In the past, the word “advertising” meant putting ads in the local paper, the Yellow Pages, industry publications, or anywhere else we could think of that our ideal customers and audience would look. Inserting flyers into newsletters, posting flyers on bulletin boards…you get the idea. Our market was limited largely to only local populations as we just didn’t always have the resources to reach people in a more global way. Now, however, things could not be more different. We can sell our product around the world, because we can advertise in a more global way and reach millions more people, potentially. If you’re a plumber, for example, you may benefit more from local print advertising, because you’re most likely not interested in taking on a plumbing job across the country. But for many of us, we want our reach to extend as far as possible, so online advertising can be very beneficial. Pay Per Click Ads Probably the most common type of online advertising, your ad will appear in the featured ads section at the top of search results if you’re advertising with a search engine, or on the right side of the search results in the more generic ads location. Placement depends on the type of ad you purchase and who you’re advertising with. When you set up your ad, you determine who your marketing is directed at; geographical location, age group, sex, interests, etc, as well as what keywords you’re focusing on so that when those keywords and phrases are searched by an individual, your ad will appear. With Ppc Ads, you essentially “bid” on a keyword or phrase. The higher your bid for this phrase, the better chance your ad will be returned in search over someone with a lower bid, therefore the higher your click through rate, potentially. The most common type of PPC ad is Google Adwords. PPC ads are text only, so they must be carefully written with the appropriate keywords and with a call to action that will compel a reader to click through. Poorly written ads are a waste of your money, so it’s a good idea to hire a professional that knows what makes people click on these ads, so that you actually see some results. Facebook Ads Of course we cannot talk about PPC ads without mentioning Facebook ads. Facebook ads are an extremely effective way of marketing to a very specific audience. Facebook allows for a larger variety of options when selecting who you want to present the ads to, so that your chances of your ad being clicked are much greater, than a regular PPC ad. As with normal PPC ads, when a user performs a search in their web browser, Facebook will know this, and return Facebook ads that are targeting the same keywords. Many marketers believe that Facebook ads are a better investment than Google Adwords, and you can achieve very good results for a minimal investment, so you might consider giving these a try before using Adwords. Banner Ads Banner ads are similar to PPC ads, in that they appear on various web pages, based on recent searches performed by the user. So if I’m searching for “custom Wade saddles”, and then I go on to some other sites, any banner ads that are set up with that keyword phrase  might be returned and display on the next pages that I visit, depending on what pages those are, of course. In order for the banner ads to display, a website must be set up with a service such as Google AdSense, so they display random banner ads on their page. When people click on these ads, the website owner gets paid for that. Google does return search results and displays its advertisements in a regional manner most often, so that users will see ads from businesses that are close to them geographically. One of the bonuses to banner ads over PPC ads, is that these are graphics, not just text, so you can make them pop with colors and animation to be a little more of an attention-getter. There are still methods to the madness however, so you want to make sure the ad has a call to action, and that the text content within the ad is compelling. It’s still worth working with a professional to design your ad so it has a better chance of being clicked on. Writing Effective PPC Ads Understanding what keywords will return the best results for you is all part of your total Search Engine Optimization program, and can be complicated and confusing. Unless you have a good understanding of how organic search works, you may want to consult a professional to help you write the most effective ad campaigns, so you’re not wasting your time and your money with poor ad placement and poorly written ads. If you want to do some keyword research yourself, try the Google AdWords Keyword Planner. Avoid using keywords that are too vague, that you stand no chance of being returned in those searches. An example of this might be “horse training”. While some local trainers might show up in these searches, you probably won’t, so don’t leave it to chance. Select keywords that are more specific, such as “barrel horse training”, or “horseback riding lessons”. Since the demographic selections you set up in the ad will take care of the location, you don’t have to worry about this in your keyword selection too much. It will help immensely if your website is already set up properly for local search. If the ad is a PPC ad, your potential customer has executed a search and is looking for something specific. If you write your ads to speak directly to them, there’s a better chance they will click on your ad over another and visit your web site. The first step in writing effective ad copy is to see what your competition is up to. Google your keywords and see what featured ads