how to get free banner advertising on techcrunch
August 1st, 2007
If you haven’t made yourself familiar with MyBlogLog, you should.
A Yahoo! property, it’s basically a group of bloggers and blog readers who build community around site visitations. Bloggers, for example, add code to their site that then shows off recent visitors. I have one on my sidebar, but here it is for you RSS readers out there.
Most are faces or silly avatars, but you’ll notice I’ve highlighted an image with The Employment Guide’s logo on it. Essentially this equates to a little banner ad, building some brand awareness and traffic, for nothing more than a little time and energy. Users can then click on the image and find out a little more information, checkout other blogs and bloggers and even join communities.
It’s surprising how many high-powered, high-traffic blogs have added MyBlogLog to their sites, including TechCrunch. So, if you’re a cheap-ass like me and can’t drop $10,000 for ads on TC, then here’s a poor man’s method. Granted, you probably won’t show-up long on a popular site, but with some niche blogs - well-read in small, influential circles - the impact could be significant.
In addition to getting a little free exposure, most bloggers want to know who is reading their stuff. I know I enjoy seeing who’s visiting Cheezhead. If you want to get a blogger’s attention, in hopes that they may write about you or at least find out more on your company, MyBlogLog just might be a way to do it. Bloggers can be a great spark to start the buzz, as my readers already know.
And did I mention it’s free?
August 1st, 2007 at 7:37 pm
I would rather use my pic for MyBlogLog and other social networks. The idea of a social network is to meet people, not websites.
BeachBum
August 2nd, 2007 at 9:32 am
I did it to show everyone what color my fur is. That’s kind of like a “branding” thing, isn’t it? You can feel free to write about me anytime you’d like.
August 2nd, 2007 at 3:50 pm
Joel, Thanks for the shout-out! The MyBlogLog brings us in a few good hits a day and you’re right the best part is that it is free advertising.
August 4th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
Sorry to be a party pooper Joel, but I highly disagree with your advice. Not only is it not effective to use an advertisement for your mybloglog avatar, but it will actually hurt your brand.
Using an advertisement for your mybloglog avatar is spam, and people hate spam. For me, when I see these advertisements they put a bad taste in my mouth and I know that I will never even consider using a service from that company. And I strongly feel that I am in the majority on this one (http://www.google.com/search?q=mybloglog+spam).
I’m not anti-advertising by any means, it’s just that mybloglog is not the place for banner ads. As a matter of fact, Mike Arrington stopped using mybloglog on techcrunch for quite a while because of all of the spammy avatars. You can read about it here:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/01/10/mybloglog-got-spammed-and-so-did-we/
He only enabled it again when mybloglog convinced him that the spam was under control:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/05/21/mybloglog-back-on-techcrunch/
But I think that you are right in that mybloglog can be a good way to introduce new consumers to your company. I know that I’ve visited many sites that I discovered by clicking through to INDIVIDUALS’ profiles and seeing the blogs/sites/companies that they are involved with.
August 15th, 2007 at 10:59 am
my face on cheezehead permantly eek!