Web Text Links Act as New Online Ads

April 20 -- Banners, skyscrapers, billboards, and pop-ups … it's almost impossible to go online and not be deluged (or annoyed) by some form of commercial advertising.

So now, online advertisers and Web sites are beginning to try a new tactic: Ads that aren't flashy, and which, in fact, are practically hidden within a Web page's text.

Vibrant Media Inc. in San Francisco, recently introduced such an online ad service called IntelliTXT.

Like other ad networks, the service delivers online pitches to participating members based on "keywords" on the Web sites' pages. For instance, a Web site devoted to the Java programming language may get ads related to computers and software. Meanwhile, a coffee site mentioning "java" would might receive pitches related to the caffeinated beverage.

But unlike other contextual ad services, the advertisements aren't animated or graphical images that require a set space on the individual Web pages.

Instead, the actual relevant text on the Web page becomes highlighted by a green, double underline that looks similar to an ordinary "hyperlink" — text that normally takes users to a related story or other resource on the Web.

When visitors move the computer's mouse over the distinctive text, a small window pops up, delivering a small text-based ad.

A recent survey found that 80 percent of all online users are frustrated by annoying pop-up ads, according to Denise Garcia, principal analyst with GartnerG2 in Framingham, Mass. And response rates to online rates remain particularly low — less than five percent of all users will click on a graphical Web ad.

So Doug Stevenson, chief executive officer of Vibrant Media, says the company's new ad approach makes better sense, since the online audience is already comfortable with embedded text links.

And by using as its ad medium a Web page's actual text — the content that surfers log on to see in the first place — Web users are much more likely to see and click on it.