Online advertising refers to publicity for marketing purposes which makes use of the Internet to reach its audience.
Online advertising is much more interactive than regular ads. This is a special feature which makes it an attractive medium for the promotion of both products and services. Another advantage of using online advertisements is the potential to close sales transactions immediately. Advertisements often direct users to websites from which they can purchase products or services.
Another reason for advertisers to use this method is the possibility of directing advertisements to a very specific audience, thus enabling them to get more value for advertising costs. For instance, websites or blogs dedicated to technology and gadgets may contain more ads for related products and services. Since such sites will be visited more often by people who already have an interest in these things, there is a higher probability for these ads to be viewed on these specific websites than if they were posted on random websites and blogs.
The versatility of the Internet allows online advertisements to take different forms. They may come in the form of emails, banner advertisements, or pop-ups, among others. They may also appear as links in blogs or on the sidebar of email web pages. They may also come in the form of spam email. When this happens, advertisements can turn into a cause for irritation more than anything else. Oftentimes, though, users have a choice to opt-out of the promotion by clicking on a link in the email which should remove the user from the mailing list.