You know you need to advertise on the web.  But where?  And how?

Billions of advertising dollars have moved from newspapers to the internet. Plus billions more from TV. At the rate marketing communications budgets are migrating to the web, even aerial banners will soon be feeling the pinch. So what's keeping many marketers from getting on the bandwagon?

Maybe the technobabble that makes a pretty straightforward set of choices seem impossibly complicated. Here's an attempt to translate the digital obfuscation into plain marketing English.

Web Site. A web site is an essential – perhaps the essential – part of any organization's marketing communications mix today. But it's not an advertisement. It doesn't reach out to people. They have to know it's there and go to it. When they get there it had better be clear, complete, easily – intuitively – navigable and engaging.

Search optimization. Go to Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask – or to any of a bunch of other search engines – and look up a product or service category. The different algorhythms will produce very different results. Search optimization helps get a web site onto the critically important first page of results.

Paid search. Search engines sell the top listings on search by key word. Usually the paid search listings are highlighted, separated or otherwise distinguished from the algorhythm-generated search results. But they're right there at the top. Guaranteed.

Blind Buys. An ad which appears on any web site at any time seen by an unspecified audience. Not useful for most advertisers, but on a pay-per-action rather than pay-per-click basis these can be useful for direct marketers.

Targeted ads. The ads on search engines and web sites – banners, skyscrapers, etc – are targeted to specific audiences. There are several ways to do this:

Contextual targeting. These are ads which relate to the context of the web site. For example, an ad for a specific make of automobile on an automotive information web site, or an ad for a vacation package on a travel site.

Behavioral targeting. These are ads which are targeted to people who have visited sites indicating a specific interest. For example, someone who has visited an automotive information web site and the sites of two Japanese auto manufacturers might see an ad for one of the two brands whose sites she or he visited – or an ad for another brand of car trying to get into the consideration mix.

Demographic targeting. Some internet media networks offer proprietary technology that makes predictions about internet users' demographics based on the sites they visit. They then delivers ads aimed at that demographic which may or may not be contextually or behaviorally targeted.  For example, someone who has visited swing music, retirement annuity and fiber supplement sites might receive an ad for Medicare supplement coverage.

Geographic targeting. Internet users IP addresses can be used to determine ZIP code, and messages may be targeted only to people in that area. Geographic targeting is most often used in combination with contextual, behavioral or demographic targeting. For example, people in a specific ZIP code who visited an auto manufacturer's site might get an ad from a local dealer.

Retargeting. Ads which reach people who have visited the advertiser's web site in the past. These can be extremely powerful to rekindle interest or intercept audiences who might be moving toward a competitor. For example, a car dealer might retarget past site visitors who are visiting an automotive information web site with a special offer designed to cut the shopping cycle short and close a sale.

Internet advertising is not the be-all and end-all of marketing communications. But it is definitely an increasingly important part of the mix. Fortunately it is almost infinitely scalable, so advertisers and start small and increase their use of the medium as they gain familiarity with it – and as the ROI it delivers in each of their specific cases is established.

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