Banner Ads
Banner ads are an excellent way to get your link on another Web site and to expose
a larger audience your message or products. A banner ad is usually a horizontal or
vertical rectangle that includes graphic and text elements and sometimes animations.
They are the main source of revenue for most Web sites.
You have two options for placing your banner ads:
Hire an Agency
You can hire an advertising agency to find Web sites,
negotiate prices and create the banner ad campaigns.
This can save you a lot of time, but it can be costly.
Do It Yourself
The low-budget route is to place the banner ads yourself.
Not only will you save money, but you retain control over the entire process and ad campaign.
To make sure you get the most from your advertising efforts:
Find Web sites that are a good fit for your products.
Contact these sites for information on placing a banner ad.
Work out a deal with the site owners if they do not have packaged deals.
Finding small Web sites that cater to your niche, but don’t have a lot of advertising, can be an effective and inexpensive way to drive quality traffic to your Web site. These Web sites probably don’t charge a lot for ad space, but their visitors are more likely to be interested in your products than the public at-large.
Affiliate Programs
With an affiliate program, you pay other Web sites to drive sales on your Web site. The affiliate places a link to your Web site on its site. You can pay affiliates per click or per sale, depending on your goals and the deal you work out with affiliates.
This concept was made popular by Amazon.com. Because it is a large company with vast resources, Amazon.com manages its own affiliate program. That may be too large an undertaking for you, however.
Affiliate Networks
Affiliate programs are complex, and may not be worth your time to manage and maintain. That's where affiliate networks come in. They keep track of your sales and payments to affiliates for a fee. It is easier than running the system yourself.
You can find affiliates through affiliate networks, or you can become an affiliate yourself and increase your revenue.