Monday, December 16, 2002
Sponsored Articles Coming Soon
Posted by Jason Dunn in "UPDATE" @ 12:44 PM
Within the next week, we're going to be adding a new zone to the site - it will replace the logo and welcome message above. This zone will have two graphics in it - one for a featured article, and one for a sponsored article.
The featured article will be written by someone on the site, and is a way for us to highlight articles we think people will benefit from - unless someone visits the site every couple of days, it's easy to miss an article that we've written. These articles will also be in rotation for variety. Once we get our review team geared up (soon!) we should have a steady stream of articles for you to read.
The sponsored article is something a little different - it's a paid advertising zone where companies will promote themselves. These advertorials can take many forms - some will be business case studies, some will be reviews written by the company, and others will be interviews, press releases, or a variety of other concepts. In some cases these sponsored articles will be open for commenting, in other cases they will be locked (it's up to the advertiser). I'm really excited about this new format because it gives us a new source of revenue, and it gives the companies involved a new platform from which to tell their story. I'm really encouraging companies to present something of value to you, and I'm optimistic they will. The sponsored articles will remain on the front page for two weeks, then be permanently archived on the site. If you're an advertiser interested in this new service, please use our contact form to get in touch with me.
UPDATE: Just to be completely clear, all sponsored articles will be denoted as such, and they won't have my name on them (or any member of the Thoughts team). You'll very easily be able to tell the difference between both types of articles, and they'll be segmented away in their own forum category. The intent is not to trick anyone into thinking a sponsored article is an impartial review written by one of us (if such a thing is even possible :wink: ). You'll just have to wait and see how it turns out, but I'd ask you to place a wee bit of trust in me...
The featured article will be written by someone on the site, and is a way for us to highlight articles we think people will benefit from - unless someone visits the site every couple of days, it's easy to miss an article that we've written. These articles will also be in rotation for variety. Once we get our review team geared up (soon!) we should have a steady stream of articles for you to read.
The sponsored article is something a little different - it's a paid advertising zone where companies will promote themselves. These advertorials can take many forms - some will be business case studies, some will be reviews written by the company, and others will be interviews, press releases, or a variety of other concepts. In some cases these sponsored articles will be open for commenting, in other cases they will be locked (it's up to the advertiser). I'm really excited about this new format because it gives us a new source of revenue, and it gives the companies involved a new platform from which to tell their story. I'm really encouraging companies to present something of value to you, and I'm optimistic they will. The sponsored articles will remain on the front page for two weeks, then be permanently archived on the site. If you're an advertiser interested in this new service, please use our contact form to get in touch with me.
UPDATE: Just to be completely clear, all sponsored articles will be denoted as such, and they won't have my name on them (or any member of the Thoughts team). You'll very easily be able to tell the difference between both types of articles, and they'll be segmented away in their own forum category. The intent is not to trick anyone into thinking a sponsored article is an impartial review written by one of us (if such a thing is even possible :wink: ). You'll just have to wait and see how it turns out, but I'd ask you to place a wee bit of trust in me...
