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.