4 Terms You Might Not Know About Online Advertising
Online Advertising is a great way for bloggers to make a little bit – or a lot – of extra income. If you are new to blogging, chances are that you aren’t entirely sure how to go about advertising. We’ll go over some of the most common advertising acronyms that are used, and talk about how each one can help your blog start generating some revenue.
CPC – Cost Per Click
Arguably the most popular way of advertising online, CPC (also known as cost per click) advertising is virtually every where. Chances are that you have performed a “cost per click” action and not even realized it.
CPC-based advertising is a method which allows businesses to pay only for the targeted leads that they receive. With this method, your advertisement would be displayed in the same way as a CPM (or cost per 1000 impressions), but there is a difference. With CPC, you are protected by only paying for each click that your advertised link receives. You will not have to pay for thousands of impressions that are uselessly displayed, as with CPM.
You can use banner advertising with CPM. With banner advertisements, your advertisement will display, and every time your banner is clicked by an end user, you will pay the specified cost for that banner ad. That advertisement will then run until you have reached your predetermined amount of clicks. This means that you may receive a lot more exposure than you would using other advertising methods, because the length of time your ad is visible on the internet is based solely on how many clicks it has received.
TIP: If you are interested in CPC, a great program to use is Google AdWords. AdWords will allow you to pick the keywords that you want to use and you will only have to pay for as many clicks as you can afford. Unlike a lot of other sites, you will not have to pay for a campaign since you can set an actual limit on the amount of money you have in your budget to spend on this type of advertising.
CPM – Cost Per Thousand Impressions
CPM, also known as “cost per thousand impressions” is a very effective way of improving your conversions by reaching potential customers on the web. Rather than paying “per click” with CPM you can purchase a set amount of impressions that your blog will have.
NOTE: An impression is a single instance of an advertisement appearing on your website or blog.
CPM tends to be a more cost effective way to advertise when compared to CPC, or “cost per click”. For example, if you chose CPC advertising, you would pay for each click that your advertisement receives. So let’s say that you are spending $1 for each click, meaning that ten clicks will cost you $10. In a CPM-based advertising campaign, you may pay only $3 for 1000 impressions. So if your advertisement receives a click through ratio of just 1% you would then be paying $3 for the same 10 clicks.
One thing to bear in mind when it comes to CPM is that text-based ads tend to receive a lot more attention than banner ads, which most internet users tend to completely ignore at this point. CPM-based advertising is also a great idea for any company that has popular and/or very expensive keywords.
CPL – Cost Per Lead
Cost per lead is one of the less common ways of making money through blogging and advertising, but it is still one that is used by a lot of bloggers. CPL is the calculation of the actual cost that is incurred in successfully acquiring a valid lead. Leads are typically generated in several different ways, which include the gathering of information.
Let’s say that a website visitor submits their email address after doing a survey or they register for an offer and provide their contact information and possibly their demographic information. This will then be counted as a “lead”.
NOTE: PPL, or pay per lead, is different from CPL. PPL refers to the actual model in acquiring a valid lead, while CPL is the actual cost that one will incur for successfully acquiring a valid lead.
CPL is a great option for the budget conscious blogger, especially during these trying economic times. With CPL advertising, you are able to generate guaranteed returns on your online advertising dollars.
TIP: CPL is also often referred to as “online lead generation.”
CPS – Cost Per Sale
What really draws other bloggers to cost per sale marketing is that this strategy is low-risk and high profit. It’s also a great way of reaching an unlimited amount of prospects over the web.
Cost per sale is a great new way of marketing which doesn’t involve risky and expensive methods of marketing such as print ads, television ads and direct mail campaigns. With cost per sale marketing, the company that is selling the product or the service will pay the publisher or the marketer only when a product or a service has been sold (the CPL model is also often referred to as “revenue share” or as an “affiliate relationship”). These models work best for customers that are not willing to take a risk or who have a very, very small marketing or advertising budget.
The one downside to this method of marketing is that, when compared to either CPC or CPL models, the cost that the vendor incurs can be quite a bit higher per conversion, and the contract terms that one must agree to are longer. Most CPS marketing models are best for e-commerce websites
Which Way Is Best For Me To Make Money?
The type of advertising for you to use for your blog to generate revenue truly depends on two things: your budget, and how much you need to sell. Methods such a CPS are great for those with a low budget, but if you want a lot of exposure than CPC is probably
