't have a business website, but there are very few of these left. Nearly everyone in town has recognized the need for online promotion.

Overall, our advertisers have been very happy with the traffic our website has sent to their sites. They continue to advertise on a regular basis, so it's a win-win situation.

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      Woman doing a handstand with a computer