You've just accessed a Web page and begun searching for the information you want to retrieve. Suddenly the page is plastered from top to bottom with banner ads. Some pop up, some float across the screen, and in some, animated figures dance and prance to inane music. As a user of the Internet, feel free to be annoyed. As a student of business, however, you should stop and ask yourself a few questions: Where do banner ads come from? Who stands to profit from them?
To get a handle on these questions, go to the How Stuff Works Web site (http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-advertising.htm (Links to an external site.)) and read the article "How Web Advertising Works," by Marshall Brain. When you've finished, answer the following questions from the viewpoint of a company advertising on the Web:
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of banner ads? Why are they less popular with advertisers today than they were about ten years ago?
- What alternative forms of Web advertising are more common today? (For each of these alternative forms, describe the type of ad, explain how it's more effective than banner advertising, and list any disadvantages.)
- Why are there so many ads on the Web? Is it easy to make money selling ads on the Web? Why, or why not?
- Assume that you're in charge of Web advertising for a company that sells cell-phone ring tones. On which sites would you place your ads and what type of ads would you use? Why?