Wasting your online ad dollars?

A report on internet traffic released yesterday by comScore reveals that some of the top internet properties in the United States receive a majority of their visitors from overseas. During the month of September 2006, 14 of the top 25 sites had more visitors from abroad, including all of the top 5 (Yahoo, Time Warner, Microsoft, Google, and eBay).

US vs. Foreign Visitors - Top 5 Web Properties

For web site owners, this news is more than just an interesting statistic. It's a reminder of the importance of geographic targeting of our online advertising. If you're not seeking these international visitors, a large portion of your advertising spend on major web sites may be wasted on visitors that you're not looking for. But you are paying for them.

Geographic Targeting

Google AdWords, Yahoo Search Marketing, and Microsoft AdCenter all offer various options for targeting your online marketing to specific cities or regions.  Targeting is well worth the extra effort required to set it up, since every time your ad is clicked by someone outside your target area, you're throwing money away. If you're running pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, take special care to understand the tools that let you limit your campaign to the areas you really want to reach.

Advertise Locally

An alternative to geographic targeting on the major PPC networks is advertising on local web sites that specifically serve the market you want to reach This option can be especially appealing to small local businesses. When you run ads on local web sites, your audience is targeted for you, so there's no additional work required on your part. As an added benefit, spending a portion of your advertising budget with local publishers may build some goodwill within your local business community, since your ad dollars probably mean more to a small local site than they do to an internet juggernaut like Google.

Keep Your Ads on Target

To maximize the impact of your marketing dollars, some sort of geographic targeting is essential. Advertising networks such as AdWords have made it easier than ever for a small business to start advertising online, but unless you're willing to learn how to reach only audience you're seeking, you may be wasting a significant chunk of your marketing budget.