msdanielle - just another ego blog site

You know, I’m not sure which is more hilarious, John Chow’s post on How Not to Run a Blog (which was paid for!) or Gary Lee’s post on How Not to Negotiate an Online Ad Deal. Both of them nearly had me in tears yesterday. I mean, read what happened:

John Chow

The only original posts on AndrewTalk is his first post and the post asking readers to suggest a topic for him to write about. I suggest, “How to make yourself look like a fool by paying $400 for a review from a blog that you stole content from.”

Ha! I also run SEO for Firefox so any nofollow links are highlighted in red. Look at what the article looks like to me (feel free to click on it):

So basically this Andrew guy paid $400 to be humiliated on John’s site, ruin his own reputation as having no expertise in the field of making money online, and didn’t even get any links out of it!

I wanted so badly to read the comments (200+) but attempting to open the thread crashed my FireFox! Ah well, I have an idea what people are saying. What I have no idea about is why the heck this guy ordered a review. I mean, hello?!

Gary Lee

The inspiration for today’s post comes from a conversation I had with one media director today who has me completely baffled with her ignorance and stubborness…

Wednesday Email - “Dear Mr. Lee . . . . Thank you for contacting me . . . I’ve gone through your Media Kit and your CPM seems to be a little high . . . . . the highest I can go is a $5-8 CPM!”

First thoughts in my head are “Dayam!” . . . next thoughts I can’t write as they are full of profanity and if children read this site, their parents would come after me with pitchforks and SUVs.

Gary lays it all out on this one. But I have to agree that a high-profile bank attempting to purchase advertising on a high-traffic, high-earning niche site like our friend’s, at $5 CPM is laughable. If I had to guess the bank’s max CPA, I would say it’s around $200, not $5. We’re talking about actual sign-up customers, not leads. I know that banks and other money-lending institutions pay top dollar to capture customers. They don’t spare on spending when it comes to customer acquisition, and an offer of $5 CPM on this particular site is like a slap in the face.

As an online marketer I find the humor in both of these posts. The lesson here: Know what you’re talking about when you enter into a deal with someone who’s seasoned in marketing and who’s business savvy. Just because you have a few dollars to spend, it doesn’t mean you deserve the business. (Of course, in John’s case, he still got paid!)

Do you guys find the humor in these posts? If so, which one did you laugh harder reading?

Getting Geeky

And for some seriously geeky marketing fun, here are some “truth in advertising” banners that the guys at Valley of the Geeks threw together (they’re old but still funny). Happy Friday!!

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