Banner advertising offers the widest range of placement choice to any marketer, so it’s a great place to start. Contact a third party advertising network to track the effectiveness of your banner ads. One example of a company that does this is Commission Junction. This may sound like an easy solution to problematic accountability, but the Web is far too complex to accomplish this task alone. A third party network will give you precise control over the ad. An advertiser can look at a campaign report, see that a particular banner or site is performing miserably, and change the ad or the allocation. Every customer that contacts you through the Web comes from a traceable location. Why not make sure you are completely correct in identifying that location and proving which banners or Web-marketing choices work best?

You may feel like an outsider looking in when it comes to Web advertising because it isn’t your core business. However, it boils down to the same two key questions. How good is my message? How good is my tracking? They are simultaneous and interchangeable, and if you master them you will create a gap between yourself and the competition that is impassable. Think about how well you can execute both. No matter how advanced our technology becomes, these questions will never change. So, take the time now to develop a strategy that will work for you and give you a huge advantage over your competitors.