lg_cole_j.jpgI picked up from C|Net yesterday this really good article by Juan Cole on blog advertising (aka blog-vertising)--Blogs- The next big thing for advertisers?--and it's sibling article on Juan's own site--Informed Comment-Blog-Casting and the Future of Blog Advertising.  In both these articles Juan talks about the power of blogs in advertising.  He talks about the formation of blog ad networks--he uses the example of Liberal blogs--as the next force in advertising.  His main point is that advertisers want to broadcast their ads--that is cast the widest net possible to hit their demographic.  Kinda like seeing laundry detergent ads during Star Trek, the bet is somebody's spouse might be watching (yes, I'm generalizing that men watch Star Trek and women do laundry, I fully know is a gross over Blog Ads by Chitika generalization since I've always done the laundry in my house).  But Juan missed a huge opportunity though.  He points out that blogs have niche audiences, and niche audiences are small, but, as an advertiser wouldn't you want to advertise to your narrow target demographic?  Don't waste money on ads in places where only a small portion of the audience are your target, advertise where a large portion are your audience.  Yes, advertisers don't want to be inundated with requests for ads and sponsorships from very blog on the planet.  So I do agree that blog ad networks are very important.  For small, local, businesses, though I think a local, popular blog can be very cost effective in generating ad impressions, clicks, and sales.  Niche blogs are the real advertising gold mine.  Focus specific ads on specific blogs for specific products.  Coffee on a coffee blog, Beer on a micro brew blog, digital camera things in a digital photography blog.
 
View from the Isle has two sponsors right now.  Blogware sponsors the blog itself--thank you Ross , again--and Convoq sponsors my web conferencing--another thank you.  VancouverCoffee.ca is entertaining a sponsor.  A new blog Arieanna, Ianiv, and I will be starting on micro brew beers will also be looking for advertisers/sponsors.  After I wrote my posts about wanting a digital camera, and then holding off on buying it was invited to write about this experience on PhotographyHack.com.  So, I'm looking for a sponsor for that endeavor--essentially to get the digital camera in exchange for advertising in posts about digital photography.  Look at these examples.  Niche blogs, all widely read, well syndicated with good-excellent search engine rankings.  Advertising dollars spent on these sites will deliver ad right to the people most likely to act upon them .  This is blog-vertising at it's best, IMHO.
 
Hugh MacLeod also wrote about this topic and his realization that he has become a professional blog-vertiser.  Hey makes excellent points on the whole subject, but these two sets are the most salient, most interesting, and most powerful:
In a word- "Overheads".
1. A blogvertising campaign needs three things: an engaging blogger, an internet connection, and the cost of getting eyeballs in front of the homepage.

2. A traditional advertising campaign needs all sort of expensive stuff. Besides the expensive media and the insanely expensive production (they only REALLY want to sell you TV, let's stop kidding ourselves), it has to pay for an advertising agency, the agency's payroll (with all those lovely back-room jobs), the agency's rent on the fancy office in downtown Manhattan, the fancy designer furniture that fills the office etc etc.

3. The latter's final list is very long and all of it is insanely expensive. And unlike the blogvertising overheads, none of it is getting any cheaper.

There's another three points to consider:
1. There has to be authenticity and genuine alignment, or else it won't work. What the advertiser is doing and what I'm doing has to be somehow in sympatico, or else it's just like traditional advertising- useless, overpriced, interruptive, huckstering slush.

2. Juxtaposing my ideas with the advertiser's ideas inform both parties' agendae, so the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Working with gapingvoid made English Cut more fertile, and vice versa. Same with Thingamy and Stormhoek with myself. Two plus two equals five etc.

3. This allows me to actually test The Hughtrain in real life, not just write about it in theory.

Yep, works for me.
Tris Hussey is a professional blogger, the Chief Blogging Officer for Qumana Software, and Managing Director of Qumana Services.  He can be reached at tris AT qumana DOT com or tris AT trishussey DOT com.
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