Welcome to SEOmoz's first ad. Today's sponsor, HTP, has asked me to write to you, dear readers, about their services in the area of link development, a subject that's come under fire lately. Luckily, HTP has shown me their links, their clients and their process and I'm impressed. HTP has access to some very high quality links, both in terms of advertising value and ranking value. For sites seeking a boost for 2006, or SEOs seeking to outsource some link building, HTP is an excellent option.
There's a few pages on their site worthy of attention:
- Their Internet Advertising and text link buying services
- Their Web Directory (which I've got some clients listed in)
- A Shopping Directory (geared to the ecommerce set)
- And, last, an Internet Directory most of us are familiar with via longtime DigitalPoint member, Clasione
The world of web advertising, particularly those links that can pass search engine value, is shrinking fast. If you're looking for a boost, I can tell you definitively that HTP's got link sources worthy of your time and money.
Please give feedback below on what you'd like to see from them, your own experiences and what you think of our new ad system here at SEOmoz.
Well i guess the ad system works. I submitted my site. Will report back on how it goes :)
I've seen how sites like SEOmoz and TW have popularized positimonials and I think they're great monetization models for blogs. Lest SEs begin outlawing this advertising method yet again, they should consider that "editorially given" postimonials are above board and should be counted as actual votes for the featured site by the post author. No blogger in his right mind would stake his and his site's reputation on something he does not believe in.
Forgive me for that rant, I'm just a little paranoid with the whole paid links debate ;)
Sniper - good question. Most of it is explained on the sponsorship page. Basically, the advertiser contacts me, I look over what they want to cover and let them know if its appropriate and appealing to our audience (I've had to turn down more than a few potential advertisers). Then, they (or in this case I) write the entry, we tweak it, they pay a set fee, and it launches.
These ads are exactly like blogs, the only real difference is that they're paid. I still vet the content, talk to their customers, investigate, etc. so it is, in essence, an editorially given link, but it also provides ad value and is initiated by the service provider, rather than by me.
Rand, I've always been interested in postimonials. How does one go about pricing such a post? Do you charge by the number of words/sentences/paragraphs/links? Is this a onetime fee? How different is this from paid links?
I dropped them a line, thanks Rand. BTW, I like the ad sytem, it's original and it's always better to have this kind of message (more human compared to Adsense or others)