What is Online Advertising? | HostGator Support
  1. Knowledge Base
  2. >
  3. Results
  4. >
  5. What is Online Advertising?

What is Online Advertising?

This article covers information about what Online Advertising is, explaining exactly why you should care about it.

What is Online Advertising?

Online advertising (also called Pay-Per-Click or PPC) uses search engines to promote marketing messages that match what people are searching for based on where they are searching from.

For example, when someone performs a search using a service such as Google or Bing, the service uses all information available to attempt to provide a results page that includes links that accurately directs the user to what they're looking for. In addition to any keywords or topics the user searched for specifically, these services will often use additional data, such as the location of the computer they're searching from or information from their browsing history, to attempt to provide users with the most effective search possible. These results pages also include relevant online ads too, usually at the top of the page or on the side.

This means that your ad is served (or targeted) to those people who are searching for keywords you choose. It also means you can target people local to you (called geo-targeting) by restricting your ad campaigns to regions where your services are available. There are many ways to run an online ad campaign to specifically match your products and services with the customers who are looking for them.

Most ads are in the form of text or a banner. The goal is to have your ad delivered to users who are already interested in the products and services you provide, leading them to click on your ad to direct them to your website. The whole point of online advertising is not only to just increase traffic to your site but also to ensure that the traffic is from consumers who are already interested in your content and are open to doing business with you.

In terms of cost, online advertising can be very effective. This is because you only pay when a user clicks on your ad. For example, if your ad costs $0.50 per click, and the click results in a $500 sale, then you’ve made a significant profit. By effectively targeting audiences, you can be sure that your ads are primarily being seen by users who are already looking for similar services. This means that more of the people who click on your ads are likely to do business with you.

Another great point about online advertising is that you control how much you want to spend and when. For instance, you can set a daily budget limit and set when you want to run your ad. You can also easily pause an ad if you choose to not spend anything for a set period of time. It’s very flexible! In fact, you can turn your advertising on and off during your peak sale times if you choose.

Because HostGator offers free online ad credits, you can even try online advertising with minimal cost and see for yourself what a difference it can make in driving traffic to your website.

HostGator Special Offers

Here are some credits to get started with popular and effective web search engines today: