Online advertising, also known as Internet marketing, online marketing or e-marketing is the marketing and promotion of products or services over the Internet.
Examples of online advertising include contextual ads on search engine results pages, banner ads, blogs, rich media ads, social network advertising, interstitial ads, online classified advertising, advertising networks, dynamic banner ads, cross-platform ads and e-mail marketing, including e-mail spam. Many of these types of ads are delivered by an ad server.
History of online advertising
Online advertising began in 1994 when Hotwired sold the first banner ads to several advertisers.[1] Revenue in the United States grew to an estimated $7.1 billion in 2001 or about 3.1 percent of overall advertising spending. The dot-com bust destroyed or weakened many of the early online advertising industry players and reduced the demand for online advertising and related services.
The industry regained momentum by 2004 as the business model for “Web 2.0” came together.[2] A number of businesses emerged that facilitated the buying and selling of advertising space on web pages
Competitive advantage over traditional advertising
One major benefit of online advertising is the immediate publishing of information and content that is not limited by geography or time. To that end, the emerging area of interactive advertising presents fresh challenges for advertisers who have hitherto adopted an interruptive strategy.
Another benefit is the efficiency of the advertiser's investment. Online advertising allows for the customization of advertisements, including content and posted websites. For example, Ad Words, Yahoo! Search Marketing and Google Ad Sense enable ads to be shown on relevant web pages or alongside search results.
Types of Internet marketing
Internet marketing is broadly divided in to the following types: * Display advertising: the use of web banners or banner ads placed on a