Targeted advertising is definitely the preferred type of advertising you want to have on your site, purely because it fits in more easily with your content and it will also attract more interest from your visitors. Pay per click is usually the choice for payment method in this form of advertising.
You will also often achieve a higher click through rate on any targeted PPC ads you use on your site, as opposed to using more general ads. This is because you will already have targeted web site traffic coming to your site, which is naturally attracted to the subject of your site. This traffic may come from links, search engines and advertising, but wherever it comes from it is in your best interests to make sure that you can provide other sources of information for them to click on if they wish – and that includes targeted ads to attract their attention.
Some people think that this encourages people to leave your site as soon as they arrive on it, but if your own website is built professionally and contains valuable content then you can rest assured that people will want to explore it. Everyone surfs off elsewhere in the end, and if that happens as a result of them clicking on one of the targeted ads you have included on your site, then you will at least make some money from their departure.
Pay per click targeted advertising works at its best when you tap into the traffic you are already getting to your website. But you can tap into that audience in different ways, for example by targeting a specific geographical area in the event that your business is local rather than global in nature. You will obviously get a much better click through rate if you are based in the US and your ads are targeted towards US customers rather than those living all around the world.
Many targeted ppc advertising programs also allow you to manipulate the appearance of the ads themselves. By doing this to ensure they fit in with the overall color scheme and appearance of the rest of your website, you are more likely to get even better results. Some people even opt to remove the borders around the ads so that they blend in more readily with the actual content.
It is clear that targeted ads are far more successful than any generic ads could ever be. By knowing your audience and providing the ads they want to see, you will be maximizing the revenue you receive from this area.