Blog Ad Wars

NOTE: If you aren't a blogger, you might just want to skip this post.

It seems like quite a few of my blogging brethren are getting worked into quite a tizzy over Pajamas Media advertising deals emailed out the other day. Pajamas Media is an effort by a group of enterprising bloggers to go after mainstream advertising dollars instead of the normal tee shirt and blog-flogging that seems to maks up most of the advertising on Blog-Ads.

Ann Althouse has a very real disdain for the PJ Media offering, but I'm not quite sure how to read it. Althouse sounds like someone who thinks her blog's advertising space is worth far more than she was offered. I could of course be wrong, but I think it is hard to misinterpret this:

The offer I received was far too terrible to accept with or without that veto power... [emphasis added]

So Ann feels like she was low-balled, and attacks in return. It seems almost certain Althouse will stick with Blog-Ads. Fair enough. I wish her all the best.

Fellow Munuvian Ace is also not impressed with the PJ Media offering, though he seems just mildly disappointed in comparison to Althouse's near hissy fit.

All the same, they both do bring up good points.

Both contracts offered from Pajamas Media (Standard and Basic) are longer in duration than some bloggers seem to feel comfortable with. 12-18 months is forever in blog-time. Most bloggers would probably have preferred 3-6 month contracts to start out with, especially with the exclusions apparently build into the PJ Media contract for other advertising. It is hard to comment on specifics, however, as PJ Media hasn't provided any to this point.

In addition, the rates, while better than nothing, seem to underwhelm almost everyone involved. So much for blogging professionally, at least from these advertising dollars.

And yet I'll sign, for the full 18 months, modest money, and all the uncertainty of the Pajamas Media contract. Why?

Part of it is the fact that it makes financial sense for many of us who do not have Blog-Ads. Blog-Ads may very well be a great organization, but I've tried to contact Blog-Ads several times in the past, without the courtesy of a response. I hear this is not uncommon. Quite frankly, something is better than nothing.

In addition to mere advertising dollars, PJ Media offers the promise of building a network of bloggers. That might help me build my traffic and my readership. That is an end unto itself, but it also means that in the future I may be able to charge higher rate we (the bloggers of Pajamas Media) can prove and sell our concept of group ad buys to mainstream advertising companies.

At worst, PJ Media offers modest income for very little additional work, and it ites me into a long-term contract.

At best, it may create a wider potential audience for my blogging, and it could help me establish relationships with fellow Pajamas Media bloggers and perhaps people outside the blogging world. It could lead to a better advertising contract down the rood, either with Pajamas Media or another entity down the road.

For someone who started blogging just for fun, I can live with the potential audience increase, chance to network and few bucks on the side for something I'll do already regardless of dollars.

Yeah, I can live with that.

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