Online Advertising: Everything You Need To Know in 2024

What Is Online Advertising?

Online advertising, also known as online ads, is the promotion and marketing of products and services through internet channels. It involves creating engaging content and using different ad formats to reach target audiences effectively. This is what makes online advertising so much more lucrative than traditional methods. Small businesses have so much to gain from online advertising, but only if they know how to leverage it efficiently. That’s why so many businesses seek out professional help with social media advertising services.

Benefits of Online Advertising

There are 7 main benefits businesses experience from online advertising:

• Increased Brand Awareness: There are billions of people online every day. You can put your brand in front of a large percentage of them with online ads. The idea is that the initial brand awraeness will ultimately lead to new audiences. Then, those new audience will ultimately convert into new customers with strong brand loyalty.
• Targeted Reach: The whole world is not your target audience. Thankfully, with online ads you can sift through the billions online to show your ad to the people who matter. You want to deliver a targeted message via relevant ads that speak to your audience’s goals or pain points.
• Understanding Your Buyer Better: The data you get back from running online advertising is paramount. Your audience’s engagement around your ads may help you understand what part of your product or service they’re most interested in (or not).
• Better-Performing Ads: You can make informed decisions with that data to create ads (and even organic content) that is the most relevant to your audience, and therefore the most engaging.
• Cost-Effective: Think of how much it costs to pay for a billboard or a TV ad where you don’t even know with certainty who is seeing the ad. Online advertising allows you to target your exact audience while costing drastically less, resulting in higher ROI.
• Goal-Oriented: You can select ad objectives based on what your business goals are. Obviously there are several ad campaign objectives to drive leads and sales, but you can also use online ads to increase video views or post engagement etc. You can use online advertising to supplement any part of your marketing funnel.
• Trackable: In online advertising, you can track how much has been spent to run the ad, how many people have seen it vs how many people have clicked or converted among many other metrics. Important data is instantly accessible.

By implementing the right online advertising strategies, you can effectively convey your brand’s message, attract potential customers and track every step of their journey from follower to customer.

How To Advertise Online

On a high level, advertising online is something any business owner can do. You create an ad on your chosen platform, set your budget and/or bid, and pinpoint your audience based on demographics, interests, and behavior or based on keyword searches and digital footprints. Then, when potential customers search for products or scroll through their feeds, your ad pops up. The result? Precision. You pay when someone engages – clicks your link or takes action. It’s marketing with measurable impact, tailored to your budget. Embrace the mechanics of online advertising, and watch your small business grow in both brand awareness and revenue.

How Online Advertising Works

Online advertising operates on a simple yet powerful principle: get your message in front of the right people at the right time. Platforms like Google Ads and social media channels offer a stage for your small business to thrive.

Online Advertising Bids & Budgets

What is a Bid?

A bid is the most you’re ready to pay for a specific action on your ad. Think of it as an auction where you set the price. You’re telling the ad platform, “I don’t want to spend more than $X for a click,” or a lead or whatever your ad campaign is optimizing for. Ad platforms like Google or Facebook have to choose which ads to show to their user base, so they run auctions to decide which ads get shown to your ideal audience. The highest bidder takes the spotlight. Let’s say you bid $10 for a click, and the next bidder offers $3. Good news: you only pay a penny more than the second-highest bid. So, if you bid $10 but the next best offer is $3, you’ll only shell out $3.01. Winning this auction, combined with top-notch ads, determines how your business shines across ad networks. It’s your chance to stand out without breaking the bank!

Understanding Bidding Systems

An effective bidding system is crucial for your online advertising success. In general, there are two types of bidding systems: manual and automated.

Manual Bidding: In manual bidding, you set the maximum cost per click (CPC) for each ad. This allows you to have full control over your bids and adjust them based on how your ads perform. Remember to monitor your campaign performance regularly and make necessary adjustments to the bids based on the results.

Automated Bidding: Automated bidding strategies are managed by advertising platforms, such as Google Ads or Facebook Ads. They analyze your ad performance and set bid amounts automatically to meet specific objectives, like maximizing clicks or conversions. Popular automated bidding strategies include:

• Maximum Clicks: Adjust your bids to receive as many clicks as possible within your budget.
• Target CPA (cost per action): Set a target CPA and let the platform optimize bids to achieve the desired cost per conversion.

When choosing a bidding system, consider factors such as campaign objectives, budget limitations, and your level of expertise in managing bids. While automated bidding can save you time and produce efficient results, manual bidding can be more flexible and customizable. Aim to strike a balance between control and efficiency for your specific needs and goals.

Allocating Ad Spend

Allocating your ad spend appropriately is essential for maximizing the efficiency of your online advertising efforts. To start, determine the total budget for your campaign, and then establish a daily budget. This approach ensures that your ads run continuously, without exhausting your budget too quickly.

It’s essential to monitor and adjust your daily budget based on your campaign’s performance. To optimize your ad spend, consider the following tips:

• Evaluate your target audience: Allocate more budget to the segments driving the most conversions or engagement.
• Analyze your competitors: Identify gaps in the market and the keywords your competitors are targeting, which can help you allocate your budget effectively.
• Prioritize ad groups and channels: Focus on ad groups and channels that bring the best return on investment (ROI).

Ad Quality & How It Effects Your Bid & Budget

Earlier, we said winning the ad auction and top-notch ads will determine how your business performs across ad networks. Well, “top-notch” ads are not subjective. Ad platforms like Facebook have quantitative qualifiers they look at to determine if your ad is a “good” ad or not. They look at how many people have engaged with the ad vs. ignored it or worse, disliked or reported it to give your ad a quality score. 

When deciding whether to show your ad or your competitor’s (any business targeting the same audience), ad networks will look at the winning ad auction and the quality score of the ad to give it an ad rank. 

The ad with the winning ad rank is the ad that gets shown.

How Much Should I Spend On Online Advertising?

Here is our tried and true formula for how much you should spend on online advertising:

$ Lifetime Value (LTV) x Average Lead-to-Customer Rate % x Average Conversion Rate %

Now keep in mind LTV is not the average order value; it’s the average lifetime value of the customer.

So for example, if the average customer spends $100, your average lead-to-customer rate is 8% and your average conversion rate is 5%, then you should spend no more than $4 for a click.

Haven’t had many customers yet to know what your customer LTV is? A good rule of thumb is to dedicate 10% of your overall budget to online advertising until you have steady revenue coming in. At that point you can dedicate more when and where necessary. 

Types of Online Advertising

There are various forms of online advertising, such as social media campaigns, search engine ads, and display or native ads. Choosing the right method for your business depends on your target audience, budget, and marketing objectives. As you explore the world of online advertising, it’s essential to consider best practices and industry insights to optimize your ad campaigns for maximum reach and engagement.

Evolution of Advertising Platforms

The online advertising landscape has seen significant changes over the past years, with new platforms continually emerging and evolving. Some of the most prominent advertising platforms include Google, Facebook & Instagram (Meta), LinkedIn, Twitter (X), Pinterest and TikTok.

Platform	Primary Ad Type	Target Audience
Google	Search Ads	Broad, High intent
Google	Display Ads	Warm, retargeting audience, high intent
Facebook/ Instagram	Social Ads	Wide demographics, interests, behaviors
LinkedIn	Sponsored Content	Professionals, B2B
Twitter (X)	Promoted Tweets	Tech-savvy, Real-time trends
Pinterest	Promoted Pins	Visual-oriented, Lifestyle interests
TikTok	Short Video Ads	Younger, visual-oriented

While search ads focus on reaching people with a specific intent based on their search queries, social ads leverage demographic and interest-based targeting to reach a wide range of potential customers. Knowing which platforms suit your objectives and audience will help you make the most of your digital advertising efforts.

In summary, an effective online advertising strategy involves understanding the fundamentals of digital marketing, continuously analyzing and optimizing campaigns, and keeping up-to-date with the evolution of advertising platforms. As you navigate this dynamic landscape, remember to stay flexible and adapt your strategies to achieve the best possible results.

Social Media Advertising

One of the best and probably most user-friendly types of online advertising is social media advertising. Below we’ve broken down the most popular ad channels and their ad types.

1. Facebook Advertising:

Facebook is the king of social media advertising. It has the biggest user base with over 3.049 billion people, making it a great space for business owners to locate their target audience and hit them with a beautiful ad mid-scroll.

When you’re setting up your targeting on Facebook, it’s important to remember that there are three types of audiences that you can target on Facebook:

• Interest-Based Audiences: an audience based on demographics like age, interests, typical behaviors and geography.
• Custom audiences: an audience based on their previous digital actions; this is where you can put your ad in front of specific people who’ve already taken an action with your business such as visited your website, added to card, liked your Instagram post etc.
• Lookalike audiences: an audience algorithmically made by Facebook who are a brand new set of people but have similar traits to those of your original audience (be that a customer list, your Facebook followers, a subscriber list etc).

Facebook Ad types:

• Photo Ads
• Video Ads
• Story Ads
• Lead Ads
• Reels Ads
• Carousel Ads
• Collection Ads
• Messenger Ads
• Dynamic Ads

Photo Ads: These are what the original Facebook ads looked like. Standard, static images with a caption. Use the image space to make a meaningful impact on your audience.

Video Ads: We’re not quite talking about short video ads here, we’ll get to those in a minute. These are your standard, horizontal video ads. These are often longer in nature, and perform best with subtitles since the majority of users watch videos with the sound off.

Story Ads: Story ads are advertisements that specifically live in between Facebook Stories. They perform best in a vertical format since that’s how Stories are viewed, and can utilize static images or videos.

Lead Ads: Native lead campaigns within Facebook allow you to capture your target audience’s basic information, such as name, number and email and any other custom answers you want to capture, all without making the user leave the Facebook platform. If you’re having trouble generating leads by sending them off site to a landing page that captures the same information, try giving Facebook lead generation ads a try instead! You can use a photo or video in these ads, and you can connect your CRM  (customer relationship management) to Facebook Ads Manager so that it doesn’t interfere with your workflow.

Reels Ads: Reels ads are the ad placement of the decade! Lots of small business owners have capitalized on Facebook Reels ads. With Reels ads you can either run a text-based ad that looks like a sticker on someone else’s Reel, or you can create a vertical video ad and show it in the Reels feed in between organic reels while someone is scrolling. Both have shown to be effective.

Carousel Ads: If you don’t have the time or means to create great video, carousel ads may be the right route for you. Whether you use video, photos or graphics made by a free program like Canva, you can create swipeable cards for your audience to look through. This is great for ecommerce store owners looking to run product carousel ads with each card linking to the appropriate product page. It’s also great for service-based businesses looking to tell a story of how they can help their customer from point A to point B.

Collection Ads: Collection ads are great for ecommerce store owners. A collection ad includes a cover image or video followed by 3 product images. When someone taps on a collection ad, they see an Instant Experience, which is a full-screen landing page that appears natively within Facebook. When you create your Instant Experience, you can use the Storefront, Lookbook or Customer Acquisition templates, or build a custom Instant Experience. This is another great alternative to sending people off the platform to your website if you’ve found to date that people aren’t really clicking to your website yet due to lack of brand awareness.

Messenger Ads: Messenger ads create conversations between your brand and your audience within their Facebook Messenger inbox. The ads are displayed in the Chats tab in the Facebook Messenger app. When users tap on an ad, they’ll be sent to a specific view within Messenger with a call-to-action that sends them to the destination you chose when you set up the ad. This could be your website, app, or a conversation with your business on Messenger

Dynamic Ads: Dynamic ads are ads that change based on conditions that you set ahead of time and/or based on what the user will most likely interact with best. For example, with product ads, you can retarget your website visitors and set it so that they see the specific product(s) they were looking at in your dynamic ad. This is great for creating a personalized experience that moves your buyer further down the marketing funnel.

2. Instagram Advertising:

Instagram, with its visually-driven community, is a playground for small businesses. Think eye-catching visuals and compelling stories. Leverage Instagram’s photo and video ads, carousel ads for immersive narratives, or explore the power of Instagram Stories. Your products or services can become a part of your audience’s daily scroll. 

Because Instagram and Facebook are owned by the same parent company, Meta, Instagram as a lot of the same ad types and functionalities Facebook does.

Instagram Ad Types:

• Photo Ads
• Video Ads
• Dynamic Ads
• Story Ads
• Carousel Ads
• Reel Ads

One ad type that Instagram has that Facebook doesn’t is the explore ad. These are ads displayed on Instagram’s explore feed, which gets a lot of traffic and can therefore be very lucrative for business owners.

3. LinkedIn Advertising:

LinkedIn is the professional’s hub, and that’s where your small business can make its mark. With sponsored content, you can precisely target professionals based on industry, company size, or job title. LinkedIn is your ticket to B2B success – a platform where your brand can shine among decision-makers. It’s not just about ads; it’s about forging business connections that drive your small business to the forefront of industry conversations.

LinkedIn Ad Types:

Objective	Marketing goal	Supporting ad formats
Brand awareness	“I want more people to learn about my business.”	Single Image Ad Document Ads Carousel Ad Video Ad Text Ad Dynamic Ad
Website visits	“I want more people to visit a website destination off LinkedIn.”	Single Image Ad Carousel Ad Video Ad Text Ad Dynamic Ad Sponsored Messaging
Engagement	“I want more people to engage with my content posts.”	Single Image Ad Document Ads Carousel Ad Video Ad Dynamic Ad
Video views	“I want more people to watch my videos”	Video Ad
Lead generation	“I want more quality leads on LinkedIn.”	Single Image Ad Document Ads Carousel Ad Video Ad Dynamic Ad Sponsored Messaging
Website converstions	“I want more purchases, registrations or downloads.”	Single Image Ad Carousel Ad Video Ad Text Ad Dynamic Ad Sponsored Messaging
Job seekers	“I want more promote job opportunities at my company.”	Single Image Ad Dynamic Ad

We know what photo, video, dynamic and carousel ads are, but let’s talk about these other LinkedIn-specific ad types.

Document Ads

Document ads are great for when you want to promote a lead magnet. You can advertise both gated and ungated documents directly in member’s feed where they can read and download content without leaving LinkedIn.

Text Ads

Text ads are exactly how they sound: an ad with only text and no visuals. Because of this, they  may fit in other placements where video and image ads can’t, but you have to have extra-compelling copy to get the user’s attention. 

Sponsored Messaging Ads

This ad type sends direct messages to spark an immediate, desired action. Deliver a targeted message with a single call-to-action. Sponsored Messaging is available in two formats: Message Ad and Conversation Ad. In either format, ads are delivered in LinkedIn messenger only when members are active to ensure higher conversion. 

4. Pinterest Advertising:

Enter Pinterest, the visual search engine. Here, your small business can showcase products through Promoted Pins – visuals that resonate with users’ aspirations. Pinterest’s engaged audience actively searches for inspiration, making it a haven for discovery. When your product becomes part of their vision board, you’re not just advertising; you’re becoming a part of the dreams your audience is weaving.

Pinterest’s ad types aim to help you with one or more of these objectives:

Awareness

Grow your reach and build brand or product awareness

Consideration

Get more traffic to content on or off Pinterest

Conversions

Drive actions like online sales, signups and subscriptions

Offline sales

Increase in-store purchases

Pinterest Ad Types:

• Standard
• Video
• Carousel
• Idea
• Collections
• Shopping
• Showcase
• Quiz

Let’s go over some of the Pinterest-specific ad types.

Idea: Drive engagement with fun, interactive quizzes. Include up to three questions, plus custom results for different quiz answers.

Shopping: Turn product Pins into ads. Can also send shoppers straight from an ad into your native app.

Showcase: Showcase ads feature a title Pin plus multiple, swipeable cards that can each include a link to your site. You can stitch together videos and images, helping people explore the many sides of your brand.

Quiz: Drive engagement with fun, interactive quizzes. Include up to three questions, plus custom results for different quiz answers.

5. Twitter (X) Advertising:

Twitter (X) is not just about 280 characters; it’s a powerful space for your small business to join trending conversations. Promoted Ads let you insert your brand into the chatter, targeting users based on interests and real-time trends. It’s not just an ad; it’s a conversation starter. With Twitter (X) Ads, you’re not just reaching an audience; you’re becoming a voice in a sea of tweets, making your small business trend.

Twitter (X) Ad Types:

• Promoted Ads
• Vertical Video Ads
• X Amplify
• X Takeover
• X Live
• Dynamic Product Ads
• Collection Ads
• X Ad Features

Let’s talk about some of the Twitter-specific ad types and what you need to know about them.

Promoted Ads: Promoted Ads are your standard ads on Twitter (X). You can run image, video, carousel and text ads with this type.

Vertical Video Ads: While Twitter (X) doesn’t have its own version of TikToks or Reels, it does promote vertical video ads with this ad type.

X Amplify: Advertisers may link their advertising with premium video content from publishers who are most relevant to them by using X Amplify. Ad formats for Amplify offers are divided into two categories: With Amplify Pre-roll, advertisers can choose from over 15 different content categories, including certain Curated Categories in areas where they are accessible, for the films on which their video ad will appear. With an Amplify Sponsorship, marketers can choose a 1:1 partnership with a single publication at any time during the campaign, and they will have post-level control. Please be aware that self-serve advertisers are not currently eligible for Amplify Sponsorships.

X Takeover: By taking over the Timeline and Explore tabs, X’s Takeover offerings are the most premium, mass-reach placements that generate results throughout the funnel. They grant advertisers exclusive control of X’s valuable real estate on desktop and mobile platforms, enabling you to increase reach and encourage funnel lifts. Placements for takeovers are available as: As the first advertisement of the day, Timeline Takeover places businesses front and center in the conversation. People visit X to find out what’s going on, and if you use Timeline Takeover, your advertisement appears first when someone opens X. Trend Takeover places advertisements next to popular content on the Explore tab, putting messages and immersive video creative where the conversation begins.

X Live: With X Live, marketers can share their greatest moments with the globe and invite viewers to participate in real time. X Live helps brands make the most of their best livestream content and spark meaningful conversations with the audiences that matter, from product launches and conferences to watch parties and fashion displays.

Dynamic Product Ads: These operate the same way as Facebook’s dynamic ads. It allows advertisers to show the most relevant product to the right customer at the right time.

Collection Ads: Similar to Facebook’s collection ads, advertisers can display a selection of product images in a Collection Ad by using a main hero image and smaller thumbnail images below.

X Ad Features: X Ad features encompass the standard and branded features that can be applied across the remaining five format categories: App Buttons Website Buttons Branded Hashtags Branded Notifications

6. YouTube Advertising:

YouTube is almost the largest search engine on the internet, only second to Google. But it’s going on our social media advertising list because it’s not solely a search engine. People interact, view, comment and click as much on this social platform as they do on any other. Because it’s a social media / search engine hybrid, however, the ad types are very different. From skippable to non-skippable, your video becomes an experience. Capture attention with pre-roll ads or engage with in-stream videos. It’s not just an ad; it’s your small business taking center stage in the visual world, telling a story that resonates.

YouTube Ad Types:

• Skippable in-stream ads.
• Non-skippable in-stream ads.
• In-feed video ads.
• Bumper ads.
• Outstream ads.
• Masthead ads.

Skippable in-stream Selling point: Users can skip so you are only charged for views Where does it serve? YouTube videos, GVP Max video length? No max length (less than 3 mins recommended) Views reported in Google Ads? Yes Can increment public view count? Yes (videos less than 10 seconds will not) Can remarket to viewers? Yes

In-feed Selling point: Shows to highly engaged users in the discovery and searching phase Where does it serve? YouTube Homefeed, YouTube Search Max video length? No max length Views reported in Google Ads? Yes Can increment public view count? Yes Can remarket to viewers? Yes

Non-skippable in-stream Selling point: Users can’t skip so they view your whole message Where does it serve? YouTube videos, GVP Max video length? 15–30 seconds Views reported in Google Ads? No Can increment public view count? No Can remarket to viewers? Yes

Bumper Selling point: Quick message that can’t be skipped to raise awareness or reinforce other ads. Where does it serve? YouTube videos, GVP Max video length? 6 seconds Views reported in Google Ads? No Can increment public view count? No Can remarket to viewers? No

Outstream Selling point: Raise awareness to users outside of Google when they are browsing their favorite sites Where does it serve? GVP Max video length? No max length Views reported in Google Ads? Yes Can increment public view count? Yes Can remarket to viewers? Yes

	Skippable in-stream	In-feed	Non-skippable in-stream	Bumper	Outstream
Selling point:	Users can skip so you are only charged for views	Shows to highly engaged users in the discovery and searching phase	Users can’t skip so they view your whole message	Quick message that can’t be skipped to raise awareness or reinforce other ads.	Raise awareness to users outside of Google when they are browsing their favorite sites
Where does it serve?	YouTube videos, GVP	YouTube Homefeed, YouTube Search	YouTube videos, GVP	YouTube videos, GVP	GVP
Max video length?	No max length (less than 3 mins recommended)	No max length	15–30 seconds	6 seconds	No max length
Views reported in Google Ads?	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
Can increment public view count?	Yes (videos less than 10 seconds will not)	Yes	No	No	Yes
Can remarket to viewers?	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes

Skippable in-stream ads:

Skippable in-stream ads are exactly what they sound like. They appear on a video and only play for a few seconds before giving the user the option to skip them. These ads can run before, during, or after other videos on YouTube and other Google video partners.

Non-skippable in-stream ads:

Non-skippable ads are ads wherein the viewer has to watch the whole ad. Because viewers have to view the entire message, the ads are often shorter and/or are a tad more expensive.

In-feed video ads:

In-feed video ads appear in places of discovery, such as next to related YouTube videos, as part of a YouTube search result, or on the YouTube mobile homepage.

Bumper ads:

Bumper ads are short video ads that are 6 seconds or less. Because they’re so short, you want to deliver your message concisely and powerfully. These ads are often received better because they don’t disrupt the user’s viewing experience as much.

Outstream ads:

Outstream ads are mobile-only ads, so they do not appear on a desktop-viewing experience..

Masthead ads:

With YouTube Masthead, you can showcase your brand, product, or service in a native video-based ad format that appears in the YouTube Home feed across all devices. 

7. Snapchat Advertising:

Snapchat, the platform of fleeting moments, offers opportunities for your small business to make lasting impressions. With Sponsored Lenses, your brand can become part of users’ playful snaps. Geofilters let you target users in specific locations.It’s all about being part of the fun, making your small business an essential element in the daily snaps of your audience.

SnapChat Ad Types:

• Single Image or Video Ads
• Story Ads
• Collection Ads
• AR Ads

Single Image or Video Ads

Story Ads

Collection Ads

AR Ad

AR Ads stands for Augmented Reality Ads. This uses  Snapchat Lenses, an interactive augmented reality experience designed to drive impact.

8. TikTok Advertising:

TikTok, the home of short-form videos, is the playground for your small business’s creativity. With TikTok Ads, your brand can leverage In-Feed Ads for seamless integration into users’ endless scrolls. Branded Hashtag Challenges spark user engagement, making your business a trending topic. If you can captialize on a trend and put advertising dollars behind it, you can grab people’s attention and convert internet users into your customer base.

TikTok Ad Types:

• Vertical Video (In-feed Ads)
• TikTok Brand Takeover ads
• TikTok Top View ads
• TikTok Branded Hashtag ads
• TikTok Collection ads
• TikTok Spark ads

Vertical Video Ads

Native video advertisements that show up with organic material in consumers’ For You feeds are known as “in-feed ads.” These commercials are skippable and last up to 60 seconds. By like, sharing, or leaving comments on the advertisements, users can engage with them.

TopView Ads:

When a user launches the TikTok app, full-screen video advertisements play. These advertisements are perfect for drawing in viewers and building brand recognition. TopView ads are non-skippable and have a maximum duration of 60 seconds.

Brand Takeover Ads:

Advertisements for full-screen videos that play as soon as a consumer launches the TikTok app. These advertisements can, however, be interactive and contain buttons that prompt viewers to perform particular actions, such as downloading an app or going to a website. One advertiser per day may use Brand Takeover Ads.

Branded Hashtag Challenges:

An original kind of advertising that inspires people to produce and distribute content created by others centered on a given theme or challenge. Add-ons like effects, music, and branding are possible for these advertisements. Branded hashtag challenges are a useful tool for marketers to interact with consumers and build brand recognition.

Branded Effects:

Users can add unique filters and effects to their TikTok videos.The logo and other branded components of a company can have these effects, which can raise engagement and brand awareness.

Collection Ads:

A kind of in-feed video advertisement that slickly directs users to an immediate storefront inside the app so they may go through your offerings without ever having to leave the app.

Spark Ads:

A native ad format where you can leverage organic TikTok postings (with permissions). By using TikTok Spark Ads to promote your genuine TikTok account posts, you can be sure that any views, comments, shares, loves, and following you receive will be attributed to your organic content.

Paid Search Advertising

Paid search advertising includes ads like Google ads, where you’re paying for your ad to appear when someone types a particular search query into the search bar. For example, if you offer plumbing services, you want your website to appear at the top of the search results when somebody searches “plumbing near me” on Google. 

Paid search advertising is also known as PPC advertising which stands for pay-per-click. This is because you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. Because of this, you’ll want to pay close attention to your CTR, or click-through rates and conversions to ensure the clicks are worth it.

There are 3 different purposes for running paid search ads:

• The search query is specific to what you offer, and therefore you want your ad to appear when someone searches for that product or service. 
• Somebody already visited your website and you want to re-target them with website ads. 
• You want to play defense against your competitors and ensure their ads do not appear when someone searches your brand name. 

Keywords

Keywords are the search queries people type into Google that you want your ad to appear for. Keywords can be more than one word; they can be a whole phrase. When you’re planning your keyword strategy, it’s important to think of user intent. For instance, if someone types in “coffee shop,” they’re probably looking for a location, wherein they’d open Google Maps from the search results.  Let’s dive deeper into everything you need to know about keywords as a beginner.

Match Types

There are 3 match types to choose from when picking out your keywords: broad, phrase and exact match. 

Broad Match This is considered comprehensive matching. When someone searches for something relevant to your keyword, even if it doesn’t directly contain your keywords, your ad will still appear if you choose broad match. For example, if your broad match keyword is “low-carb diet plan,” then your ads can appear when someone searches “carb-free foods,” or “low-carb diet” or “mediterranean diet books.” This can be good or bad. On one hand, your ad will show up for more searches, but on the other hand, it could show up for irrelevant searches. You only want your ads appearing for relevant audiences.

Phrase Match This is considered moderate matching. When using phrase match, your ad will appear so long as the search has your keywords somewhere in the search. For example if your phrase match keyword is “tennis shoes,” your ad could appear when someone types in “red tennis shoes” or “shoes for tennis” or “comfortable tennis sneakers.” In order to signify to Google that you want to use phrase match, you need to put quotation marks around your keyword like this “tennis shoes”.

Exact Match This is considered tight matching. When using exact match, this means your ad will appear for the exact keyword you’re paying for or a very close variation of it. For example, if your exact match keyword is “shoes for men,” then your ad could appear for “shoes for men,” or “shoes men” or “shoes for a man” or “men shoe” etc. To tell Google you want to use exact match, you need to put brackets around the keyword like this [shoes for me]

• Negative Keywords: This is not a fourth match type but rather something you need to keep in mind when setting up your paid ad campaigns. Negative keywords are the search queries you do not want to appear for. So for example if  you sell shoes, but you don’t sell tennis shoes, you’d want to add a negative keyword for tennis shoes. This way your ad doesn’t appear for irrelevant keywords that don’t lead to conversions.

Google vs Bing vs Yahoo

Which search engine should you advertise on? Well, let’s look at some stats:

More expensive to run ads due to popularityMost cost-effective to run adsChance at cheaper, more profitable ads with less competition on the platform

Google	Bing	Yahoo
8.5 billion searches per day	Over 900 million searches per day	700 million users on mobile monthly
83% of desktop search engine market share worldwide	9% of desktop search engine market share worldwide	3% of desktop search engine market share worldwide

More often than not, we would recommend Google as the advertising platform for small businesses looking to build their brand and increase conversions.

Native Advertising

What is native advertising? Native advertising includes paid advertisements that blend in with their media environment. They don’t interfere with the viewer’s experience because they feel like they’re a part of the content. Advertisers are able to provide content in this way that draws users in without being overtly promotional. These ads are often marked with very subtle text such as “Sponsored” or “Ad” or “Promoted” and look like the organic content on the platform.

Display Advertising

What is display advertising? Display advertising uses images with a URL to send traffic to your website or landing page. On Google, the text ads that you see at the top of the search results are called Search ads. The image ads that you see across various websites like blogs and recipe pages etc. are called Display ads. These are also sometimes called Banner ads or website ads. The websites that these ads appear on are a part of the Google Display Network.

Google Display Network

What is the Google Display Network? The Google Display Network contains millions of websites, apps, and Google-owned properties (such as YouTube and Gmail) and you have access to advertise across any of them when you run Display Ads.

Facebook’s Audience Network

The Facebook Audience Network is the Facebook-version of Google’s Display Network. On the network’s websites and apps that their Facebook audience commonly visits, brands can insert native advertisements, banner ads, full-screen ads, in-stream video ads, and rewarded video commercials (such “Watch this video ad to get more tokens!”).

Choosing the Right Platforms

When it comes to online advertising, selecting the right platforms is essential for achieving your marketing objectives and maximizing your return on investment. In this section, we will explore the key options at your disposal, focusing on search engine advertising, social media advertising, and other advertising networks.

Search Engine Advertising

Search engine advertising, such as Google Ads and Bing, allows you to reach potential customers when they are actively searching for products or services like yours.

• Google Ads: As the most popular search engine with a prominent market share, Google Ads is an attractive option for businesses that want to optimize visibility with keyword-targeted ads.
• Bing: Though smaller in scale compared to Google, Bing can be useful for targeting specific demographics and markets, as well as potentially lower cost-per-clicks.

Aside from these, there are niche search engines and industry-specific sites worth considering, depending on your target audience and budget.

Social Media Advertising

Popular social media platforms offer businesses unparalleled access to their target audiences. Here are some of the leading platforms in social media advertising:

1. Facebook: With almost 2 billion daily active users, Facebook has a massive reach and versatile ad options to suit various goals and budgets.
2. Instagram: As a highly visual platform, Instagram is perfect for promoting visually appealing products and services.
3. Twitter (X): With ads such as Promoted Tweets and In-Stream Videos, Twitter can be a great option for hyper-targeted campaigns and engagement.
4. YouTube: With options like skippable, non-skippable, and bumper ads, YouTube can be an excellent choice for businesses looking to leverage video marketing.
5. LinkedIn: Primarily aimed at professionals, LinkedIn can be a powerful tool for B2B advertising and employer branding.
6. Pinterest: For eCommerce brands and visually focused industries, Pinterest offers an ideal platform to showcase products and services.
7. TikTok: With its rapidly growing user base, TikTok represents a unique opportunity to reach younger demographics and drive engagement with short-form video content. You can drive a thousand views and more on your first TikTok when executed well.
8. Snapchat: Known for short-lived content, Snapchat offers playful and interactive ad formats targeting young audiences.

Other Advertising Networks

In addition to search engines and social media platforms, there are other significant advertising networks worth considering:

• Amazon: As the world’s largest online marketplace, Amazon advertising offers advertising solutions to promote products and drive sales, making it a crucial consideration for eCommerce brands.
• AdRoll: This display marketing platform supports retargeting across multiple channels, increasing the chances of reaching consumers who have previously engaged with your brand.

By assessing the likely impact on your target audience, budget, and marketing objectives, you can determine which platforms would work best for your online advertising campaigns. Remember, leveraging a mix of these channels may provide the most effective strategy for your unique situation.

Understanding Online Advertising

Fundamentals of Digital Marketing

As a business owner, it’s essential to learn the basics of digital marketing to create effective advertising campaigns.

First, understand the main components of digital marketing:

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Boosting your website’s ranking on organic search results pages to increase organic traffic.
2. Content Marketing: Creating valuable and relevant content to engage and retain your audience, ultimately leading to conversions.
3. Email Marketing: Building relationships with prospects and customers through personalized email communications.
4. Social Media Marketing: Utilizing various social media platforms to promote your brand and engage with your audience.

In addition to these components, it’s crucial to analyze data and optimize your campaigns for better performance. This involves tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) and making data-driven decisions to improve your return on investment (ROI).

Developing an Ad Campaign Strategy

Setting Objectives

Before diving into the world of online advertising, it’s crucial to set clear and achievable objectives for your ad campaign. Start by identifying the primary goal of the campaign, which could be increasing brand awareness, driving sales, promoting a new product, or targeting specific market segments. Make sure your campaign objectives align with your overall business goals.

Some critical objectives to consider may include:

1. Brand awareness: Boosting your brand’s visibility and online presence.
2. Lead generation: Attracting potential customers and collecting their contact information.
3. Sales: Directly contributing to your company’s revenue by promoting a product or service.

A well-defined objective should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound (SMART).

Defining Target Demographics

Now that your goals are set, it’s time to define your target demographic information. This step is essential for creating an effective ad campaign that will reach the right audience and increase the likelihood of conversion.

To define your target market demographics, consider the following aspects:

• Age group: Identify the age range of your potential customers, such as 18–24, 25–34, or 35–44.
• Gender: Determine whether your product or service is more suitable for male, female, or both audiences.
• Location: Pinpoint the geographic regions where your ideal customers are found, from local areas to global markets.
• Interests and preferences: Uncover insights regarding hobbies, tastes, and behaviors that align with your target audience.

Leverage available market research and customer data to gather insights about your target demographic. This information will help shape your ad campaign, from choosing the right keywords to cost-effectively targeting potential customers.

Demographic Features	Examples
Age	18-24, 25-34, 35-44
Gender	Male, Female, Both
Location	Local, Regional, National, Global
Interests and Preferences	Hobbies, Tastes, Behaviors

In summary, setting clear objectives and defining your target demographics are crucial steps in developing a successful ad campaign strategy. By meticulously planning your campaign’s goals and understanding your ideal customer profile, you can optimize your online advertising efforts and boost your brand’s performance.

Creating Compelling Ad Content

Designing Creative Text Ads

When crafting your text ads, it’s important to use a combination of phrases and keywords that are relevant to your audience. This will help increase engagement and conversions. Here are some tips to create captivating text ads and promotional messages:

• Understand your audience: Know your target audience’s interests, pain points, and challenges to create content that resonates with them.
• Be clear and concise: Keep your ad copy short, clear, and to the point. Use simple language and avoid industry jargon.
• Incorporate relevant keywords: Use a mix of broad, phrase, and exact match keywords to reach the right audience and ensure precision targeting.
• Include a clear call-to-action (CTA): Guide your users to take the desired action by including a compelling and clear CTA.

Using Engaging Visuals and Video

Visual elements are essential to capture the attention of your audience and improve the effectiveness of your ads. For video ads and visual content, consider the following tips:

1. Quality matters: Produce high-quality images and videos that reflect your brand’s image and messaging. Ensure your visuals are clear, sharp, and attractive.
2. Tell a story: Create a narrative that connects with your audience. Show them how your product or service solves their problems or improves their life.
3. Opt for mobile-friendly formats: As mobile usage continues to rise, ensure your visual content is mobile-friendly and responsive.
4. Incorporate branding elements: Use your brand colors, logo, and style to maintain a cohesive and consistent appearance across all your advertisements.
5. Test and optimize: Continuously test and analyze the performance of your visual content to determine what works best for your audience.

Remember, the key to creating compelling ad content lies in understanding your audience and using a variety of strategies to engage them through text, visuals, and video. By following the tips and best practices outlined above, you can enhance the effectiveness of your content marketing efforts and ensure success in the competitive world of online advertising.

Maximizing Ad Reach

Exploiting Targeting Options

To make the most out of your online advertising efforts, it is essential to exploit targeting options. Each platform has different options for audience targeting, so you should always familiarize yourself with them and choose the best ones to tailor your ads to the right people. Here are some useful targeting options to consider:

1. Demographics: Focus on age, gender, education, and income to reach the desired audience.
2. Interests: Target your ads based on users’ hobbies, preferences, and favorite activities.
3. Geofencing: Use geofencing advertising to reach out to local shoppers, high-value leads, and top talent in specific areas.
4. Behavior: Consider past purchase behavior, online activity, and browsing patterns to make your ads more relevant.

By leveraging these targeting options, you can ensure that your ads reach their intended audience and achieve better results.

Leveraging Remarketing Techniques

Another effective strategy to maximize ad reach is by leveraging remarketing techniques. Remarketing allows you to display ads to users who have previously engaged with your website or app. It helps re-engage the audience and increases the chance of conversions. Here are some remarketing methods:

• Website Visitors: Display ads to people who have visited your website but didn’t take any action.
• App Users: Reach out to those who have downloaded and used your app but haven’t made a purchase.
• Email Subscribers: Show ads to your subscribers who haven’t engaged with your content recently.

Employing these remarketing techniques can keep your brand visible to potential customers and improve the performance of your ad campaigns. Remember that the key to maximizing ad reach lies in combining effective targeting options with robust remarketing strategies, ensuring that your ads reach the right audience at the right time. So, go ahead and make the most of your online advertising efforts.

Analyzing Performance Metrics

Tracking Conversion Rates

To effectively analyze your online advertising performance, it’s essential to track your conversion rates. A conversion rate is the percentage of users who take a desired action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter. By monitoring your conversion rates, you can determine how well your marketing strategies are driving the desired actions.

To track your conversion rates, you can use tools like Google Analytics. This tool allows you to monitor various metrics and set goals to measure important user actions, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter. In addition, you can also track the performance of specific ad campaigns and identify areas for improvement.

Some key conversion rate metrics to track include:

• Overall Conversion Rate: The total number of conversions divided by the total number of visitors.
• Conversion Rate by Channel: This metric helps you identify which marketing channels, such as organic, paid, or social media, are driving the most conversions.
• Conversion Rate by Device: Understanding how users behave on different devices is essential for optimizing your campaigns for better user experience and conversion rates.

Understanding ROI and ROAS

Another critical aspect of analyzing performance metrics is calculating the Return on Investment (ROI) and Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). These performance metrics help you understand the effectiveness of your campaigns and which ones are worth investing in further.

• ROI: Return on Investment is calculated by dividing the profit gained from an investment by the investment cost and multiplying the result by 100 to get a percentage. It helps you evaluate the overall performance of your online advertising efforts.

ROI = (Profit – Investment Cost) / Investment Cost × 100

• ROAS: Return on Ad Spend refers to the revenue generated per dollar spent on advertising. It’s essential to monitor ROAS to ensure that your advertising budget is being spent efficiently and effectively.

ROAS = (Revenue generated from ads) / (Ad spend)

By tracking your conversion rates and understanding ROI and ROAS, you can effectively analyze the performance of your online advertising efforts and make data-driven decisions to optimize and improve your campaigns for maximum impact. Remember, the key to successful online advertising is continuous monitoring, evaluation, and refinement of your strategies to ensure the best possible results.

Optimizing for Search Engines

Incorporating SEO Best Practices

Through understanding search engine optimization (SEO), you’ll be able to improve your website’s visibility on search engines like Google and Bing. By implementing the best practices, your online advertising efforts can reach more potential customers.

Keyword Research: Begin by identifying the most relevant keywords for your website. These should be terms that directly relate to your products or services to ensure you’re targeting your intended audience. Create a list of primary and secondary keywords to target.

On-Page SEO: Focus on optimizing your website’s content by incorporating your chosen keywords. Use them in your title tags, meta descriptions, headings, and URLs where it makes sense, but keep it natural and avoid keyword stuffing. Additionally, provide informative content and subheadings (H3) to break up the text and enhance readability.

Off-Page SEO: Build quality backlinks to your website to enhance its credibility and authority. This can be achieved through guest posting, industry partnerships, or influencer collaborations. A strong backlink profile will positively impact your site’s ranking in search engine results.

Technical SEO: Ensure your website is easily crawlable by search engines by addressing any technical issues like slow loading speeds, broken links, and mobile-friendliness. Implement structured data (Schema Markup) to help search engines better understand your content and potentially boost your site’s visibility.

Content Marketing: Regularly create and share quality content related to your niche. This approach helps to establish your website as a valuable resource and attract more organic traffic. Consider incorporating different content formats like blog posts, videos, infographics, or e-books.

Local SEO: If your business targets a local audience, focus on local search engine optimization. Optimize your Google My Business listing, gather positive reviews, and include location-based keywords in your content to improve your site’s ranking in local search results.

By implementing these SEO best practices, you’ll enhance your online advertising strategy and effectively reach more potential customers. Remember to continually monitor and adjust your efforts to keep up with search engine algorithm updates and maintain your position in search results.

Effective Use of Paid Social Media

Engaging on Popular Networks

To make the most of your paid social media campaigns, it is essential to focus on popular networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You can benefit from their vast user bases and the variety of ad formats available. Here are some strategies to help you achieve optimal results:

• Target the right audience: Utilize the networks’ advanced targeting options to ensure your ads reach the most relevant users, increasing conversion rates.
• Test multiple ad formats: Experiment with various ad types, such as images, videos, and carousel ads to determine which formats resonate best with your audience.
• Monitor and optimize your campaigns: Keep track of your ad performance using built-in analytics tools or third-party platform anayltics, and make data-driven adjustments to improve your ROI.

Utilizing Influencer Marketing

In addition to traditional paid social media advertising, consider collaborating with influencers to increase your brand’s reach and credibility. Here’s how to integrate influencer marketing into your strategy:

1. Identify the right influencers: Look for individuals with a genuine passion for your industry and a highly engaged, relevant follower base.
2. Consider micro-influencers: Micro-influencers typically have fewer followers but higher engagement rates. Working with them can be more cost-effective and yield better results.
3. Develop a creative partnership: Work closely with the influencer to create unique, authentic content that will resonate with their audience and align with your brand values.
4. Measure and analyze campaign performance: Continuously monitor the effectiveness of your influencer collaborations and adjust your strategy accordingly to maximize results.

By effectively engaging on popular networks and utilizing influencer marketing, you can amplify your brand’s presence and achieve better outcomes from your paid social media campaigns.

Adapting to Mobile and Emerging Trends

Focusing on Mobile-First Design

In the world of online advertising, it’s crucial to adapt to the ever-growing prevalence of mobile devices. With the increasing usage of smartphones and tablets, a mobile-first design strategy has become essential for reaching your target audience. This approach ensures that your ads and website are optimized for mobile screens first and desktop screens second, improving user experience and engagement.

Here are a few tips to create effective mobile-first advertising campaigns:

• Use responsive design to ensure your ads look great on all device types and screen sizes.
• Keep the ad copy short and concise, using eye-catching visuals to convey your message.
• Consider the unique features of mobile devices, such as touch screens and location data, when designing ad interactions.

Exploring New Platforms and Technologies

Adopting a mobile-first design is just the first step. To stay ahead of the competition, explore new platforms and technologies that have gained traction with your target audience. Two such emerging trends are podcast advertising and TikTok.

Podcast advertising: As podcasts continue to gain popularity, they present a valuable opportunity to reach a highly engaged audience. Here’s how to make the most of podcast advertising:

• Select relevant podcasts in your niche to ensure your ads reach an audience that’s interested in your products or services.
• Test multiple ad formats like sponsored segments, pre-roll, and mid-roll ads.
• Collaborate with the podcast host to deliver authentic endorsements for your brand.

TikTok: With its rapidly expanding user base, TikTok offers unique ad formats and organic content creation opportunities that are worth exploring:

• Invest in TikTok Ads to reach users through multiple formats such as In-Feed Ads, Branded Hashtag Challenges, and Branded Effects.
• Create your own TikTok channel and develop engaging content to build a following and showcase your brand personality.
• Collaborate with popular TikTok creators in your industry for authentic and engaging influencer marketing campaigns.

By considering mobile-first design, podcast advertising, and TikTok, you will be better equipped to thrive in the fast-paced and ever-evolving world of online advertising.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the most effective platforms for free online advertising?

Several platforms can be utilized for free online advertising. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram offer free profile creation and organic post reach. Additionally, optimizing your business’ website with SEO techniques can help drive organic traffic from search engines. Finally, you may consider listing your business on popular online business directories and local search platforms like Google My Business, Yelp, and Bing Places to further increase your online visibility.

What constitutes the best paid online advertising approach?

The best paid online advertising approach can vary depending on your target audience, budget, and specific goals. Common paid advertising methods include search engine marketing (SEM) with Google Ads or Bing Ads, social media advertising on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, and display advertising through ad networks such as Google Display Network or programmatic platforms. You may also consider investing in sponsored content, influencer marketing, or affiliate marketing, depending on your target audience and objectives. Research and testing will help you identify which approach yields the best results for your business.

Could you provide some successful examples of online advertising?

Successful online advertising examples include:

1. Well-targeted Google Ads campaigns that bring in high-quality leads through tailored keywords and ads.
2. Facebook ads that leverage custom audiences and creative ad formats to drive engagement and conversions.
3. Influencer partnerships that promote a brand’s product or service to a specific, engaged audience.
4. Effective content marketing campaigns that demonstrate thought leadership and build trust while driving website traffic.

Which online advertising strategies are recommended for small businesses?

Small businesses should focus on cost-efficient and targeted strategies. Firstly, establish a strong online presence through social media profiles and a user-friendly, SEO-optimized website. Then, consider utilizing local search platforms and online business directories. For paid advertising, start with smaller budgets and focus on platforms where your target audience is most active. Finally, consider partnering with other local businesses or influencers to expand your reach and leverage word-of-mouth marketing.

What are the leading companies specializing in online advertising?

Several companies specialize in online advertising, including:

1. Google Ads – a typically top choice for search engine marketing.
2. Facebook Ads – ideal for social media advertising across Facebook and Instagram.
3. Microsoft Advertising – an alternative to Google Ads for Bing search engine marketing.
4. AdRoll – a popular display advertising network.

There are also numerous digital marketing agencies and specialists available who can help tailor and execute online advertising campaigns suited to your business needs.

How can local businesses maximize their visibility with online advertising?

Local businesses can maximize their visibility by:

1. Claiming and optimizing their business profile on Google My Business, Yelp, Bing Places, and other local search platforms.
2. Focusing on localized SEO by incorporating location-specific keywords and phrases into their website content.
3. Utilizing social media networks to engage with the local community and share updates or promotions.
4. Running targeted paid advertising campaigns that focus on reaching audiences within specific geographic locations.
5. Collaborating with other local businesses or influencers for cross-promotion and referrals.