I’ve been talking a little bit and thinking even more about advertisers, advertising, and getting paid lately. So it isn’t all that surprising to me that Mark(45n5)’s post entitled “How do you Treat your Advertisers?” got me thinking.
Mark recently sold the first of what I’m sure will become many text links on his blog at 45n5.com and as a bonus to the advertiser, put up a post with a link to the advertiser. Aside from some issues pointed out in the comments of his post, I immediately thought that it was a great idea. An excellent way to reward advertisers for their patronage.
Then I started thinking more. What makes an advertiser keep coming back? In the case of a Text Link Ad, they undoubtedly want a text link from your site. They are even willing to pay to have it there. Monthly. But, if I was an advertiser, would I keep paying monthly after a permanent text link was added to reward me? I have to say no. Why pay for the milk if the cow is free?
The other point I thought upon is that in a way, a post about the advertiser(solely to add the link to the advertiser) could be construed as a paid post. They paid, you posted. I’ve stated before that I have no qualms with paid posting as long as it is accompanied by a disclaimer, but some people do.
Some interesting things to think about, no? I still think it could be a good idea, but it certainly needs some refinement. Perhaps a person could e-mail the advertiser offering an “add-on service” of a permanent link for a multiple of the already paid monthly rate. Say 5X? If TLA charges $25 for a link on this blog, and I get a company to pay $125 for a permanent link, that’s pretty good. A plus to that is that it would be without the loss of 50% due to the TLA commission.
I think I’d have to reread the TLA TOS before I went anyfurther with that train of thought, but it certainly could be a great way to reward both yourself and your advertisers.
Technorati Tags: advertising, TLA, text link ads, advertisers
About Shane Ede
Good post and thanks for the mention.
“Perhaps a person could e-mail the advertiser offering an “add-on service””
of course there is nothings stopping you from trying to “upsell” your advertisers, however thanks for the sake of thanks counts most.
“In the case of a Text Link Ad, they undoubtedly want a text link from your site. They are even willing to pay to have it there. Monthly. But, if I was an advertiser, would I keep paying monthly after month”
1. there is a HUGE difference between a sitewide link and a single link.
2. Not everybody buys text links ads for seo purposes, many people actually buy the links for the traffic (which they hope to convert).
Currently my only text link ads sold on other sites, which renew every month, are from people that have an offer,product, or something to gain from the traffic.
If the ROI is there, they will keep paying you. And those are the people i want to attract first, people trying to game google second 😉
Thanks again.
Thanks for stopping by Mark!
I have to agree that there is a huge difference between sitewide links and a single link. However there has to be some tradeoff there with sitewide vs. single and temporary vs. permanent.
I would think that having one link that lasts forever would be just as valuable as a temporary sitewide link in the long run.
I also agree with your second point, in that if I was looking for an immediate boost in traffic, a sitewide link would be much preferable to a permanent link.
I agree. Temp vs. Permanent, and site-wide vs. in a post that is destined to be buried after a while are both a matter of trade-offs. Personally, I don’t think I would take Mark’s approach unless I truly supported the company that is advertising. It’s one thing to have an advertiser simply because they pay. It’s an entirely different event when you applaud them on your site.
That being said, thanks are indeed in order when someone advertises. How ’bout a discount or a fruit basket 🙂
If you think about how newspaper’s deal with advertisers, it’s a bit different. They actively seek out advertisers, then award loyalty with competitive advertising discount packages, free upgrades, etc. They do not write stories about them because of it (for obvious reasons), which is essentially what writing a “thank you” note is doing.
As for the “paid” posts, there is a difference there too between a normal post, and a post you are getting paid to write specifically. In general, if you are attempting to maintain an objective news blog of reputable presence, then you shouldn’t do it. Considering I’ve never been on such a blog…
Frankly, I like your stance of inserting a disclaimer in your paid posts.