Are you happy to cut out the middle man?
An advertising network is simply a middle man between someone who wants to sell advertising and someone who wants to advertise. In return the middle man gets a fee for providing this service. This fee is normally a percentage of the advertising cost however it depends on the site.
Sites such as ReviewMe, Text Link Ads, Sponsored Reviews and Pay Per Post are hugely popular amongst bloggers. Unlike Google Adsense and Adbrite and similar advertising networks, sites such as Text Link Ads are a little different because they list all publishers in a directory so the advertiser can see who the publishers are.
This system allows the blogger to cut out the advertising network if you want. You can choose to sell text links directly on your blog and also on Text Link Ads too. The same goes with ReviewMe too - all you need to do is place a badge telling visitors they can purchase a review directly from you. This however raises the question ‘Are you happy to cut out the middle man?‘.
Are you happy to cut out the middle man?
Many people have different opinions on this and i fully appreciate those who do not want to cut out the middle man. My view is this, i am more than happy to cut out the middle man and here’s why :
- Unless i sign an contract to only sell advertising through a certain website, no ad network will dictate how i sell advertising and make money through my blog.
- It is easier to just sell ads directly through a site like Text Link Ads and saves me a lot of work however by using a service like this i never speak directly with the advertisers and i am therefore unable to develop a good long term working relationship.
- In my opinion, the 50% fee that Text Link Ads and ReviewMe is an absolute disgrace and i hope that in the future they can review this. I know that they can bring you a lot of customers you wouldn’t otherwise have but 50% is way too much for this service.
- If you reduced the price of your ads by 25% and sold them directly you would make more money than using an ad network that charges a 50% fee and you would give your advertisers a better rate. Think about it, when your looking to advertise on another blog would you rather use an advertising network or would you rather to save some cash.
One of the blogs i paid for a review recently rejected my blog and then contacted me asking if i would pay directly. I obliged as i believe it should be his decision on how he accepts payment however in my opinion i believe this to be bad practice. I don’t believe you should list your blog on an network unless you are going to actually use it.
Some of you may be shocked by my view on this subject so i hope i have clarified my reasons for taking this stance. A lot of you will choose not to cut out the middle man and i completely respect that. John Chow for example posted a few months ago that he would not cut out ReviewMe since they brought him so much business. I completely respect his opinion on that however i do find it hypocritical to take this stance whilst at the same time be comfortable with using google bombing techniques and other evil methods to list higher in the search engines for the popular search term ‘Making Money Online‘. It’s the same ballpark in my opinion - i’m sure Google gives him the bulk of his search traffic so im surprised his stance with ReviewMe is different to the one with Google (not taking a dig at John, im just confused why he takes this stance given his usual evil techniques).
For the record, i have no personal issues with anyone who uses google bombing to get more traffic to their blog. However, i believe that there is always a risk of getting your site banned from google and this kind of technique usually involves you filling your blog with crap content just so that you can get those keyworks in (or it means taking part in a link train).
If you are looking to sell advertising or paid reviews through your blog then you should consider offering direct payment methods if you do not mind cutting out the middle man.
As usual, i’d love to hear your views on the subject so please leave a comment or post about it on your blog and ping this post.
Thanks guys,
Kevin
GoddessCarlie | June 25th, 2007 at 5:52 pm #
I’ve seen people do both. I think the advantage of that is many people might not know of your site but find it through a service such as text link ads (I agree with the 50% being too high!). However, (when the time is right) I will also have a direct advertising scheme, for those who come to my site, like it and want to advertise.
I’m thinking that more people wanting to advertise are probably more likely to find my site on text link ads, so that’s why I’d have that option there.
Maki | June 25th, 2007 at 6:11 pm #
Thanks Kevin, for the post.
I’ve always been a big fan of direct advertising. A large reason why most bloggers or webmasters don’t utilize it is due to the lack of knowledge concerning what exact steps to take.
It’s really not that difficult and it doesn’t seem fair that these ad brokers are taking so much for doing do little. PPP Direct seems to be the only exception here.
Linked through to my direct advertising for beginners series so click on my name if anyone is interested.
John Chow | June 26th, 2007 at 12:05 pm #
Hey Kevin, the reason I have a different stance between ReviewMe and Google is because I have a personal relationship with one of them, and it’s all about the relationship. Google is a billion dollar monster trying to take over the Internet, where as I know the owner of ReviewMe.
Matthew | June 26th, 2007 at 12:29 pm #
if one site cant get it done i will go to another
i tested advolcano for quite a while with no response. TLA has been able to sell out some of my blogs. If they keep that up I suppose some kind of loyalty starts.
However if I end up selling my own reviews/links then they can definitely be kicked
Kevin | June 27th, 2007 at 2:45 am #
thanks for the comments guys
maki - i think a lot of it comes down to laziness as well. ive been guilty of this in the past - its so easy to throw up some code and set it so that you automatically accept every advertiser however if you spend some time you can make much more money.
john - thanks for taking the time to respond. i wasnt taking a dig at you - i was just very suprised with this stance giving your usual evil techniques
I wasnt aware you personally knew the guy.
monawea | July 2nd, 2007 at 5:40 pm #
Great post Kevin!
I would love to get rid of the middle man. I have always had problems with the huge cut that ReviewMe and Text Link Ads take. However at this point it has not stopped me from using them.
They do make it easier to make money because they bring the business to you. I don’t have as much of a problem with Text Links Ads because they actually offer a script that automatically updates advertisers. So in a sense they are doing most of the work. But with ReviewMe it really sickens me. They are really just a glorified directory that requires the bloggers to do most of the work. Every time I take an offer I think to myself, I could have gotten twice as much for this review if advertisers just found me first.
Anyway those are my thoughts on the subject.