Until now, advertising has never been an exact science. Sure, advertisers can target certain media where certain kinds of viewers, listeners or readers are likely to be - but it`s difficult to measure their response quickly and accurately.
What if you could advertise directly to your target audience and measure their reaction to your message? What if you wanted visitors from a certain geographic location to receive a specific message in your ad? Or those who visited at a certain hour of the day to receive another message. It`s possible with new tools that manage banner advertisements on Web sites and report on what sort of hits are generated and how often.
More companies are considering banner advertising because of the kind of exposure it offers and because the results are measurable. Some host ads for other companies on their Web sites as a way of creating another revenue stream.
"Internet advertising is not just about slapping a banner ad on a few sites and hoping there will be a response. It`s a highly efficient way of serving advertisements to specific markets and then measuring the response," says Gavin Payne, product manager at Internet Solutions (IS).
"Using Open AdStream Central software, companies are able to control and manage their Internet advertising business. Designed for Web publishers, the software is easy to use, requires no additional hardware and operates on a broad variety of platforms. It helps you quickly verify ad availability, forecast ad volume and assists in making informed recommendations on better ad performance," he says.
Banner advertisements can be served according to specific targets - for instance Web users that type certain key words, those who have a certain postal code or those who are surfing from a particular country in a specified time zone.
Says Payne: "The system is extremely flexible and customisable. Bear in mind that some organisations serve up thousands of banners a month on their pages and Open AdStream Central gives them sophisticated reporting tools.
"The reporting capabilities allow you to specify the data within the report, the report time-period, and the reports format output. Report types vary widely from campaign, site, section or specific advertisers, to name a few. Daily reports can be accessed via a protected URL with a variety of passwords and rights configured for different users."
Payne says revenues from banner advertising help offset some of the costs of running and maintaining Web sites.
"Sites with a lot of traffic particularly, are able to charge for banner advertising - but they need the tools that help them forecast and target demand for ads as well as measure their success."
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Open AdStream Central software is already serving over 2 million banners per month.
Internet Solutions Internet Solutions (IS) is SA`s leading provider of infrastructure foundations for electronic business and the forerunner in providing companies with effective connectivity solutions. At present, it connects over 1 500 organisations to the Internet and over 3 000 sites through its range of VPN solutions, thus forming the primary electronic business community in SA.
IS offers a fully managed environment together with expertise in areas such as Internet access, VPNs, hosting, dial-up, security and data management. Its best-of-breed infrastructure is without equal and has been the preferred choice of leading companies since 1993.
As the Internet industry leader, IS is also dedicated to sharing its success with others by providing improved access to education and information to all South Africans, particularly previously disadvantaged communities.
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