Fees for ads?

[Ian Sharp]

i've been approached by www.ploimedia.us with an offer to place an ad. on www.munro-sharp-training.com and http://ianpaulsharp.blogspot.com. They'll place an ad (size is of my choosing) for one day to monitor traffic, and if they want to go ahead they're asking for my rates.

Does this sound legit? And, if it is, how much do I ask for? Both sites are quite new and traffic is building, although still very low e.g. the training site gets about 20 hits a week!

Anyone met this kind of thing before?

Thanks,
Ian

[John Barnett]

I don't know is the obvious answer. But looking at their site, one thing struck me, the advert for another browser on the bottom of their US homepage. It says my IE Browser is non-standards compliant and encorages me to download something else.

I already have firefox and flock installed so what are these standards that they talk about? I saw something similar on a site of dubious reputation, some years ago and the new browser may be one that is virtually impossible to get off your desktop and will bombard you with advertising day and night. Of course I can't swear to this, not having clicked on the link, but surely a reoputable company would tell you what it was you were downloading. Firefox has buttons you can embed on the site.

It could be that their advertising has a link to this browser embedded in it and your future customers may be getting lumbered with something they don't want so i would do some more checking before aggreeing to anything because if someone does get anything nasty from the ad, whose site will they remember, the ad site or yours?

It also seems strange that they would nor consider an ad swap where your ads appear on their site in exchange so you can have a mutually beneficial arrangement rather than paying to advertise on a low traffic site as yours is at the moment.

[Ian Sharp]

Thanks for your replies John and Dianne.

John - I missed the browser link. That does seem to be odd, and thanks for pointing it out.

I decided to agree to place a banner on my blog and they said they would monitor traffic for a day and then send me a quote. That's due today so I'll see what happens.

I'm still suspicious - the site that is advertising looks like a low traffic forum, so a banner exchange would seem to be the way to go. When I tried to follow the links they sent to view the banners the page was down - this was expained by the agency as being caused by an excess of traffic!

The e-mail I got orginally didn't quote traffic ranks or their rates - I feel I would just have deleted it if it had been worded like Diane's. Far too good to be true surely.

Will report back,
Ian

[Bill Bruce]

Wow I didn't even notice the print at the bottom, because of the way they make it look like the bottom is the download buttons. Pretty sneaky/cheesy. Thanks for the info.

[Ted]

Hello
I don't think its a good idea. There are many ways to check traffic on a site with out placing an ad. Unless you are an ACE at code and php etc. to be sure what they are putting on your site. I use ad-links.
Best Wishes
Ted
WWW.campingsierra.com

[Scott Frangos]

Hi There -

I received the same mail (SPAM) and it's for some sort of commission/network marketing company -- deceptively clever, though. Basically "they" don't pay you anything at all to place the ad. You join up, then place the ad yourself, then as you get more people into your MLM network... MAYBE you will make some return. Watch out. How can you trust a company that is deceptive from the first contact?

-- Scott

[Ian Sharp]

Thanks for your contributions everyone.

Not surprisingly, in the light of Ted and Scott's comments, the promised quote has not been received (and I would have not gone ahead with anything even if they had written back).

I've removed the ad. from my blog now.

By the way, I did once receive a small payment for placing a link to an established UK insurance company on a blog I used to write (it was clear it was a sponsored link), which is why I didn't rule this out immediately. So never say never; but I also usually apply Diane's rule that if something looks too good to be true it usually is.

[Roger Mahaney]

no one is asking to put ads on my website I would welcome
all those ads that are pertinent to good conduct
and good clean fun...
I think selling ad space leads to web design jobs, views to our websites which are starving for attention,
and support for our products and/or services and I disagree that you don't know what they are putting up on your
website you can monitor that with any web master, don't you guys trust your web master
if you don't contact mine zote63 who is a brutally honest trustworthy fellow
who loves the Lord
and finds it easier to love in action and in truth
than giving God lip service...
so contact him and broaden your horizons
accept ads
the advertising dollar is good...
and sordid gain sucks
peace and love your friend
rock60

[Christopher]

You're sites are new and traffic has only started to build. I wouldn't think that it's a smart move for these guys to buy ads on your site. One ... their business doesn't really have much to do with yours unless they make a calculated campaign to your customers. Two ... they aren't going to be paying you much for the little traffic they have. Soo ...I'm not sure what they are trying to do.

Honestly, they've got better chances at Google Adwords if they were legit.

The whole situation makes em scratch my head. In those instances ... where a business deal would make me scratch my head ... I'd respectfully decline the offers.

You can do better Ian, and you will once your site builds a nice audience. Stay away from ads. You don't want to detract your visitors for some ad money.

[Ian Sharp]

Thanks Christopher. That's the conclusion I've come too as well.