All You Need to Know (2023 Updated)

There’s a lot to learn about online advertising. It includes multiple formats and spans numerous platforms.

In this beginner’s guide, we’ll provide you with a complete overview of advertising on the internet. Including different types, examples, and best practices.

Let’s dive in.

What Is Online Advertising?

Online advertising is a type of digital marketing that delivers promotional messages to intended audiences for a fee.

Online ads are everywhere. They appear in emails, in search engines, on websites, and on social media platforms.

Here’s an example of a LinkedIn ad from Amazon Business:

But the intent of online ads is always to persuade the target audience to take specific actions. To help you reach your goals.

Some of the most common online advertising goals are:

• Increasing brand awareness: Making your brand known and memorable to your target audience
• Driving website traffic: Getting more people to visit your website
• Generating leads: Persuading prospective customers to voluntarily share their contact information with you
• Boosting sales: Persuading people to make a purchase
• Retargeting potential customers: Showing ads to people who’ve previously interacted with your brand

How Does Online Advertising Work?

Websites and advertising platforms (like Google Ads, Meta Ads Manager, and Amazon Ads) collect information about their users. Such as their interests, location, and browsing habits.

They use this information to create different groups of users, or “...