In this step, decisions are made about the form, content, and design of the advertising message. In online advertising, a distinction is made between 1 Riemer, Kai; Totz, Carsten (2005): Der Onlinemarketingmix - Maßnahmen zurUmsetzung von Internetstrategien. Münster 2005.

• “Ads” - advertising materials placed on third-party websites; including integrated ads (directly embedded content such as advertising buttons and banners) 2 Fritz, Wolfgang; Kempe, Michael; Hauser, André (2006): Werbewirkung von LayerAds: Ergebnisse eines Online-Experiments. Braunschweig 2006. , keyword-dependent text ads 3 Greifeneder, Horst (2010): Erfolgreiches Suchmaschinen-Marketing. Wie Sie beiGoogle, Yahoo, MSN & Co. ganz nach oben kommen. 2. Aufl. Wiesbaden 2010. , layer ads (advertising materials displayed over the actual content of the page) and New Window Ads (advertising materials that open in a new browser window). These advertising materials primarily influence brand awareness, website traffic (visitor flow), and purchase intent. Context-dependent advertising media are considered highly efficient and relatively inexpensive for targeted advertising3 Greifeneder, Horst (2010): Erfolgreiches Suchmaschinen-Marketing. Wie Sie beiGoogle, Yahoo, MSN & Co. ganz nach oben kommen. 2. Aufl. Wiesbaden 2010. . Contact frequency, ad size, and multimedia content are cited as determinants of effectiveness.

• “Listing” - links and search services (e.g. links to one’s own website in search engines), a distinction is made between “Paid Listings” (paid text advertisements in the search results) and “Organic Listings” (free entries) 5 Fritz, Wolfgang (2008): Suchmaschinen-Marketing. Braunschweig 2008. . When using the internet, search engines are used most frequently compared to other services. The entries in the search engines primarily result in an increase in website traffic 1 Riemer, Kai; Totz, Carsten (2005): Der Onlinemarketingmix - Maßnahmen zurUmsetzung von Internetstrategien. Münster 2005. . To achieve a listing, the appropriate keywords (keywords or search terms) must be identified. This makes it possible to directly reach consumers with the advertising message who are interested in the products associated with the search term. To specifically achieve the free listing via “Organic Listing”, search engine optimization must be carried out7 Erlhofer, Sebastian (2011): Suchmaschinen-Optimierung. Das umfassende Handbuch ;[Grundlagen, Funktionsweisen und Ranking-Optimierung ; Planung und Durchführungfür Google und Co. ; Konversionsraten steigern, Google AdWords, Web Analytics ; dasStandardwerk, vollständig überarbeitet]. 5. Aufl. Bonn 2011. . The aim is, among other things, to achieve the highest possible match between the terms to which the website is assigned and the desired terms of the search engine's classification. Websites categorized as having the same topic are ranked according to their relevance to the specific search term and other non-public criteria (e.g., "PageRank"). The inclusion criteria of the respective search engine must also be considered. The determinants of information search on the Internet are primarily product knowledge, involvement and relative time expenditure 8 Spiekermann, Sarah; Strobel, Martin; Temme, Dirk (2002): Drivers and impedimentsof consumer online information search: Self-controlled versus agent-based search in ahigh involvement context. Berlin 2002. . This means that the better the internet user knows the product or the product features relevant to the purchase, and the smaller the perceived time expenditure for the search compared to the benefit of the search, the more time will be invested in the search.

• Advertising activities within the virtual marketplace, such as product recommendations9 Yang, Kun (2006): A conceptual framework for semantic web-based ecommerce. o.O.2006.

• Affiliate programs, online sponsoring, online PR and viral marketing are not discussed further here due to their overlap with remuneration policy and other communication policy instrumental variables.