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Using Fashion Blogs to Sell High End Handbags

posted on October 8, 2007

Andy just wrote about how the majority of people in the US trust blogs for product recommendations. Smart entrepreneurs and businesses are noting that and finding ways to sell their products by getting some blog publicity.

I’m a big fan of the Unusual Business Ideas that Work blog. A recent post showed how blog publicity works well for a fashion designer named Sang A.

Celebrity blogs need fresh content and pictures of stars. Whatever fashions they are captured wearing can quickly become the rage. Sang A was savvy to the fact that bloggers are impacting the fashion industry.

So when Jessica Simpson was spotted in West Hollywood with Sang A’s “jade” purse in blue python, bloggers posted the picture. And her $1576 handbag started selling. That’s a low end model because prices for the bags can go to $15,000.

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Yahoo Addresses Quality, Click Fraud

posted on October 8, 2007

Yahoo paid search is adding some new features for advertisers. In a few weeks they will launch Blocked Domains. Like Google AdWords, you’ll be able to block specific domains that you do not want your ads to appear on. You will be able to block up to 250 domains per account. That includes blocking an entire domain, a subdomain or a directory in a particular domain.

You’ll also be able to block by continent. By default your ads will only show in North America. You can change the default in the administration.

Yahoo is also launching discounts for quality advertisements.
It’s a twist on Google’s quality score. Rather than rewarding advertisers whose ads are clicked on and offer higher quality, you get an automatic discount if your ads generate quality traffic. So those of you who don’t think search engines should have a say in what kind of ad you write, this seems to be the trend. You will be either rewarded or penalized.

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Google Stops Running AdWords on Orkut

posted on October 8, 2007

Google’s social network Orkut pulled ads from their site after getting complaints about questionable content on the site. A Wall Street Journal article last week said Google ran ads on just 1 percent of Orkut pages and they ran the ads as a test. The ads haven’t been running since August. A nonprofit group in Brazil named SaferNet says Orkut that some people using the service have child pornography and other illegal content on their pages.

Google says they remove offensive or illegal content. Google is not the only social network facing this issue. There has been a lot of negative press about pedophiles on MySpace and Facebook. Advertisers, especially big brands, are rightly concerned about the content of the ads. They’re afraid of offending their mainstream users. Plus, their advertising often doesn’t perform well.

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The Most Enticing Banner Ad Ever?

posted on October 5, 2007

It seems that banner ads continue to get a bad rap. But if you have a great offer–and clever message–you can still attract attention.

Endless.com is ahead of the pack with this banner ad running on Amazon.com.

endless

(Actual ad is animated)

I’m online all day, which means I’m conditioned to ignore ads. I also have no interest in women’s shoes. Still, credit to Endless for getting my attention with their offer to pay me $5 to ship their shoes overnight.

Have you spotted any great ads recently? 

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30% Increase in Online Advertising in 2008

posted on October 4, 2007

As I noted in a previous post, forecasts say holiday spending will be down, except online. The US housing market is affecting advertising spend too. But again, online advertising is the bright spot. This is according to ZenithOptimedia. They downgraded its 2007 forecast for offline advertising which was already in the single digits. Online advertising is projected to rise 30% in 2008.

The upside is TV advertising sales globally should be at a record high next year because of the Olympic Games in China. You can see how markets outside the US are still growing, especially Central & Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Here are some other findings:

  • The drop in ad prices isn’t a freefall, but it has been downgraded to 2.5 percent growth in 2007. It was estimated to 3.3 percent, before the housing market woes.

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Netizens Trust Each Other for Product Recommendations

posted on October 4, 2007

Nielsen has released a survey of 26,486 web users from around the world and discovered that we all prefer the recommendations of others over advertising. Shocker! ;-)

  • 78% of survey respondents trust recommendations from other consumers.
  • Newspapers came second with 63%, and online opinions third with 61%.
  • Search engine ads (34%), banner ads (26%), and mobile text ads (18%) made up the least trusted.
  • American’s trusted blogs more than any other country, with 66% of us trusting blogs for product and service recommendations.
  • The countries most likely to trust advertising? The Philippines (67%), Brazil (67%) and Mexico (66%).
  • Meanwhile the Danes don’t trust any advertising (28%).

Read the full report for more juicy stats.

Hat-tip E-consultancy.

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Rumor Mill: IPO for AOL’s Advertising Platform A

posted on September 28, 2007

Last week, AOL announced that it was restructuring its online advertising holdings to create a new ad division, Platform A. Ten days later, TechCrunch has rumors that Platform A will be destined for an IPO of its own:

One knowledgeable source tells TechCrunch that the decision has been made internally at Time Warner to try to spin off Platform A through an IPO sometime early next year. (AOL declines to comment). A lot needs to happen before that plan is put into action, but the writing is on the wall. . . . An AOL spokesperson confirms to me: “The introduction of Platform A marks a significant change in how we operate—putting AOL’s overall network in front of our advertising sales strategy.”