Running a website for your business is a crucial step in acquiring increased interest in your products or services, regardless of whether they are digital or physical in nature. An estimated number of over 7 billion people have access to the internet world wide which proves just how much additional exposure your brand can receive via effective online promotional efforts.

Even with such a large number of people accessing the internet on a regular basis it can still be a challenge to actually get your brand name and products in front of those who may be likely to require or desire such a product or service. This point particularly makes sense considering there are likely to be hundreds, if not thousands, of other companies and individuals offering the same or similar products and services as your own. It’s due to this that promotional tasks such as SEO (search engine optimization) and paid advertising methods have increasingly become a requirement in the operation of a website or online business.

Paid advertising is an exceptional way to drive targeted traffic to your website in very short periods of time, at a potentially large cost, compared to SEO which can take longer periods of time before seeing any noticeable results. Although both methods are effective in ensuring that your website reaches the correct audiences its worth taking a closer look at paid advertising seeings as it’s generally easier, quicker and guaranteed to provide results.

Paid Advertising For Your Website

Advertising online can prove to be an expensive exercise based on many factors including your industry, target audience and preferred advertisement delivery method. If set up correctly, your return on investment for the advertising costs should maintain a healthy level and open the doors for additional traffic through the form of customer recommendations and, most importantly, brand recognition.

There is a wide range of delivery methods available when it comes to online advertising, some of these include:

• Text Advertisements
• Image/Banner Advertisements
• Pop Ups & Pop Unders
• Email Advertising
• Sponsored Search Listings
• Expanding Advertisements
• Floating Advertisements

The form and type of payment for each style of advertisement can differ based on both the advertisers and published preference. The following are some of the more popular and regularly used compensation agreements.

CPC (Cost Per Click)

Cost Per Click is perhaps one of the most widely used payment agreements used in the online advertising world. As the name suggests, CPC is the act of an advertiser paying a pre-arranged price for each legitimate click of their advertisement. The price per click can differ heavily based on industry, competition levels and the ad type, however, prices can start as low as $0.01 cent per click and up to $100+ per click based on those factors.

CPM (Cost Per Mille/Cost Per Impression)

CPM is another popular method which entails an advertiser paying a set price for every 1000 impressions of their advertisement. Compared to CPC, the prices for CPM are set at much lower levels because there is no guarantee that a viewer will actually click on the advertisement and visit the advertisers website or product. While initially it may be a cheaper option than CPC, you could quite possibly end up paying just as much, if not more, to gain a similar traffic count.

CPV (Cost Per View)

Cost Per View, mostly associated with video streaming services, is the process of advertisers paying publishers a set cost per view of a video advertisement. As with other methods, the price per view can differ dramatically depending on the industry, placement and video length.

Fixed Cost

Fixed Cost, as the name suggests, is the method of paying a publisher a fixed rate for the display of an advertisement. These are generally set up in 1, 3, 6 and 12 month intervals and have a varying price based on the traffic statistics of the host site where the advertisement will be displayed.

Who Offers Paid Advertising

A quick search of Google will return thousands of companies who each offer varying forms of paid advertising. With so many options being available it can become a lengthy process to actually find the one that best suits your needs, financial capability and business requirements. In order to assist in making the decision, the following is a brief overview on 5 paid advertising methods and publishers.

Google Adwords

It’s no surprise that Google Adwords is on the list due to their dominance in the online advertising world. Google is by far the largest and most appealing advertising networks on the internet and hosts a range of different advertising methods and payment types.

Adwords offers the following:

• Cost per click
• Cost per impression
• Cost Per view
• Retargeting
• Sponsored Search Results

Your advertisements, text or image based, are displayed through a range of different mediums including their own search engine and on the websites, relevant to your ad, of their millions of publishers. The best thing about AdWords is that it can be automated with Google Ads Script code which is a more advanced implementation technique to achieve better results than doing everything manually.

Facebook Ads

Your favourite social media platform also makes it easy to get your advertisement in front of millions of individuals who use the network. Facebook can be relatively cost effective compared to other advertising networks depending on your targeting methods. The following options are available via Facebook:

• Cost per click
• Cost per impression
• Cost per like

Twitter Ads

Twitter advertisements make it easy for you to increase traffic to your website or even the number of liked to your companies profile. Pricing is based on a bidding system which means that, depending on your industry or product, the cost can differ greatly depending on how many other advertisers you are competing with. The available pricing options include:

• Pay per click
• Pay per follow

LinkedIn Ads

Another social media platform offering advertising options, LinkedIn is perhaps one of the best choices for B2B based advertisements. Linkedin advertisements allow you to target potential customers based on their job title, current industry, age and location. Pricing options include:

• Pay per click
• Pay per impression

It’s Worth Your Time

The use of paid advertisements online can prove to be an efficient method to further increasing the amount of traffic received by your website. An increase in traffic, as obvious as it is, relates to improved product or service performance and leads whilst also assisting in the push for brand recognition.

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