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Time For A Commercial Break

written by John Chow on January 16th, 2007

I would like to take this time to thank all the sponsors of this blog. I was always taught to under promise and over deliver if you wish to get repeat business (or visitors). This is one of the reason I gave an extra $100 to the winner of my review for linkback contest and why I gave an extra entry to readers who enter the ECS flash drive contest.

When an advertiser buys space on this blog, I want them to feel like they got more than their money’s worth. They put their money on the line so they should get a return on investment, plus something extra. Dealing with direct advertisers is the same as dealing with readers - it’s a relationship that goes both ways. With that in mind, I like to acknowledge all the advertisers who made a direct ad or text link purchase.

Our Banner Advertisers

New To Tech - This forum is own by my friend Jon Waraas. New To Tech is just that - a forum for people who are new to the world of technology. Currently there are 305 members and over 1,500 posts. Not bad for a new forum. You can see New To Tech’s ad at the top of this blog. The ad spot is shared with the next site.

BuzzBums - BuzzBums is also own by Jon Waraas. BuzzBums.Com is a community of weblogs. They feature all types of blogs that range from high traffic news blogs, all the way to small personal blogs. The main purpose of BuzzBums is so that the user can browse through all the blogs on one easy to use website. If you have a blog and would like to join BuzzBums Weblogs, than submit it here.

Our Text Link Advertisers

A text link on this blog cost $200 per month from Text Links Ads ($100 coupon here). The fact that some of the text link advertisers have been with me since I started using TLA shows a real commitment on their part and I would like to acknowledge them.

At $200 a month for a link, I can understand why people fight for the Top Commentators spots. Unlike ads by Google or other ad networks, I can encourage all readers to visit our direct advertising sponsors. These are the companies that support this blog and they deserve your support because of it.

Under Promise, Over Deliver

This post can be viewed as a lesson is how to attract and keep direct advertisers. If you’re an advertiser and you just purchased a text link or banner ad on 10 sites and one of those sites gives you an extra plug in a blog post (that companies pay $100 per review on), who are you going to renew with?

Under promise and over deliver. That is how you attract and keep advertisers, and readers too.

My New Choice said on January 16th, 2007 at 11:05 pm

John, nice post recognizing your advertisers and the concept of under promising and over delivering is why I find myself back here time and time again.

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Hawaii SEO said on January 17th, 2007 at 12:02 am

Nice… One reason why I come here is to learn what makes you money. I love the on-site advertising and monetization case studies. Keep up the good work.

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Nomar said on January 17th, 2007 at 12:13 am

Yes, I wonder how many comments you already got on this blog, want to share?

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Nomar said on January 17th, 2007 at 12:17 am

I am sure your advertisers will appreciate this !

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Jane said on January 17th, 2007 at 12:31 am

Showing the love…good stuff!

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Raghu said on January 17th, 2007 at 12:34 am

John - Very good idea of recognizing your advertisers in a separate posting.

You were recognizing your reader for a long time and giving them away goodies, but was great to see that you have made a separate posting targeted towards your advertisers also - they are an important stakeholder after all.

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Raghu said on January 17th, 2007 at 12:35 am

On a separate point it would be interesting to know if this posting gave you a spurt on any of the various advertising channels that you use ?

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MillionDollarJourney.com said on January 17th, 2007 at 4:22 am

John, how long did it take your site to get a google page rank? As far as I understand, text link ads requires a good page rank.

FT

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Gdog said on January 17th, 2007 at 4:41 am

What is the PageRank for JohnChow.com? It doesn’t show up in my Google Toolbar. I don’t know if using Blogger helps, but my PageRank is 5…does anyone know?

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Leftblank said on January 17th, 2007 at 4:52 am

Gdog, the front page is PR 4, Alexa 3561th, so well, it’s a pretty high ranked website.

MillionDollarJourney, I’ve read it might take up to three months for a new PageRank to show up to the toolbar users and I think you’ll need a whole lot of links to get one. I currently have 57 backlinks to my website on Google, but still PR 0…

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Marc said on January 17th, 2007 at 5:47 am

Good job on the extra advertiser love. At the end of the day revenue comes from keeping them happy. Dropping a post like this is a great way to introduce a traffic spike that will catch their attention. Very smart indeed :)

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John Wesley said on January 17th, 2007 at 6:14 am

It is amazing how much buzz you have generated with very minimal content. Just shows what marketing and incentives can do for you.

Your an inspiration to us all Moto.

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Alex Becker said on January 17th, 2007 at 7:00 am

Yes, a job well done.

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Ryan said on January 17th, 2007 at 7:09 am

Good to give a little time for advertisers. I know that TLA ads aren’t clicked all that much (I mean they’re not all that targeted), so it’s good to give them some love too.

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Raghu said on January 17th, 2007 at 9:11 am

John,
What is the status of one of your possible future sources of income - AGLOCO ?

What is the size of your network now ?
Any news on when the ViewBar is available ?

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HMTKSteve said on January 17th, 2007 at 9:53 am

Fight for the top commenter spot? I don’t know what you are talking about ;)

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Allen.H said on January 17th, 2007 at 9:58 am

Nice post John, and that concept of under-promise and over deliver is excellent in my opinion. I will try to use it more in my day-to-day deals.

Allen.H

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Nick Witkoski said on January 17th, 2007 at 10:56 am

good article, unfortunately “fighting” for the top spot in commentators somtimes means spamming for it.

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Kenric said on January 17th, 2007 at 11:18 am

John, have your advertisers shared with you if their ads or links have been making them money from people clicking through?

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John Chow said on January 17th, 2007 at 11:29 am

Gdog - Currently the PR is 4. I expect to go to a 5 or 6 on the next update.

Raghu - I will be making an AGLOCO update very soon.

Kenric - Jon Waraas shared his click info with me. The other link buyer didn’t. But the fact that some of them have been with me month after month would lead you to believe they are getting a return on their money.

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Raghu said on January 17th, 2007 at 11:29 am

Nick,

Guess putting the top commentators link on his blog John was prepared for some ‘useless’ comments

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Raghu said on January 17th, 2007 at 3:02 pm

John - Have not made even one addition into my AGLOCO network in the year 2007 - curious to read your update !

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Michael Kwan said on January 17th, 2007 at 4:52 pm

It’s good to give your advertisers a little extra recognition, because as some of the others have said, it’s pretty easy to just glaze over the sidebar (with the exception of the Top Commentators box, of course :))

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Hannes Johnson said on January 17th, 2007 at 5:22 pm

Yes, over delivering is always great. This was a great example of how a blog can over deliver - thanks John.

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Dave Starr said on January 23rd, 2007 at 3:43 pm

Nice post and good advice. I notice a lot of smaller, newer guys (like me ;-)) tend to fall too deeply into the “what’s in it for me” ROI trap. I’m not saying that to be critical, it’s hard to keep plowing the furrow when the end of the field isn’t even comin into view yet, but I’ve noticed that the small group of “best bloggers” I have come in contact with have been extremely generous with help both on and off blog. I think karma works.

And John, just so you know, I came here from the banner ads you run on sitemeter … I’ve never seen another blog advertised that way … if you can do so without getting too deep into the “secret sauce” tell us a bit about that program?

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Jacob said on February 8th, 2007 at 5:44 pm

Good idea about the whole thanking your advertisers. I just recently started with the whole process of selling site sponsors on my blog, so I’ll probably be doing that too. When I get the money, I might have to try that blog review out.

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