Try out several search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo! etc.). Perform a number of keyword searches. How do the various search engines return the results? Can you determine which results are natural versus paid? Do you get the same results from every engine? If not, why do you suppose you do not? If you were an advertiser, on which search engine would you choose to advertise? Why?
Visit several Internet portals (Yahoo, MSN, AOL). Click through a few topics and try to find evidence of paid advertising. What forms did they take? Do you think they would be effective if you were in their target audience? Click on some advertisers' links. Did they bring you to a landing page that did a good job drawing you into their Product or service?
Visit fan pages of companies on Facebook. How do these companies engage their fans?
X-Scream magazine, which is dedicated to extreme sports of all kinds, would like to dedicate some of its advertising budget to banner ads. Taking into account the target market this magazine would have, find three Web sites its consumers might visit and design a banner ad that would motivate them to learn more about (and subscribe to) the magazine.
