There are two major types of internet advertising: Banner advertising and pop-up advertising. Banner advertisements are located on the page that is being viewed. A pop-up ad is a type of window that appears on top of the browser window of a web site that a person has visited. The business of pop-up ads has literally exploded. You open one window and another one comes popping up, you close this new window and another one opens up. It seems like it is impossible to have a surfing experience now where you do not encounter a pop-up ad. Many companies prefer to use pop-up ads because it is easier than developing brand awareness.

Online advertising was supposed to pay back start-up and operational costs and lead to profitability even as it financed free access to costly content. This is because most companies feel advertising is

Another negative aspect of internet advertising is free advertising. Free advertising misses an important element in signaling consumers. Information about the financial health and future prospects of advertisers is suggested only by paid ads. Free advertisements tell the consumer nothing about the advertiser. This simple lesson seems to be lost on the Internet which is swamped by free hoardings: free classifieds, free banner ads, free ad exchanges. Worse, it is often difficult to tell a paid ad from a free one.

More recently, people’s e-mails have been subject a similar type of advertising. This new wave of advertising is known as spam. Spam is an e-mail message sent to a large number of people without their permission, also known as junk e-mail. Spam is usually sent to promote a product or service. They send out the mail hoping for a tiny return-from less than 1 percent up to 5 percent. Spammers don't care about the large number of people they irritate or offend, because there always seems to be those few people who visit their advertised Web site or order their product.

Other major search engine sites are using another approach and regulating their advertisements. MSN, for example, said it limits the frequency of pop-up ads to only one per visitor every five days. "We have had no consumer complaints about pop-up ads due to the fact that we do regulate these ads through frequency control, so there is not oversaturation," an MSN representative said. Yahoo uses this method as well, targeting advertisements to specific categories and visitors. Terra Lycos says it limits the number of pop-ups that appear on the site for any one visitor, but pop-ups include less than 1 percent of the total ads displayed on its sites. The company does not have plans to reduce the number further.

A new feature may make it harder for people to avoid these windows. It is a technique called the "kick through." It allows advertisers to direct a person to another Web site by simply moving their cursor across the pop-up ad without even clicking.

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