SubscribeFuture Changes in 2009 – Part 3: Advertising
This is the third in a series about the changes taking place on this blog in 2009. In Part 1, I wrote about the new name, and in Part 2, I wrote about how I’m increasing industry coverage. Now let’s look at advertising.
A study conducted last fall by JupiterResearch showed that blogs are among the most trusted sources of information for purchasing decisions: “Half of those surveyed said they found blogs useful for purchase information, and 56 percent said blogs with a niche focus and topical expertise were key sources.”
What about ads? According to the survey, “40 percent of blog readers have taken action as a result of viewing an ad on a blog; 50 percent of frequent blog readers say this is the case.”
So, could I design something that combines readers’ need for trusted, high-quality information on wiki & enterprise social software tools, adoption strategies, and uses with vendors’ desire to reach the audience most likely to pay attention to their message?
The advertising system on Future Changes is designed to do this in a way that takes advantage of the primary reason people come to blogs – to read, useful, fresh information.
It is partially modeled after systems like The Deck, an ad network whose members are blogs with niche focuses on topics like: industrial design, typography, and graphic design.
Advertising on Future Changes includes a 120×90 pixel image and up to 100 characters of descriptive text. This appears in the sidebar on the right, and ads from several companies are already there.
But that’s not all. Advertising also includes the opportunity to contribute guest articles to the blog. Here’s an example from Jason Rothbart of GroupSwim:
That’s the kind of guest article I’m looking for, because it gives readers useful information that’s directly related to the their interests. It also establishes Jason as someone worth listening to, and gets people interested in learning more, which naturally means a visit to GroupSwim’s website. That’s much more effective than a sales pitch people will detect and ignore.
So, if this appeals to you, and you’d like to give my readers useful information and let them explore your products and services, please get in touch.
my 2 euro cents,
-Stefan"
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