Chapter 14. Understanding Online Advertising

Search engine marketing is the number-one component of most companies’ online marketing plans. But number two is a new version of an old standby—online advertising. That’s right, the Web is just a big container for all sorts of ads, just like what you’re used to running in print and over the air.

Except that online advertising isn’t quite the same as traditional print or broadcast advertising. First, customers can act directly on online ads, which they can’t on traditional ads. Because of this, it’s much, much easier to track the effectiveness of online advertising; you can track not just how many people view an ad, but how many click the ad, go to your website, and then buy something. That introduces ...

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