Types of Web Advertisement Banners on the Side Bar

By Ben Lingenfelter

The Internet often works better
i Paper ads image by Galaiko Sergey from Fotolia.com

Banners are just one kind of advertisement to be found on most websites. They sound like long rectangular banners on websites, but "banner ads" refer to any small or large rectangular advertisement found on a website. There are several providers for these ads, and they are one of the biggest ways in which money transfers hands on the Internet.

Ads Can Help You Make Money

Sometimes, banner ads can be placed on your website to help you make money. With an account with, for example, Google Adsense, AdBrite or Yahoo! Publisher Network, you get money based on how many times the banner ads on your website get clicked. The advertisers place the ads on your website automatically, and you get revenue if your site gets enough traffic.

Advertising That You Pay For

Conversely, you can pay these same sites to place banner ads for your business on other people's related sites. This is how the banner ads in the sidebar of search engines are decided, and if you want to pay enough, the ad for your business can appear there as well. You also can pre-pay for ads to appear on other sites. The more you pay, the more often your ad will show up on related sites.

Changes in Internet Advertising

Recently, banner-advertising has changed. SEM (seach engine marketing) has become more advanced with new techniques that allow marketers to target their banner ads by location and by behavior. These techniques, called geotargeting and behavioral targeting, are great ways to get the most for your money.

The advantage for businesses is that instead of having their banner ad shown to people all over the world, they can target their banner ads to people in specific zip codes and to people who typically show an interest in their products and services. Consumers who live hundreds of miles away may not be interested, but many people looking for local products and services benefit from these new techniques. Geotargeting is especially effective with the growth of mobile devices with surfing capability. Google, Yahoo! and AdMob have begun offering specific tools for geotargeting on mobile devices.

×