Paid Ad To Express Love Towards Your Favorite Bloggers: Good or Bad?

I spotted a weird looking ad this evening when I was reading Quick Online Tips. The ad was paid by John Chow (Yet another well know Blogger). He devoted this ad to express his love towards Quick Online Tips. Here’s a snapshot:

This is not the first time I’ve been seeing ads like this. Earlier yesterday, I saw a similar ad on Digital Inspirations. This ad was dedicated to Amit Agarwal by Mani. Have a look at the screenshot:

I agree that well know blogs like Quick Online Tips or Digital Inspirations have huge fan following, but these kind of ads are completely irrelevant to the context, so naturally the click through rates will drop, resulting in revenue loss to the blogger.

For a fan, he doesn’t need cart full of money to show these ads. AdWords is CPC (definition), so he’ll pay only if someone clicks on the ad. Usually, they set a low spending limit in their AdWords dashboard.

I know some fans who express their love by clicking on ads few hundred times. I show my love towards my favorite bloggers by get into conversation with the community through comments or if they have a donation box, I’ll generously donate some cash. This way, I’ll come under their radars. What’s your technique?

Update: John Chow clarified that those ads are site targetted ads and he pays in CPM mode. Thanks John Chow.

This post was published by on January 26, 2007

About the Author: Thilak Rao works as a Social Media Expert. He is one of the first professional bloggers from India, and he loves to write, travel and click photos. Follow him on Twitter @thilak

  • http://bryansrants.com/ Bryan

    I would disagree. I figure they bought out the space for a desired price set by the owner. Therefore they made money.

  • http://blogosquare.co.nr Hans

    I don’t really know since I’m fan of none.

  • http://www.izzatz.com Izzatz – xiii

    My techniques is just be a loyal reader and get into the conversation. Keep in touch with the community. That’s how I showed a little something called l.o.v.e :P

  • http://www.JohnChow.com John Chow

    Those are site targeted ads. They are done on a CPM basis, not CPC. I pay per impression. Doesn’t matter if readers click or not.

  • http://tech-buzz.net Thilak

    Izzatz: That’s exactly what I do !!

    John Chow: Oh.. I never knew that. Thanks for the clarification.

  • http://www.helloashok.com/ Ashok

    yeah, Site targeted ad are always CPM ads, you have to pay per impression whether any one click it or not. Anyway this is another method of brand building in the disguise of expressing love.

  • http://gasapien.blogspot.com/ Vyom Mahadevia

    John Chow is not foolish to shell out so much money for just expressing his love for his favorite blogger but it also attracts readership. I went to John Chow’s blog after i saw the same ad on Problogger and after reading some of his articles i took his feeds so he is definitely benefiting from it . It is not just to express his love.