Online ad agencies provide the expertise required to help marketers take advantage of Internet advertising. With approximately $20 billion being spent annually on Internet advertising, it’s clear that marketers understand the importance of reaching customers online. Advertising companies can help you maximize returns on your Internet ad dollars.

Full service online advertising agencies provide assistance with all kinds of Internet media — from basic banner ads to emerging platforms, such as broadband video, rich Internet applications and social media. An online advertising agency provides a wealth of know-how to help you with all your Internet advertising needs, including:

1. Online advertising firms provide search engine optimization (SEO), which uses keyword phrases to improve your ranking in search engine listings.
2. Internet ad agencies are pros at creating blogs on your website to pique your customers’ returning interest.
3. Web advertising companies can create pay-per-click ad campaigns that work within your budget constraints.
4. Online advertising agencies can use viral marketing and social networking sites like FaceBook and MySpace to reinforce your brand to your target audience.
5. An interactive ad agency can use tools like webcasts, podcasts and interactive media solutions to add value to your website.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Look for online advertising firms for search engine advertising and pay-per-click advertising

If you need to increase traffic to your online presence, hire an Internet ad agency that researches the best search engines to place your website links or pay per click advertisements.

I recommend: TopSpot Internet Marketing Solutions is an online advertising agency that focuses on business to business advertising through a mixture of natural search engine optimization, pay-per-click management and locating search engine advertising opportunities. Website Pros has several small business advertising packages that include pay-per-click, search engine marketing and advertising and banner ads.

Turn to full service online advertising agencies for a variety of advertising solutions

If you want to run the whole gamut of Internet advertising options, choose full service online advertising agencies. Services provided by online advertising companies include search engine marketing, search engine optimization, paid inclusion, web analytics, pay per click advertisements, banner ads and social networking.

I recommend: SendTraffic is an online advertising agency that offers a full menu of services, including search engine marketing, search engine optimization, paid inclusion and feed management, website analytics and pay-per-click solutions. Online advertising firms like 360i specialize in web based advertising services including paid search and search engine optimization, behavioral and social media. Reinvent Business is an Internet advertising agency that focuses on helping e-commerce businesses to be more competitive on the web by using SEO, keyword research, lead generation, search engine marketing, social media optimization, link popularity and behavioral targeting techniques.

Interactive ad agencies can go beyond the basics

Some online interactive advertising agencies offer specialized services that deliver your advertising content via numerous platforms, such as blogs, webcasts, podcasts and social media marketing.

I recommend: Novocom is an interactive ad agency that specializes in creating branding and advertising campaigns across multimedia platforms, including television, Internet and mobile technology. Brick Marketing provides social marketing services, including blog creation and copywriting, social bookmarking, podcasts, viral video marketing, social marketing and blog search engine optimization.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Ask online ad agencies to use your business intelligence to attract customers to your website. You can use blogs or podcasts to provide training or education to consumers about your products or field of expertise.
• •  Ask your Internet ad agency about their policy regarding pop-up ads. Consider your target market and decide if pop-ups will annoy your customer base.
• •  Online ad agencies know their business, but not necessarily yours. Provide your agency with all of your marketing materials, along with information on your products and services, so they can determine the best ways to reach your customers on the web.