Understanding The Importance Of Online Ad Targeting

If you want to get sales or leads quickly, you should consider Online Ad Targeting. This occurs when you use pay-per-click networks to give your website exposure. Google Adwords is one of the leading ones, as it generated over $28 million in revenue during 2010. However, even with its PR status, you have to know how to work the Adwords system if you want maximum exposure at an affordable price.

Targeting Based on Context and Behavior

When you use Google Adwords, or other pay-per-click networks, you will be marking either based on the text in your content or the behavior of your consumer. If you choose contextual advertising, your ads will only appear on sites where the text relates to what you are trying to sell. 

Conversely, behavioral ads use cookies to “sense” what the consumer is interested in.   So, if you use this approach for your ads, you actually gain more exposure as your ads are placed on ANY network that the system thinks is of interest to the consumer.  



How to Use Adwords to Create Ads

There are many different options you can use when advertising with Adwords. One of the most interesting allows you to exclude IP addresses from a consumer’s profile. This allows you to target traffic from a specific location. You can also use it to exclude visitors, if you are unable to cater to that market. This targeting power also applies to language. Online Ad Targeting

You can also target visitors based on a particular section in a website. For instance, say you want to advertise on CNN.com. They have many sections ranging from general news to entertainment. You can specify which section is best for your business. One campaign could target Sports, while another could target Entertainment.  

Advertising Concerns

Some consumers feel uncomfortable with behavior-based advertising. To them, it is almost creepy, as it seems that the ad is reading their minds. This raises up many concerns over privacy and whether or not this technology could be used in a harmful way by “Big Brother.”  Yet, the majority of consumers do not know the mechanisms involved with this type of ad… they just assume it is like the rest. You will have to decide which group you want to appease.  If you need help, think about your audience. For example, if you run a blog discussing politics, you increase your chances of attracting conspiracy theorists, who may be offended at these ads. But a general blog on parenting may not be offensive at all. 

Either way, keep in mind that ever since Adwords implemented behavioral advertising, they have not gone back with their approach. They do give advertisers the option between behavioral & contextual, but they usually encourage people to use the former. Even if the technology makes some uncomfortable, it does work. And in the end, if you sell them  a product or service that actually improves some aspect of their life, then the ends justify the means.