- Published: Oct 8, 2024
- 10 min. read
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Celeste YatesContent Writer
- Celeste has worked in the online marketing space for twenty years. She has written for sectors including tourism, sustainability, education, lifestyle, food, and marketing. You can find her work featured by Green Building Media South Africa, Stodels Gardening, and The Post House Hotel. In magazines, you may have seen her in The Cape Times, Oprah South Africa, and The Property Magazine. While you can find her writing up on the latest SEO trends and exploring digital techniques during the day, her love of story-telling carries on in enriched games and books after hours.
Looking for the best places to advertise online? Getting your ads in front of as many eyes as possible is a challenge fit for the Internet, but with a variety of platforms, it’s difficult to pick the most effective one. While showcasing your services and products, you need to use the right websites for a profitable pay-per-click (PPC) campaign.
Looking for a specific plateform? Jump to the best places to advertise your business:
- Advertise on Google Ads
- Advertise with Microsoft Ads
- Advertise with Meta
- Advertise with Youtube
- Advertise with Amazon
- Advertise with Pinterest
- Advertise with LinkedIn
- Advertise with X
That’s why we’ve compiled a list of the nine best places to advertise online so that you can attract and convert your target audience, plus give your company the return on investment (ROI) it wants.
Audience size | Best for | |
Google ads | 93% of search engine searches | High traffic and sales. Can reach a broad audience. |
Microsoft ads | +1 billion users | Business-focused companies. More niche, personlized campaigns. |
Instagram ads | 1.4 billion users | Campaigns with good visuals, for example ecommerce sites. |
Facebook ads | 3 billion users | Good for consumer products and services. Especially local ads. |
Youtube ads | 2.7 billion users | Brands that want to focus on content or awareness with educational/tutorial videos. |
X ads | 535 million users | Better for B2B and time-sensitive promotions. |
1. Advertise on Google Ads
Google Ads has led the industry and outperformed many rivals, winning its status as the go-to platform for online advertising. As one of the best places to advertise your business, it can help you meet your marketing goals through both search and display networks.
The search network is where you can bid on keywords for ads in Google search results.
Keywords and long-tail keywords have specific values, depending on their level of popularity (or search volume) and desirability (or competition) among companies. Many keywords have considerable competition, but you can find the appropriate terms for your business and budget.
After people type in their questions and scroll through results, the search results page features ads around the organic results. The ads appear at the top and bottom, and each paid ad gets labeled to tip off searchers.
The display network expands your reach to Google-owned websites, like Google Maps and Gmail, and partner websites. The auction process for the display network lands you space on these pages rather than search results.
Google Ads develops better conversion rates and drives website traffic, and it uses smart technology to adapt to your needs. The setup is simple for first-timers, so you can launch into the promotional tool without wasting time.
2. Advertise on Microsoft Ads (formerly Bing)
Microsoft Advertising, formerly known as Bing Ads, operates similarly to Google, although their user base is smaller. Not all searchers stick with Google, which is why Microsoft claims the third-largest share of the search market. Your company can take advantage of this share in your advertising campaign.
Microsoft Advertising also offers another perk. Their audience spends 36 percent more when shopping online from their desktop than typical Internet searchers, so not only can Microsoft Advertising bring more conversions but also higher-value ones. With a sizeable crowd and potentially fewer businesses competing for keywords, Microsoft Advertising is also considered one of the best places to advertise a business online.
You can create custom bids for relevant keywords, and your search-specific ads can line the side, top, and bottom of organic searches. They have also added their AI assistant to the platform, Copilot. Copilot enables users to create AI-generated images, give suggestions on tone and call-to-actions (CTA).
Microsoft Advertising covers all of Microsoft ecosystems including:
- Yahoo
- AOL
- Microsoft Games
- XBox
- And others
With this additional coverage, your promotions can earn extra exposure across the web.
3. Advertise on Meta Business
Another one of the best places to advertise online are prominent social media outlets, especially Facebook and Instagram, have honed their advertisement venues, and they can appeal to an audience uniquely. That’s why they serve as one of the best places to advertise your business.
You can advertise on Facebook and Instagram, using the Meta Ads platform. It offers unmatched access into niche interests and broad markets, and can also target demographics like age and region with precision. Focusing on audience targeting means your ads go beyond keywords. You can spruce up your promotions on these social sites with visual aids, which can maximize engagement. Videos and images attached to the text in your ad can earn more people’s attention.
With the platform, you can also branch out further into carousel ads, where viewers can swipe through corresponding products, and collection ads, where viewers can click on products within a picture. These can benefit your business if you’re an image-heavy company.
The range of places where ads can show up is another plus. Ads can feature in the newsfeed, the side panel, and the messenger area. You can also choose to boost an existing post, or create a new ad.
4. Advertise on Amazon
Amazon is another one of the best places to advertise online.
It’s the third most popular advertising platform (behind Google and Facebook) and attracts a massive amount of consumers. For perspective, Amazon features more than 300 million active user accounts, plus more than 100 million Amazon Prime members.
Whether you sell your products on or off Amazon, you can advertise on the ecommerce platform. Amazon ads for Amazon sellers include:
- Sponsored Products
- Sponsored Brands
- Sponsored Display
- Amazon Stores
If you don’t sell on Amazon, you can take advantage of the following ad types:
- Video ads
- Display ads
- Custom ads
These ads can appear on Amazon.com, as well as Amazon-owned sites and Amazon devices.
Take advantage of Amazon’s huge audience and growing advertising options by launching a campaign. If you need help getting started with Amazon ads, WebFX can help. We’re a trusted Amazon advertising agency for companies that sell on and off Amazon.com.
5. Advertise on YouTube
Visitors on YouTube watch approximately one billion hours of video every day.
With the high consumption of videos, investing in video ads is a lucrative choice. As video ads perform differently than picture or text ads, payment is dependent on someone choosing to view or click on your ad. YouTube is under the umbrella of Google Ads, but their services can help you curate a video, even if you’re starting from scratch. They highlight a range of creative platforms to set your video advertising in motion.
YouTube Ads are captivating, and they can capitalize on the habits of technology users.
6. Advertise on LinkedIn
LinkedIn, a social network site for business professionals, can get the word out about your company through sponsored or dynamic ads. Their ad system caters to the niche of business-to-business (B2B) companies, so you can connect to decision makers.
Even for business-to-consumer (B2C) organizations, LinkedIn is an excellent place to advertise online. You can use LinkedIn, for example, to launch a recruiting ad campaign, which is useful when you’re looking to attract experienced or passive candidates in your industry. The ads can appear in the right column and the newsfeed, or they can show as sponsored InMail messages or posts. These inbox interactions make advertising direct and give the sense of a personal request.
You can target your ads based on industry or location, but you can also make them specialized to business size, position, seniority, and more. LinkedIn ad auctions operate on audiences, like Facebook.
7. Advertise on Pinterest
Pinterest users are actively seeking out ideas, so they’re apt to click on links. On the digital pinboard, your ads appear as promoted pins, blending into the other image and text combinations.
Traffic, awareness, and engagement are the top marketing goals of Pinterest ads so that you can coordinate them with your overall business objective. For example, maybe you want to increase awareness for a brand-new product to drive sales. There are various types of Pinterest ads that can help you reach your target audience, including promoted pin, carousel, and video ads. The social website has a PPC framework and adequate analytics to guide your campaign. Pinterest Ads have an impressive impact on their users, and they achieve profitable sales results.
8. Advertise on X (Twitter)
Although X, formerly known as Twitter, has a broad array of users, there are a significant number of professionals on this social media platform. This can benefit B2B companies, but there are more applications for X Ads. Younger individuals also make up a critical part of the audience. X is a primarily text-based social media network, although pictures and videos circulate, too. You can use hashtags, tweets, and trends as ads, or you can promote a trend. It’s also one of the best places to advertise online because of its vast targeting options.
Keywords are available for bidding, but that’s not the only option. You can also target audiences and remarket to website visitors, past followers, and more. Twitter is a valuable engagement tool for advertising that can bump up ROI.
Learn more about Twitter advertising costs to get started.
Best Practices for Online Advertising
There are a few pointers that apply to online advertising, regardless of what platform or channel you decide to use. Here are some top tips to keep in mind when you run your campaigns on the best places to advertise online:
- Clearly define your objective: Remember to set specific goals that ensure your campaigns are aligned with your business strategy. If you need a place to start, look into doing goals around the SMART strategy.
- Understand your audience: Do thorough research into your audience to identify their demographics, interests and online behavior. This will also help you understanding the tone and pain points to use with your campaigns.
- Do multiple ad formats: Don’t limit yourself to simple images. Use video, sound, carousels, and even infographics to reach a broader audience.
- Personalize: You have the ability to personalize your message and campaign for specific audience types with online advertising. You don’t have to spend a large budget on a broad group. Rather, spend smaller amounts and diversity to really create messages for the individual.
Get the best ROI from advertising online
When it comes to paid social vs. paid search ads, taking advantage of the best places to advertise online can amplify your marketing efforts. Additional help from WebFX, however, can maximize the results, impact, and ROI of your ad campaign.
See how WebFX can boost your profits by browsing our PPC management services today!
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Celeste has worked in the online marketing space for twenty years. She has written for sectors including tourism, sustainability, education, lifestyle, food, and marketing. You can find her work featured by Green Building Media South Africa, Stodels Gardening, and The Post House Hotel. In magazines, you may have seen her in The Cape Times, Oprah South Africa, and The Property Magazine. While you can find her writing up on the latest SEO trends and exploring digital techniques during the day, her love of story-telling carries on in enriched games and books after hours.
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Plan Your Marketing BudgetTable of Contents
- 1. Advertise on Google Ads
- 2. Advertise on Microsoft Ads (formerly Bing)
- 3. Advertise on Meta Business
- 4. Advertise on Amazon
- 5. Advertise on YouTube
- 6. Advertise on LinkedIn
- 7. Advertise on Pinterest
- 8. Advertise on X (Twitter)
- Best Practices for Online Advertising
- Get the Best ROI from Advertising Online
Maximize Your Marketing ROI
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Craft a tailored online marketing strategy! Utilize our free Internet marketing calculator for a custom plan based on your location, reach, timeframe, and budget.
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