The most exciting thing in years has come to paid advertising: Google Remarketing.

The first time I experienced Google Remarketing was a couple of months ago when I was shopping online for an elliptical machine. I simply searched “ellipticals” on Google and started reading reviews and visiting websites of different brands. Then I paused my search and decided I would choose later.

The next day I noticed that an ad for one of the brands I had been shopping for was loading on my local newspaper website. “Wow, these guys are really advertising everywhere,” I thought to myself…. until I noticed the very same ads were on every other site I looked at, as well. This was too coincidental. So I started to dig, and discovered that all of this was part of a new program from Google.

Here’s how it works for the advertiser: Using Google Adwords, you set up graphic or text ads and link them to specific pages on your site. Google generates code that you insert on each applicable page. When a user visits the page, a “DoubleClick” or “DoubleDart” cookie is inserted. This cookie will automatically load ads on other pages around the internet that participate in the ad network (and that’s a whole lot of sites). The ads will only load for people who have already been to the specific page.

It’s all a little controversial right now because, technically, Google is storing information about sites you have visited. You can actually go into your browser or Google preferences and inhibit Google’s ability to advertise to you in this way, but most people would not care or even think to do this.

So why is this so amazing for everyone with a website? Consider how long you take to book your vacation or research a purchase online. In this day and age, people are over-saturated with buying decisions and the purchase process can take days, weeks, or even months. Being in the right place at the right time is more crucial then ever. With Google Remarketing you are able to keep your ads in front of prospective customers long after they have left your site. The reinforcement is incredible. I would guess that 90% of your site visitors have no idea what Google Remarketing is — so when your ads show up, your potential customer gets the impression that you are advertising all over the place.

But here’s the best part: The cost can be minimal because you are only advertising to people who have already been to your site. You’re only paying for their clicks, as opposed to everyone who is searching. And, if you combine Remarketing with Adwords where you have people clicking on your site and leaving quickly, ads will now load for days or months afterwards, thereby reinforcing your brand and your messaging.

P.S. You are probably going to start seeing Ads for our company show up all over the internet now.

Watch a movie that explains it here.