When you access a site on the Internet, a rectangular or flashing box appears at the top or bottom of your Web page.
These boxes are called banner ads. They refer to an advertising graphic hyperlinked to the URL of the advertiser. These are usually animated GIF images, though we are seeing an increasing number of MacroMedia Flash banners. In general, the full banner size is 468 x 60 pixels, and most sites limit the file size of the graphic to 12K or 16K for easy download.
Banner ads are considered to be one of the most effective promotional tools to capture Internet users and stimulate on- line purchase. To explore this broad and evolving type of advertising, here are some of the terms you should learn.
Hits
The word 'hits' does not mean popular songs here. It is a term to describe the number of times a Web server or Internet user has been 'hit' by a request for a Web page or a graphic image. Usually people use 'hits' to refer to the number of times a Web page has been seen, but to be precise, the better term is 'page views' or 'page impressions'. Page views or page impressions mean the number of times a Web page has been requested by the server.