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By Keith Lee
It could be said that the
first advertisement occurred “In The Beginning”, when Adam put out a help
wanted ad. “Wanted someone to share Eden with. No experience necessary.” Whether true or not, advertising has been around for as long as mankind
has had something to offer others. Animals do it, birds do it, and bees
do it. What were we talking about? Oh, yeah. ADS!
From the street corner peddler
calling his wears to the 2.5 million dollar commercial during the Super
Bowl, advertising surrounds us. Billboards, logos, coffee mugs, hats, labels,
commercials, infomercials, blimps, door-to-door salesmen, everywhere you
look, and listen you find advertising. And so it is also on the Internet.
It is almost impossible
to go to any major web site without seeing a banner ad that
is blinking its message to your sponge-like brain. Hoping to
get that brand recognition, that subconscious link to your brain
that makes you want to click it to see more. It is how capitalism
works. Make you recognize a need or a want. Provide you a means
to receive gratification by clicking on that link and seeing
what’s on the other side. | More
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It can be as simple as putting
a text link on the page that makes someone think they will receive more
information by clicking on it. Once it is clicked, you have them where
you want them. Now what? That’s another article.
So, knowing all this, why
would you want to place an ad for someone else’s site on yours? The only
answer should be, because there is something in it for you. After all,
the whole idea is to get people to come to your site and not go to his.
One answer is money. If your site has enough traffic people may want to
pay you to advertise for them. Another answer is link exchanges. By providing
a link to his site, he is providing a link back to yours. Hopefully his
site has more traffic then yours, and then your return will be greater.
There are many companies
on the Internet that provide ways to get a greater number of links. One
such company is Linkexchange. By signing up for their service you become
a member of a large number of sites in their database. When you place a
banner link on your site you get return placement on other sites. For every
two ad exposures on your site you get one ad exposure somewhere in the
system.
As I said, there are many
such banner exchange programs available on the Internet. In an effort to
get as much exposure as possible, some sites place many of these banner
exchanges on their site. This sounds like a great and cheap way to advertise
your site. However, there is a downside.
Too many banner ads on a
page can make the page appear cluttered and your site can loose an audience
in the mess. They will not know what you are trying to say. Another problem
is time. These exchange programs require the banners to be downloaded each
time from the host in order to keep track of the hits. This can really
slow down your site, and could cause you to loose customers. Just the opposite
of what you wanted.
In conclusion, banner ads
can be a great way to provide a service for your viewers and your link
partners. However, use discretion. Too many and you will loose your own
identity in all the glitter. Remember, all that glitters is not gold.
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