NY Times says, “Bloggers Finally Sell Out”. It’s About Time!
The piece in today’s New York Times, As Corporate Ad Money Flows Their Way, Bloggers Risk Their Rebel Reputation, is of course nothing new to those of us who have been blogging for years and years now. We’ve seen countless stories about how Google Adsense, Blogads, and others have enabled bloggers with a means to earn a living.
However, what is interesting about the piece is the story angle of linking blogs not just with advertisers, but with Fortune 500 advertisers, something that most in the blogging world a year ago thought impossible (not me). Yes, bloggers are selling out, finally. Why shouldn’t they?
Businesses have noticed the growing readership and influence of these Internet postings and are spending $50 million to $100 million this year on blog advertising and marketing, said Charlene Li, an analyst at Forrester Research, a company that looks at the impact of technology on business and consumers. Recognizing that blogs have become more mainstream, companies are paying for advertisements or mentions on blogs, courting blog writers with public relations efforts and inviting writers to come blog on one of their corporate sites.
Time for my shameless self-promotion.
I was interviewed for the piece and was quoted as saying, “The attitude has completely changed from where it was two years ago and even a year ago,” said Jim Kukral, the publisher of ReveNews, a site about making money from Web logs. “People have started to realize that, hey, this is fun; we’ve proven it’s fun; I enjoy doing it; now let’s apply a few advertising techniques and make some money.”
What didn’t make it into the piece from my half-hour phone chat with the reporter was a discussion about how bloggers use their blogs to influence. But that’s another blog, or another story probably. Well, it should be.
Jason Calacanis of Weblogsinc, owned by AOL, was obviously mentioned as his blog network frequently associates with large brand advertisers who want “in” on the blog bandwagon. Also mentioned was our very own ReveNews blogger Brian Clark, owner of GMD Studios and evil ad genius extraordinare, who masterfully created the A3 Audi campaign that has set the pace for excellence in creative media online using blog ads, among other techniques.
