Online Advertising

It all started with Online Banners.

Online advertising began as a banner ad created by IBM and Sears during the 1980s. The following came to Global Network Navigator in the 1990s and Hotwired shortly afterward. Hotwired was the first website to sell banner ads to big businesses. A man named Joe McCambley assisted in the creation. Mr. McCambley pointed out the “3 storms” that banner ads had gone through.

1. People have begun using mobile devices much more, and those consumers are focused on getting things done, so they use their phones often and share stuff that interests them with others.
2. Consumers begin avoiding and ignoring mobile ads and only click on them if they are accidental.
3. Because of the first two storms, many companies that produced traditional advertising, such as using print, suffered.

Mr. McCambley believed that the internet would be more helpful and help citizens rather than working on selling the products. Unfortunately, this was untrue, as online advertising has only grown.

Sooner or later, online ads will surpass other platforms

According to the Internet Advertising Bureau, online advertising is now the leader compared to Broadcast Television advertising. Not only has its use increased, but there are also new creative ways it is used, such as animation. 

Online Ads mean a lot when trying to get something out there. This includes selling a specific product, manufacturing, or doing anything. Suppose there is a particular business involved in making money. That business will need advertising. Online advertising has been doing its best. It reaches out to everyone, including all ages, gender, sex, and race. For instance, you’re on YouTube, and an ad pops up. Whoever watched the same video as you will be or have already encountered the same ad.

The Rise of Online Advertising

Online advertising was never as complicated as today, where you would have to watch three ads to watch one video on Hulu or click out of certain ads before you could download something. 

As organized advertising took over in 1996, Pop-ups popped up in 1997. During this period, a new company called Double Click arose and was later acquired by Google in 2007. Double Click could track how many clicks an ad would get and how many times it was viewed. Pop-up ads were introduced in 1997, but viewers quickly realized how annoying they were, which is why web browsers blocked them.

In 2000, an up-and-rising search engine company called goto.com, later purchased by Yahoo, created pay-per-click advertisements, which are still used today. But before this, companies would pay to place their ads on the website. Of course, this was found to be a bit of a gamble.

Online Ads have evolved.

Why have online ads evolved more than other advertising methods? It’s an excellent question. According to MindFireComm, the pros of online ads are that, compared to newspapers and television channels, it doesn’t cost anything for the user to see the ad. Those somehow manage to make some money off of you. Even though small, something is still going out from you as a user/viewer.

In contrast, online ads are continuous playbacks. Ads online are instant and get customers that second. Customers who see a banner outside on an interstate will most likely purchase the product. However, online, they can directly view the product and, most importantly, order it instantly without leaving home. This is why online ads are hard to beat compared to different advertisements.

Online Ad Pros

Other pros of online ads: when you control an online ad, you can remove, edit, cut, paste, change, and do all sorts of other good to your ad. This will take some time if you want to do the same for a big banner around the streets. You must hire employees or sign a contract with a contractor who changes billboards. It may even get down to reprinting every single one of the billboards. Online ads have no physical distribution. It is done remotely or by a worker the company hires to edit their ads. Online advertising also has the feature of geo-targeting. It allows you to geo-target your ads and ensure they are only being viewed and clicked by your intended geographic and niche audience. Lastly, an essential feature of online ads is that your ad will always be exposed. Your ad or ads are constantly being exposed. They work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and throughout the year as long as you want it published.

The Downside of Online Ads

Like with any other reasonable service and product, everything has a downside. One of the cons of online advertisements is that online advertising overloads; as a viewer of an ad, there is sometimes too much information to digest. Of course, there is a solution for this, as MindFireComm suggests developing creative campaigns. The ad will cut through the clutter and strike straight at your audience while targeting whatever you intend to advertise. The easiest one that gives up online advertising is that too many choices exist. Different websites compete with your product or service and your price, making sales harder, although not explicitly advertising. Your product or ad, in this case, will get to the consumer. They will for sure know about it. However, after competing against similar products, sales might get a little complicated.

Some elderly folks like to feel and touch the product and see physical advertisements that fit their needs. At the same time, the vast majority of people in America are constantly shopping online. There are still others who go out and buy. An excellent way to point this out is by providing an example of how Malls work. Big companies like JC Penney, Sears, Macy’s, and others, as well as small companies, are included. They can all just become distributors of their products and become online-based stores. No, because many customers still like to see what they are buying. This is why the scope is essential. People who want to physically feel and touch before buying don’t care about advertising. Certain ads will get to them, but they will most likely continue to buy products from local retailers.

Online Advertising Currently

A study done in 2016 by Digital Vault claimed that only about “56% of ads are never seen by a human”, which means bots, instead of real people, see a majority of advertisements. This makes it hard for companies to see whether their advertisements work.

The average number of clicks an advertisement banner gets is 8 in 10,000, bringing us to the main question: Does online advertising still work in 2020?

Urge to Click an Animated Ad?

Marketing via animated ads is usually unique in color, size, and animation and tends to grasp the viewer’s eye. One would think that bringing attention to the animated ad can cause someone to click on it. But not so! Consumer attention to various real-world ads can be measured with eye-tracking, and animating ads show no difference compared to a standard ad. They offer a strong interaction effect between animation and ad format, indicating that the ad format conditions the animation’s impact. The results suggest that, on average, animation has little or no effect on attention.

This research shows that having animation in an ad does not affect the amount of attention given to a particular ad. This suggests that an ad’s format can attract more attention than animation. The design includes size, website color, and content.

Preference and Format of an Ad

Whether or not a consumer likes something is based on preference. A study stated, “the peripheral information-processing route positively affects attitude towards the ad” [Beckmann]. This study suggested that ad liking had a positive effect on buying intention. This same study closely examined banner ads specifically. Banner ads are on many websites that may or may not contain animation.

According to How Stuff Works, “These small rectangular advertisements appear on all sorts of Web pages and vary considerably in appearance and subject matter, but they all share a basic function: if you click on them, your Internet browser will take you to the advertiser’s Web site”. This information shows that the likeliness of a consumer clicking on ads depends on preference and format.

Ad Blockers

The most disturbing downfall for the online advertising business is ad blockers and pop-ups. According to PowToon, “According to Forbes, 30-40% of client advertising is blocked by pop-ups, and businesses have huge losses since more than a third of their ad time is vanishing. However, for the most part, cloud-delivered advertising alleviates this problem by putting ads directly in the video stream.”

Best Way to Attract Customers

The best way to attract customers to your business is to make advertisements stand out. For example, in the article “Investing in animated advertising can give you a much larger return for business while still providing a means to attract customers,.” Hence, conveying the message through suitable graphics and animation can be a win-win. More importantly, a well-thought-out online ad will be more promising than one quickly put together.

Cost of Online Ads

The cost to produce and post an online ad on a website can vary. Although they may seem pretty expensive to create, they cost less than most commercial advertisements that require actors, sets, and recording equipment. The cost also depends on the kind of online ad. Whether it’s a banner ad, just a still image or scene, or a short animated clip or cartoon, the cost will be less than traditional TV ads.

Seattle Online Advertising & Online Marketing

Online ads and advertising play a significant role on the internet. They are on almost every site and influence people significantly to buy services and products. Our agency can help with any online ad campaign in Seattle or New York. You don’t have to be an expert to make your ad, but it costs to post it. In addition, it also makes sense to understand essential web design tips that small businesses and professionals should be aware of before starting any online advertising campaign.