Creating an online presence for a business is a little more complicated than taking an advertisement out in a newspaper or magazine. With millions of potential viewers, internet advertising often seeks to gain “targeted traffic” for a website.

Newcomers to the online game may understand that traffic, just like with a storefront, means people that visit a business, or in this case website.  What they may not have a handle on is what is meant by “targeted” and why this caveat is so important.

Targeted traffic is simply a stream of visitors that is predisposed to learn about or purchase the kind of products or services a company has to offer.  If a company wanted to sell maternity clothes, it might not want to capture the audience of an online men’s magazine, for example.

So, how does Internet advertising work to help companies gain targeted traffic?

When highly targeted traffic is desired from online advertising, these steps are likely to come into play:

  • Defining the company or product’s keywords – Keywords are the words and phrases people use to locate websites, articles and products on the Internet. When a woman is shopping for clothing to wear during pregnancy, she might type “maternity clothes” into an online search engine. The term “maternity clothes” might then be a good keyword for a merchant with those wares to use on his or her site, in advertising, product descriptions and so on. Generally, a list of keywords is created that relates to the website being promoted.
  • Keyword ranking – Once general keywords are selected, research may be performed to determine how competitive the words are in regard to gaining traffic and search engine placement. The less competition on a phrase, generally the better.
  • Advertising design – After phrases are selected and ranked, the next step typically involves determining what type of Internet advertising marketing to pursue. The options include direct ad placement on sites related to the keywords, the use of programs like Google Adwords and so on. The idea is to select advertising venues that already rank in traffic, and therefore interest, for the selected keywords. Essentially, an advertiser selling maternity clothing might want to have ads run on websites related to pregnancy, women’s fashion, parenting and so on. The visitors to these sites are more likely to have an interest in the advertiser’s products.

Gaining traffic online is one thing. Converting that traffic into bona fide sales often requires targeting. When Internet advertising is handled correctly, the flow of traffic to a website will already be “prescreened” for interest. This, in turn, boosts the chances for successful sales. Internet marketing companies can help make the process much easier for businesses interested in gaining targeted traffic.