Location, Location, Location
As with all types of advertising, the location of the ad is extremely important. There are any number of targeted sites where you can place your ads. Always make sure that your advertising location is consistent with your objectives and always make sure your ads appear above the fold or above the scroll. That is, be sure your ad is positioned on a Web page so that it can be viewed without having to scroll.
Ad Price Factors
The price of ad space varies from site to site. Ads are most often sold based on the number of impressions or number of click-throughs. However, they may also be sold on the cost per acquisition. As stated earlier, an impression is an ad view, and a click-through is the actual clicking on the banner ad and being sent to the advertiser’s Web site. The price per impression should be less than the price per click-through, whereas the price per acquisition should be much greater than either to make it worthwhile for the Web publisher.
When site owners charge per impression, there is usually a guarantee that your ad will be seen by a certain number of people. The burden is on the seller to generate traffic to its site. When the charges are per click-through or per acquisition, the responsibility is on you, the advertiser, to design an ad that encourages visitors to click on it and then follow through with the desired conversion. Sites that charge per impression are more common than those that charge per click-through or per acquisition.
There are obvious advantages to you, the advertiser, when paying per clickthrough. You do not have to pay a cent for the 10,000 people who saw the ad but did not pursue the link. Sites that do not have a large volume of traffic often charge a flat rate for a specified period of time.