Online advertising

Did your company produce a killer new product? Are you worried that the competition might steal your thunder? If so, there is no better way to make sure consumers find your products first than advertising.
Online advertising is a profitable (and necessary) undertaking for any serious Web business. There is no more efficient way to get your message, and your products and services, in front of consumers. And, like all business ventures, you need a plan.
Advertising campaigns, however, can take months, even years to refine and be considered a success. But sometimes you need a good, old-fashioned advertising blitz to get an important message or new product launch out to market quickly.

The research and planning phase of any project is arguably the most important — online advertising included. Budgets can evaporate quickly online when ads are mistakenly targeted at the wrong audience. Because your online ads will be displayed far and wide, it is crucial to make sure the audience is the best match for your products or services.
To begin targeting the best, most relevant audience for your ads, create a list of your products’ attributes and the problems they are designed to solve. After compiling a thorough description, take note of oftused words and phrases, and other words that are unique or important to your product descriptions. These will act as some initial keyword ideas to explore. Now, take these keywords and phrases and use any of several available tools to find related keywords and their relative level of competition. Some free resources (in all or in part) include Google’s External Keyword Tool, Google’s Wonder Wheel (on the left side of Google search results),
WordStream.com and KeywordSpy.com. Two paid keyword tools that will also show competitive analysis for your select keywords include SEMRush.com and Compete.com.

Identify competition
Now that you have a list of keywords most relevant and important to your business and products, start using them to identify competitors. Search for your keywords and phrases in the top three search engines and take note of the ads that appear and what company is providing them. What keywords are they using? How are they targeting your key demographics? When you find a few key competitors, use the Similar Web browser extension (available for Firefox and IE at SimilarWeb.com) to find other, similar websites. Browse these sites and take note of their most often-used keywords and phrases, and the ways they are using to capture leads. This can also serve as a way to build negative keyword lists. You might find that many of your competitors
are advertising on a few, highly competitive keywords. If the space appears crowded, consider adding some qualifiers to your list to find a less competitive area for your ads. For example, if selling dive watches, you might find that “watches” is cost-prohibitive or simply too crowded. Instead, research “dive watches”, “diving watches” or “scuba watches”.

Target your audience
Today, search remains the most powerful way to get your message in front of people who are actively seeking your products or solutions. Much of that work will be accomplished automatically by selecting the right keywords and eliminating keywords that do not bring value. As keywords are refined and tested in advertising, click-through rates (CTR) and conversions will rise. However, search advertising is only one piece of the puzzle. Thanks to some innovations and better targeting, display advertising remains a key component of online advertising. Content ad networks (such as Google Display Network*, ValueClick Media, Burst Media, AdReady, 24/7 Real Media, and many more) offer the ability to advertise on websites that display content relevant to your website and its products. These services can be used to automatically display your ads on websites where your core audience is spending time online. In addition to using display ad networks, identify some top bloggers and other trusted websites popular with your core audience. There could very well be opportunities to advertise directly and prominently on those websites. Capturing top ad positions (or even exclusive, run-of-site advertising) can go a long way toward establishing your business as the premier supplier of products and services in a particular industry. What’s more, when you advertise with a trusted source, consumer confidence is built in to your messaging. Finally, don’t sleep on social networks. These websites are maturing and along with that comes an increase in user tolerance for advertising. Facebook has a full-blown advertising system in place and can
provide accurate targeting to boot. There’s little question that a good portion of your audience is using social networking in some capacity — the trick is finding out how much and how receptive they are to your ads.