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Advertisements On This Website Going Forward and Bourne Trilogy BluRay or DVD Giveaway!

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NOTE: Read below to enter the contest to win a copy of the Bourne Trilogy on Blu-Ray or DVD! Contest closes Friday, January 15th, 2010 at 11:59pm.

I had a negative comment on the blog from a new reader about a recent sponsored blog post. A sponsored blog post means that someone has paid for a link within the post to a certain website (these links make their websites rank higher in search engine results). I thought I would take the opportunity to explain my position on advertisements on the website, and also institute a new policy I was thinking about for a few weeks.

The reader was upset that the sponsored blog post (on Car Insurance) was not indicated as being paid for by a third party. I think they understand that many blogs run ads to help cover the costs of running a website and also to pocket a side income, but they just wanted a heads up when the ads start intruding more into the main content. I understand and partially agree. I actually didn’t mean to publish that post until the weekend and until after I had explained my new policy on ads (which would’ve given the appropriate indication), but I was working on a mobile device that I was unfamiliar with and didn’t realize I had published it as opposed to saving it in draft mode. In any case… here is the new policy which you need to know:

I get inundated with companies who want to advertise on the site. So what I’ve decided to do is run sponsored posts on the weekends (published either Friday or Saturday nights and they would arrive on Saturday or Sunday morning if delivered by email). This way you’ll know ahead of time if they are sponsored posts. BUT I’m also going to use part of the proceeds to run more contests. That way, the readers may benefit from it too. For example, part of the proceeds for the sponsored post on Car Insurance that ran yesterday will go to fund the prize for the following contest:

Win a copy of the Bourne Trilogy on Blu-Ray or DVD

This includes The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum – three of my most favourite movies! :)

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment below. You can leave any comment you want, but if you would like to weigh in on whether or not you like the proposal of running sponsored posts on weekends in exchange for more contests, I’ll take the comments into consideration and if everyone thinks it’s a bad idea I may discontinue the practice. Full contest details are below the video (which is a promo for the Bourne Trilogy on Blu-Ray). If you are reading this via email or on a feed reader, you will have to visit the website to see the video.

  • You may earn one entry by leaving a comment at the bottom of this post on the website.
  • I reserve the right to delete any comments that are inappropriate.
  • You must submit a valid email address in the comment form. Don’t worry, it will not be visible to anyone but myself and it will never be shared or sold to anyone either.
  • Winner must answer a skill testing question.
  • Comments must be submitted by 11:59pm on Friday, January 15th, 2010.
  • Winners will be contacted using the email address provided only, and will have exactly one week from that point of contact to provide their full contact details in order to claim their prize.
  • I reserve the right to disqualify any entries for any reason.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. I see no problems with either possibilities as long as it is clearly indicated. Hope I win, those are some of my wife’s favourite movies!

  2. I agree with Nicholas, as long as it’s noted that the post is sponsored then I see no harm in it at all.

  4. There is nothing wrong, so long as it’s clear that it is a sponsor. If it wasn’t clear, it would only be a matter of time before such sneakiness would begin to harm your reputation. It’s a double edged sword.

    Keep it clear. That’s all you need to do.

  5. Preet,

    I think the new policy represents an excellent compromise. I also congratulate you on getting so many solicitations for advertising. I wish I could say the same.

    BTW, don’t enter my name in the contest. I’m only interested in supporting your new policy.

    Best regards

  7. I have absolutely nothing against sponsored posts. Sometimes I even find very valuable information contained within. I would request that you individually indicate each sponsored post as a paid advertisement as is now required by the FTC (very annoying but important rules). Also I would recommend that you insert a blurb into your about page indicating that you may get paid for some of the posts that you make.

    Specifically if you post as a different user (aka Sponsored Post) or add a short paragraph at the end of a post saying that it was brought to you by someone. Either of those would be great as it would allow me to individually weigh the value of those posts on their own merits rather than the reputation that you have earned.

    And totally awesome that you are attaching a bonus to my commenting :). I would have commented anyways but to win a Blu-Ray would be a super sweet bonus.

    Oh and BTW, congrats on finding an effective and not totally intrusive way of better earning some income from this blog. Very few people ever manage to make anything of their blog (myself included for now :( ).

  8. In contrast, I dont think the new policy represents an excellent compromise. I also congratulate you on getting so many solicitations for advertising. I wish I could think the same. ;p

  10. I have no problem with advertisements as long as it’s known to all. It’s a good way to cover costs.

  12. I think that having a stated policy is great. I wonder if you need to also put the disclaimer at the beginning of your weekend posts so that new readers are aware of your policy?

  15. The Bourne Movies were great. They’d make a great addition to my Blu-ray library. I’ll cross my fingers!

    As for ads, I find the ads around the perimeter of the post to be less intrusive. But to restrict posts with inline links to sponsors’ websites to weekend posts sounds reasonable to me. But I agree with many of the other comments that there should be a notice at the beginning of each such post. Or perhaps if sponsored links appeared differently than links to other posts on your blog (ex. sponsored links were double underlined).

    Overall great work on the site. This is one of my favourite PF blogs.

  16. I agree with Cam Birch. I think the posts need to be obviously indicated that they are sponsored, and would also like to know if you are providing the content or are they.

    As always, thanks for the contests!

  23. I’m okay with this concept as long as the sponsored links are clearly identified as such.
    Keep up the good work. After 37 years in the financial field I am still learning a lot from people like yourself.

  24. I think the Bourne Trilogy is fantastic but on Blu-Ray? Given all the HDTV in my life I think I’m going to stop updating my eyeglass prescription. Cheers.

  25. The links on your blog are fine. Keep up the good work and fund more prizes. It will help you in the long run as you know.

  26. Advertise all you want. Not sure why people are offended when someone wants to make some money for their effort.

  29. That is a great movie series. Go ahead with the ads is my opinion – especially if there are more prizes to be won!

  31. I would love to see more contest. It is understandable that more sponsors would be introduced and that is fine by me.

  32. I’m not a big fan of this type of advertising… but I guess if you make it clear before each article, it would be fine.

    There is no way that I am going to remember that articles posted on the weekend are sponsored.

  33. The ads don’t matter to me whatsoever. I use an adblocker for my web browser and usually read your blog post through an RSS reader.

  36. These kinds of ads are fine, so long as they’re separate from content. You’re on the right track.

  38. New to your site, but I agree that as long as there is a disclosure, I don’t mind seeing ads in regular content. Especially if they are relevant.

  41. I noticed that all the comments that I read for this post support the idea of sponsored posts…

    Hmmmm….strange…you would think that in a normal democratic society there would be at least one comment that would not support the idea.

    I consider sponsored posts to be no different than ads.

  43. It doesn’t really matter to me when sponsor links are done. If they’re identified I say great, run ’em as much as you like.

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  48. Try to build an ad network in such case, it’s a treasure nowadays to get innundated with companies who wants to advertise on your site! http://www.homecaredirect.co.uk

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