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Disguised commercials in blog feeds

DonXML has brought up a new idea on supporting blogging communities.  The short of it is to allot sponsors a blog entry in your main feed and then to also create a seperate blog just for sponsors. I like the idea, and one of the points I think is important is this one:

"Also long as the ads are done in a similar style to the rest of the site, it will fit in with the site and not take away from it."

On the weblogs.asp.net feed Paschal pretty much already does this.  He markets products all the time and those products gain some buzz.  The thing is, he writes about them as if he is analyzing them and then only provides one or two images at the most.

This doesn't bother me and I think that it would provide good exposure for possible sponsors.

Good idea, Don.

Published Jan 19 2004, 04:34 PM by AdamKinney
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Comments

 

Paschal said:

Thanks Adams to mention my blog. Indeed I like to test some products and mention them if they are good.
I have the advantage to not working for any commercial company, so my goal is just to promote what I think is a good component.

I also tend to talk about stuff I use myself not just because I see a link.

I dislike the use that some people have on thir blog to advertise for their opwn product. I think it's a dishonest attitude regarding a community.

Those people should keep their marketing out of this place !
January 19, 2004 12:15 PM
 

DonXML Demsak said:

The question of commercials isn't relevant to weblogs.asp.net, because MS supports this site. But for sites like LonghornBlogs.com, PDCBloggers.com, and high activity personal blogs (like Scoble’s), these “commercials” would be a good way to generate some money that would go towards offsetting the costs associated with hosting the blog.

As for advertising their own product on a weblogs.asp.net, I guess I’m just as guilty as those that Paschal accuses, since I advertise my SharpVectors open source project. Or, does open source projects get held to a different standard? Just because they are open source doesn’t mean that people don’t generate revenue from them.

DonXML Demsak
January 19, 2004 1:46 PM
 

Paschal said:

Well Don I make a HUGE difference between people who advertise smartly and the one (don't ask me names please) who spent their time hammering their product on this community blog.

I am also working on an open source project, well I don't intend to make any business out of this, but this is another story ;-)

IMHO we are submerged by ads everywhere so I am not sure it's a good idea in weblogs.asp.net to have ads.
January 19, 2004 1:59 PM
 

Adam Kinney said:

I should have specified that I do not mean weblogs.asp.net and as Don pointed out neither did he. This is just for communities like longhornblogs.com where one company has decided to shoulder the expense with only their name as a host and that's their payback.

Open Source projects are the greatest thing to advertise. If you are advertising a good code library or application that saves me time and I can use it for free, that's awesome. Sure it might lead into money for you as become a proclaimed "guru", but if we both benefit fomr it I think its good.

Maybe we need some way to rate entries with interest points. That way if someone keeps talking about some product they sell, then they might get the hint when many "not interested" ratings have been submitted. And if they don't get the hint then maybe the Community Admin would.
January 19, 2004 2:10 PM

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