Online advertising isn’t quite the same as advertising anywhere else. On the web, ads are everywhere. In fact it is safe to say that the Internet is one gigantic billboard.

Online advertising also differs from regular advertising in that glitzy, gimmicky logos or images or even taglines don’t cut it. Usually, the people who use the Internet are looking for specific items of information and just tune out the various gimmicks that companies use for their commercials.

This may be because when the net was young and still mostly dial-up, the ads were banner types which were pretty but really heavy. Though broadband has now replaced dial-up, Internet users prefer ads that are light and easy and preferably unobtrusive to their research.

What is the same, whether you advertise online or offline is that people connect with people. In general, they respond better to ads that appeal to their values or feature something they can relate to. They relate better to commercials that feature people.

For example, if your product is about health care, they are more likely to respond to a doctor than to anyone else. If your product is about basketball shoes, they are more likely to respond to a basketball player. Basically, you choose a spokesperson that your prospective buyers will believe or listen to. The only exception to this rule seems to be celebrities. For some reason, people will believe almost anything celebrities say, whether or not they themselves are suited for the product or not.

Now, hiring a celebrity to endorse your product can be a really expensive thing. Most celebrities charge high, after all you are trying to ride on to their popularity. Their manager will make sure that they get the most out of being your commercial model.

Unlike regular advertising, however, there is a way to cash in on the popularity of celebrities without having to pay an exorbitant rate. They are called celebrity fan sites. These are sites about a celebrity that may or may not be owned or maintained by the celebrity who is featured. Usually these sites are run by a fan of the celebrity, hence the term celebrity fan site.