Every company needs to make marketing decisions in the areas of segmentation, product offerings, pricing, distribution and promotion. Remember the 4Ps!! Successful promotion of a brand requires that, at a minimum, a positive message be received by potential customers. And advertising is the most commonly used source of communication to convey the message to the ultimate customers. About 3,000 years ago in Thebes, an advertisement was written on papyrus calling for information regarding runaway slaves and Pompeli was rich in advertisement scratched and painted upon its wall.

We have came a long way since and the way people advertise their product or service is getting more complex with brand proliferation and the online media penetrating even the African Continent on a massive scale. Welcome to the world of Online advertising or Web advertising, Interactive Advertising, Internet advertising and e-Advertising. But whatever be the name, in essence, it is all advertising.

The Internet has produced a revolutionary new way for businesses to communicate and interact with their customers. Everyone from small firms to Fortune Companies are racing to make their mark in cyberspace with their own “Home Pages” on the internet media (www). Internet growth is creating advertising opportunities for marketers. The number of Internet users around the world is constantly growing and so are Internet Marketing Consultants, Adwords Consultants in India and Internet Marketing Companies.

As Internet users are growing day by day; so are Internet advertisers because they can easily, effectively and efficiently communicate their products or services to targeted mass audience. Add to this the fact that Internet users are well educated with high incomes, it is only logical to conclude that Internet surfers are a desired target for advertisers. Other reasons why online advertising is growing rapidly are:

- Advertisement can reach very large number of potential buyers globally.
- New media superiority over other advertising medium
- Online advertisements are cheaper in comparison to traditional advertisement. There is no printing costs, no postage costs etc.
- Web page (advertisement) can be updated any time and changes or corrections are painless.
- Online advertisement works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
- In online advertisement specific interest groups or individuals can be targeted.
- New media convergence effectively use the convergence of text, audio, graphics, and animation.

Forms of online advertising The Internet is a great place to advertise. There are many forms of online advertising. Some of the main ones involved:

- E-mail sponsorship advertising
- Newsletter and E-zine advertising
- Rich media advertising (flash ads, Interstitials & Superstitials, streaming audio/video, etc)
- Pop-up/pop -under advertising
- Online banner advertising
- Sponsorship (web sites, e-mails, sweep stakes)
- Advertorial (Paid-for editorial) placements.

Benefits of www advertisements:
The Internet has great potential as media carrier compared to traditional media. It offers higher selectivity which is tailored to the users profile. The customer can also customize the adverts as he/she is in charge of his own navigation. Through the online advertising the advertiser can get quick, easy and inexpensive feedback in real time, which no other media offers, providing a higher feedback rate. Some other benefits of online advertising are as under:

- Online advertising facilitates the advertiser to reach an absolutely pinpointed and targeted audience.
- “Traditional advertising is usually a one-way mechanism there is no way for customers to act on the information in the advertisements. On the Internet, however, interested customers can click on a banner, learn more, and actually make purchase on the spot,” states Arti Dwarkadas, business director, Ogilvy Interaction.
- The Internet as a medium knows no demographic boundaries and gives the advertiser a huge audience to tap and build brand image if not sell products.
- Interactive nature of Internet allows for greater flexibility than traditional media in the type of information transmitted and the method of transmission.
- Online advertisement can facilitate purchase decision.
- Enhance customer company relationship.
- Protection of environment.
- Online advertisement expands the company’s market to global market.
- It is easy to create, and place, it saves time, labor and money.
- No loss of quality even after a very long period of time.

Limitations of online advertising
Research, reveals that not many companies take advantage of online advertising opportunity.
There are many reasons behind it. Some of the most common are as under:
- Online advertising is not simply a “Customer oriented” medium; it is a customer-dominated medium
- Online advertising is not emotional medium like T.V.; it is a cognitive medium
- Mindset shift in using online advertising
- Psychological fear of IT
- Infrastructure inadequacy
- High cost
- Limited space
- Limited information
- Users work on the net for a specific purpose; they are not interested in other things like advertising
- Company can’t target all the potential customers like those who are not Internet users
- Too many companies are trying to slice up a tiny online advertising pie, resulting in commoditisation of the business and leading to extreme competition pressure.
- Suggestions for online advertising
- Understanding the right way to advertise on the Internet is extremely important as the negative or downside potential is extremely great for a small start-up or medium sized firm.
Here are some suggestions for effecting online advertising:
- Make sure that the audience of the site matches with the audience you are advertising.
- Online advertising should be valued in terms of the value of the business it creates from the new users it attracts to your site.
- Placing advertisement in the right content vehicles.
- Determine optimal frequency can be the factor, which determines the effectiveness of any advertising campaign.
- Keep Innovating.
- Use of animation to attract the audience.
- An effective presentation simply shows your visitors the right answer to the questions they have.
- Keep it simple.
- Considering the human factor of selling on the web.
- Don’t forget to follow advertising ethics online.
- In almost all cases you want your message to be very short. People don’t have time to drill into your advertisement for meaning.
- Don’t make outrageous claims and don’t lie.
- Make sure that you offer some thing worthwhile.

Final Words: e-Marketing articles, resources and strategy
No doubt, online advertising offers potential benefits like targetability, tracking, deliverability, flexibility, interactivity, etc.; that are not available through traditional media. But it doesn’t mean that online advertising is the superb way of advertising. It has many limitations also. Success of online advertising requires sound strategy, management understanding, commitment and integration of Internet with companies overall marketing strategy. At this point, it is very hard to predict the future of online advertising because this industry is too young to allow internet marketing consultants to reach any concrete conclusion. Several factors will influence the future of online advertising like privacy issue, legal issue, and security issue, infra structural and above all market itself.