Boy, times have changed.

In early days, advertisers use to enjoy click-thru rates of about 15% on their banners. Today average click-thru rate is only 0.5%. So why hasn't average price to purchase banner impressions dropped at same level?

Major web sites depend on banner revenue to continue operating, and as long as their are big advertisers such as IBM, Dell, etc. who can afford these overinflated prices, costs will remain unrealistic.

What happened to banner market? It started to drop drastically to a point that authors were writing articles that banner industry was dead. With an average click-thru ratio of only 0.5%, advertisers could not afford steep price for banner impressions. Likewise, web sites selling banner ad space could not afford to sell banner impressions at a discounted price.

Advertisers started using other means of advertising such as ezines. Ezine advertising took off a few years ago, but even enthusiasm for this advertising medium has since then leveled off as readers started becoming immune to print ads or sponsor messages.

But things are changing now.

Advertisers do not want to pay for unguaranteed results anymore. They want to pay only for performance. Companies that provide advertising are now realizing that selling advertising is not a one way transaction anymore.

Companies have to become partners with their advertisers if they want to truly succeed. I saw this trend about a year ago and that is why I offered to critique my advertisers classified ads.

Many of my advertisers were submitting poor copy and I knew that their ads were not going to perform well in my ezine. I figured that if I rewrite their ads or offer suggestions on improving their ads, they will get a better response.

Of course some of my customers wrote great classified ads and I didn't edit them, but sad fact is that majority of my advertisers do not know how to write an effective classified ad.

Not only did this differentiate my ezine from other ezines, it showed my customers that I cared enough to see them get results.

Who do advertisers blame when their ad copy does poorly? They blame ezine publisher. I depend on repeat business, so I took it upon myself to make sure that they got results. Results mean repeat business.

Who doesn't love repeat business? :)

Unfortunately, there are about a billion websites on net. A web search can be a nightmare if you have to dig through tons of dirt to find flecks of gold. Some website creators even include "phony" keywords (that have nothing to do with their content) into their site so they'll appear on every search listing. It's a waste of time, effort and money.

How do you get past those "cheaters" and get people to your site when they need it? By using a "pay-per-click" [PPC] site, a search engine that goes straight for gold.

"Pay-per-click" means you pay an advertising fee to be listed with them. You choose keywords or search phrases that describe your site contents. In return, when a customer searches with a PPC engine, PPC's advertisers are on top of list.

Research has shown that top ten sites on a results list are clicked through 3 times more than all others combined. These are people who actually want info, products and services you offer.

Suppose your traffic doesn't increase? You can adjust your keywords until you have something that works for you.