Lately I’ve been doing a fair amount of research regarding Internet advertising.  I have so much more respect for those out there wanting to make a buck off of blogging or websites.  There are so many different kinds of advertising to choose from.  Just sorting through the different advertising agency websites is a pain.  They all do it and set it up so differently, and to even know what kind of services they offer is tricky.  Sometimes you have to provide email addresses and other personal information before you learn pertinent advertising related info.  For others you have to apply before they will even tell you anything about their advertising.  
But to have any online advertising really work for you, you need a certain amount of views per day, which in and of itself is trying.  Afterwards you decide on which type to use.  Here are some examples of the different kinds out there:


  1. CPC - Cost per click, each time someone clicks on an ad they make a buck
  2. CPM - Cost per view, each time the ad is viewed they make a buck
  3. Commission - each time a form is filled out, or a purchase made, they make a buck
  4. Banner ads - ads in banner form either down the side or at the top or bottom of a site, can be CPC or CPM.
  5. Text based ads - ads listed only in text.  Many email accounts will use these.  They can be CPM, but are normally CPC based.
  6. Text-links - when you see the text of the blog or site highlighted all over the place, the ads you see when you hover over the link.  I find these truly annoying, if anything it dissuades me from using that website then and in the future.
  7. Pop-up ads - We all hate these, but they make some people a lot of money
  8. Videos - advertisements you must view before playing/watching anything
Really though the best place to get a thorough compilation of online advertising is: Wikipedia.  

Having done this research I came upon a sad realisation.  I haven’t had cable for years.  I thought that I had been exposed to less advertising because of my lack of cable and dreaded ‘Commercials’.  Looks like I’ve been exposing myself to just as much, if not more.  

I used to think that simply seeing tons of billboards, TV ads, magazine ads was an excessive amount of advertising.  But now realizing just how much I still see...Can you imagine the text/information overload of the next generation? This makes me that much more thankful for those sites out there with little to no ads visible.  They provide an actual break from the overload.  Pre-Internet the written advertisement came in magazines or newspapers.  But for books the advertisements for the most part were minimal.  Now so much of what we see is riddled with advertisements.  Sometimes conversation topics are heavy with the talk of commercials during the Superbowl.  Recognition of advertisement jingles or other phraseology is frightening.  

Luckily there is a movement towards allowing advertising to be focused for your region.  So, for Internet advertising banners you can now choose to advertise for local businesses instead of massive corporations.  Thankfully ‘The Man’ still provides options.