Web Banner Advertising

Web banner advertising is one of the least effective ways to purchase advertising. It is one of the older forms of advertising, and is making a slight comeback, but it is not sufficient for most business needs.

Banner ads on the Web are the square of rectangular images one might click to go to an advertiser's website. Placement of these ads is sold by the impression, or inclusion of the ad on a page that is viewed. Impressions of ads are sold by the thousand. Using the computer term "meg" for thousand, this model is called "CPM" or "cost per meg."

Paid Search advertising, on the other hand, is sold for CPC, or "cost per click." The benefits of this approach to the advertiser are obvious - the advertiser on pays for activity that generates traffic to their site.