Nothing can be more irritating then never-ending pop ups rising up on your computer screen, interrupting your browsing experience. In a determined attempt to reach busy consumers, many business owners are using pop ups to get their message out. But like other unfavorable marketing methods such as telemarketing and spam, consumers are fighting back with browser software built to "kill" pop ups, collectively known as pop up blockers. Where does a business owner turn to reach consumers without ruffling any feathers? Are pop ups still a viable method of advertising?

Pop ups may have a limited life span but their results, if the campaign is executed properly, can still be effective for marketing specialists today. Much of the complaint has really been caused by questionable business practices of sites and free web applications installing "spyware" into users' computers, unleashing a stream of irritating distractions that slow down Internet connection performance. Some of these pop ups are completely unrelated to the visitor's search. Consumers are also concerned with privacy issues and the spyware capturing their personal information. These are all very real concerns and that's why consumers are justified in blocking much of this activity.

So when and how should a business owner use pop ups, if at all? In general if you're operating a site ending in an edu, org, or gov avoid using pop ups on your site like the plague. Visitors to these types of sites don't respond well to pop ups. But even if you have a commercial site, you must constantly evaluate traffic patterns before and after implementing pop ups. Below are some good ways to use pop ups on a site are the following:

1. Bring attention to a free newsletter.

2. Special offers

3. Lower priced offer if user leaving site.

4. Survey if users leaving site

In many cases, vendors have a network of high-traffic sites that have agreed to display related pop up ads on their site for a fee. Traffic vendors also buy expired domains that still receive some traffic. Once a person visits these expired domains your pop up ad will appear, usually related in some way to the expired domain. The other way of course, is contacting a traffic vendor that gives away some sort of free application and installs an application that displays ads during a visitor's web experience. This method is the most invasive of all the methods covered in this article. And as I mentioned before, the source of most pop up complaints. That's something to keep in mind if you are considering using this method.

Usually pop ups have a very low response rate. Oftentimes, you will have a response rate considerably lower than 1%. For this reason, pop ups are good for branding and special coupons. Make sure your pop up ad isn't your home page but a special page designed to instantly grab your visitors' attention.

So you can see there are two very distinct ways of using pop ups: implementing a few on your site or contacting a vendor to distribute a pop up ad for you. Obviously, with the second method you have the potential of reaching far more visitors. You can often purchase thousands of visitors for less than $50. The first method, using them on your own site, is mainly to capture visitor information and draw attention to a section of your site. It is a very useful way to get an immediate response from your prospects and it's a good idea to use in conjunction with your pop up ad campaign.

Finally, a great way to implement a pop up ad campaign is to immediately use a few on your site, tracking viewer response and comments. A great place to start is use two pop ups. Use one, an entry popup, for advertising a special offer and another, an exit pop up, to determine why the visitor is leaving before making a purchase. You can find out how to create your own exit and entry pop ups by visiting a web developer web site like http://devshed.com

After testing various pop ups on your own site, use the most effective ones for a paid pop up ad campaign. You can find companies willing to distribute your pop up by visiting your favorite search engine. Enter "pop up traffic" in the search field and take some time evaluating testimonials, terms, and references of several companies.