Blogs And Blog Advertising

Published In The March 2005 Issue Of Target Marketing Magazine
Written By NETexponent CEO, Peter Figueredo

By: Peter Figueredo, CEO NETexponent

It seems that lately you cannot pick up a trade publication without reading about blogs. As an online marketing executive you may be wondering about this subject and how (if at all) it can help you meet your e-commerce objectives. This article takes a close look at this “buzz topic” in order to help you evaluate this emerging area of online marketing. This tactic could prove to be a very valuable marketing tool or a waste of time and money.

What Are Blogs?

According to Blogger www.blogger.com (a company bought by Google in early 2003 that provides users with an easy to use platform for building blogs) a blog, or weblog, is defined as follows:

A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world.

Your blog is whatever you want it to be. There are millions of them, in all shapes and sizes, and there are no real rules.

In simple terms, a blog is a web site, where you write stuff on an ongoing basis. New stuff shows up at the top, so your visitors can read what's new. Then they comment on it or link to it or email you. Or not.

Now that definition may be a little confusing but what it boils down to is that blogs are web sites where a people or businesses can post content on one or a variety of subjects. Other users can read these postings and discuss them through the web site. A great example of the how blogs have emerged as a valuable news source could be seen during the presidential election. A select few bloggers were granted press passes to both the Democratic and Republican national conventions for the purpose of reporting developments to their readers.

Why The Hype?

A blog gives the average person, with very little knowledge of web design, an opportunity to build a personal web site to discuss any subject they like. Their ease of use and support of free speech has helped the blogging world to grow exponentially. The world of blogs is vast and it covers limitless topics. Famous bloggers include people such as Al Roker (http://www.alroker.com/journal.cfm) and Jeff Bridges (http://www.jeffbridges.com/main.html).

Conversely, blog advertising has been growing slowly, very slowly. Typically a blog ad is sold on a cost per click basis and would appear as text or a display ad somewhere on the blog page with relevant content. The process is very similar to paid search engine marketing.

I know of only a few colleagues who have tested the waters and they have all found mixed results. A handful of companies have emerged to capitalize on this new marketing tactic and facilitate the process for advertisers. Essentially these companies have become ad networks for blogs, offering anyone with a blog the opportunity to monetize their content. Google has tied its AdSense product to Blogger for just this reason. In addition, a company called BlogAds (http://www.blogads.com/) has built a robust blog ad network.

Who Read Blogs?

According to a recent survey by over 17,000 blog readers (conducted by BlogAds http://www.blogads.com/survey/blog_reader_survey.html) , 61% of readers are over 30 and 75% earn more than $45,000 a year. A surprising 66.7% of blog readers have clicked on a blogad in the past. This study helps draw a picture of blog readers that may be very different then what you thought. A promising stat for e-commerce companies considering this ad medium is that most blog readers do shop online and indicate that they trust blogs as a valuable news source.

Should Blog Ads Be A Part Of Your Current Marketing Plan?

While some signs look promising for this online ad medium, this type of marketing has still not proven to be an extremely effective means of efficiently acquiring customers. On a cost per click basis the risk it is difficult to manage this form of advertising to a target cost per acquisition. Furthermore, blogs offer unique challenges in the areas of branding and control. Many of these blog ad networks have little control over the content on pages where ads are displayed. While the larger players, such as Google and BlogAds, claim to have sophisticated technology that scans the content of blogs to ensure their quality, they also acknowledge that the systems are not infallible. This offers a risk that many brand conscious advertisers should not take.

Budgets may be better spent on proven tactics such as search, affiliate, media buys, and email marketing. For the majority of e-commerce companies blog advertising should not be a part of their current marketing plan. It is wise to monitor the blog advertising space for future opportunities that may arise within a year or two.

However, blog ads may offer a unique opportunity for e-commerce companies with niche products and audiences. This is because a greater chance exists of finding a relevant blog to advertise with given the vast number of topics. Successful blogs develop an extremely loyal user base. They can also dominate search engines results for niche keywords and phrases as a result of the increased content produced by bloggers. This wealth of content is looked upon favorably by search engines when they determine keyword ranking based on web site content relevancy. Online marketers who sell niche products should look to test this medium as a way to hit their elusive target audience.

Conclusion

Paid search marketing pioneered the concept of displaying ads next to relevant content and the results have been extremely successful. Blog advertising will continue to grow slowly this year if for no other reason than the fact that search marketing budgets are increasing at a much faster pace than search inventory. Marketers who found search to be successful will be looking for alternative vehicles that can deliver similar results. Currently blog advertising is still too young for most e-commerce companies to benefit. However, this could change by the end of the year if a growth spurt even close to the one search marketing experienced occurs.

PETER FIGUEREDO is co-founder and CEO of NYC-based NETexponent (www.NETexponent.com), an online direct marketing agency for companies looking to maximize their online customer acquisitions.