Ads are an integrated part of a website, and the two work hard to serve content as fast as possible. Both work on different connections, and both are trying to show the user something quickly. As a result, new technology has been developed to speed up content delivery. Coding can deliver colors and shapes now, reducing the need for assets that bog down loading times. That puts pressure on Internet service providers to create faster connection speeds. The demand for the Web, on desktop or mobile, is surging.

Better Quality

When people click the ads on their favorite blogs, they enable editing teams to spend more time critiquing work. They enable webmasters to accept guest posts for money, which attracts writers willing to put time and effort into researching posts with scholarly resources.

Advertising dollars also fuel development in other ways. If you use an application on a mobile device to access a website, for instance, that application was made possible because that site is able to generate revenue through advertising. Subscription based models can work, but they are very rare. Even Hulu must show commercials to subscribers who have paid for their service, and the New York Times has developed a similar model. Subscriptions help fund publications, but they can’t keep the lights on forever.

Even when a publisher attempts a subscription-based model, they find themselves using ads to supplement the income brought in by subscriptions. The print industry used free editions to try to entice users, the same way blogs of today use free content.

As CEO of engage:BDR, Ted Dhanik is a technology evangelist and digital advertising expert. Ted Dhanik offers his insight on media and business growth to prominent blogs like AdAge and Venture Beat. Ted Dhanik drives innovation in digital advertising with the team at engage:BDR.

As smartphone adoption rates rise, and video upload rates increase right alongside, the video ad is going to be an important aspect of the media landscape. We already see companies investing more money into mobile advertising and location-based targeting. Video ads are just the next logical step. They provide an outlet for a sales pitch, they can be intimate and they are effective at telling the story of a brand or its product.

For your video ads to be effective, you’ll need to master a few basic concepts and execute them well.

Have a Plan

Will your video explain the product, or will you show the product in action? Are you going to demo the product, or simply show a use case? Deciding how you want to display your product is the first step in creating a video. Try to think of videos as fitting two distinct categories for now: explainers and demos. Explainers do exactly what they sound like, they tell users what a product does and how a service works.

Demos let the user see the product solve a problem, and they can be powerful associative tools.

Get to the Point

A pre-roll ad only offers you about 10-15 seconds of time to get the user’s attention. Even if you purchase a viewable impression worth 15 seconds of time, you’re not going to stay in the user’s mind if your ad doesn’t have a hook and get to its point quickly. Try to keep that in mind as you craft ads. Keep it simple and execute one idea masterfully.
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Ted Dhanik writes on behalf of engage:BDR, where he is CEO and co-founder. Ted Dhanik is passionate about the practice of digital advertising, and blogs frequently about the changing industry. Ted Dhanik, and his pets, are based out of Los Angeles where he actively mentors start ups.

Display advertising accounts for a significant portion of big brand spending, meaning that companies like MasterCard are still investing heavily in placements on websites. For those just getting into the business, the good news is that there are plenty of ways to get your ad in front of your audience, but launching is no simple task. Before you begin trying multiple offers, follow these steps to be sure your campaign will get off to a good start.

Determine the Quality of Your Offer

A good offer presents the user with a value proposition up front, and sells a product or service that solves a problem the user is experiencing. In order to sell, the landing page has to look convincing. A solid offer should be made, multiple benefits stated and a firm call to action with specific language should be used. Instead of “Click Here,” try “Buy Now” or some other phrase that accurately describes what the user will be doing. Reduce the number of fields until you are requesting bare minimum from the customer if your landing page utilizes a form. Start with a path you can refine, don’t try to do too much your first try.

Continue to the next phase once you have a strong landing page that directs a customer toward an action.

Identify Targeting Opportunities

The next phase deals with your target audience, so you need to perform some market research to form a clear picture of your ideal customer. Google Trends is a good place to start. You can use this tool to search keywords related to your topic and get an idea of the buzz and interest surrounding your subject. This informs a lot about your target market. You’ll get an idea of what blogs they are interested in, what other topics they read about and begin to form a clearer picture of their browsing habits.

Use this data to inform your targeting decisions. Some specifics to look out for include:

• Geographic location
• Income level
• Interests
• Web browser
• Device (tablet or desktop)

Once you have some idea of how you want to target your audience, move on to the final phase before launch.

Purchase Quality Traffic

Advertisers depend on targeted traffic in order to get their messaging out into the wild. Quality traffic can be judged with a few key metrics, like conversions and clicks. You must also consider size of potential inventory, and which offers are popular at the moment. You can have the most interested buyers in the world, but if you’re not selling something they want, you’re wasting money.

Bio: Ted Dhanik is a digital marketer with experience in display and video advertising. Beginning with MySpace.com in the early 2000s, Ted Dhanik has built brands online. Ted Dhanik is the CEO of engage:BDR, a digital advertising company headquartered in Los Angeles.