* * * * *

                            Selling out, part deux

Five years ago, I sold some advertising space on my blog [1] and frankly, I
think I got the worse end of the deal. For five years (until June 10th of
this year) I sold ads on seven posts, all for the huge amount of $105.00.

Hey, at least I negotiated him out of permanent placement for $75.00.

Given the ads, and their placement, I knew that the seller had no intention
for anyone ever seeing the ads—he (and it was a “he”) just wanted to leech
some Google PageRank [2] to his sites (or his clients' sites), and he wanted
it done stealthily because he didn't like my heading of “Paid Advertisement”
and instead suggested:

* On the Other Hand
* Other Resources
* Information Improvisation
* Prose from the Pros
* It's All Relative
* Duly Noted
* Be Prepared
* A Reader's Toolbox
* Unpublished Works
* White Papers for Success
* Independent Thought
* Thoughts Aside
* Related

as a header, because

> See, we are doing every thing for search engines and thats why we want to
> place links at the bottom of the pages, where the traffic has to be lower.
> The search engines dont like words advertisement or Sponsor, so, that will
> hurt your site as well as our sites.
>
> That's why, we dont need paragraphs with the heading of words
> “Advertisement” or “Sponsor.”
>
> So, please use anyother word or make it image with out Alt Tag.
>

I countered with:

* Sponsored Content
* Remunerative Content
* Content: Measure for Measure

We finally settled on “And now some words from <company name>” but I did add
a subtle background image of a dollar bill, and labeled the <DIV> with
“paid_ad”.

Now, earlier this year, I received the following email from a potential
advertiser:

> From: helena jones <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Advertising on conman.org
> Date: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 12:43:44 +0800
>
> Hello,
>
> I'd like to inquire if it's possible to purchase adverting space on your
> website.
>
> If there is any space available please let me know and we could discuss
> further details.
>
> Looking forward to your positive reply.
>
> Warm regards,
>  Helena Jones
>

I get emails like this from time to time, and usually, I just ignore it and
never hear from them again. But a month later …

> From: helena jones <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Fwd: Advertising on conman.org
> Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2014 09:56:46 +0800
>
> Hi
>
> I just wanted to check if you got my email about buying advertising space
> on your site. Looking forward to hear from you.
>
> Best regards,
>  Helena Jones
>
> [previous email she sent cut]
>

Hmm … okay, she's persistent. Let's see what the terms are.

> From: Sean Conner <[email protected]>
> To: helena jones <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
> Subject: Re: Fwd: Advertising on conman.org
> Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2014 21:47:09 -0500
>
> It depends upon the advertising you want, and the pages you want to place
> the ads on. I'm not averse to the idea of advertising. What did you have in
> mind?
>
> -spc
>

And a few days later I receive:

> From: Adam Barney <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Advertising on conman.org
> Date: Sun, 23 Feb 2014 17:50:34 +0200
>
> Hello
>
> my name is Adam Barney and I'm working with Helena Jones She sent you an
> email about advertising on your site
>
> I represent a few gambling sites and I would like to make a permanent
> article in your site. I can assure you I have a brilliant writer and the
> article will fit the content of your site.
>
> If it possible let me know your price for it
>
> –
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Adam Barney
>  Senior Marketing Manager | XXXX XXXXXX
>  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
>  Adam@XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
>  <http://XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
>

Ah, the punctuation deficient. [facepalm] And gambling sites. [double
facepalm] And a brilliant writer to boot! [is a triple facepalm possible?]
Okay, I have really lost interest in this. But at the same time, I'm curious
as to what brilliance this author can bring to bear about gambling sites that
would enhance the content of my website (and bear in mind, I have no idea if
he's talking about www.conman.org [3] or boston.conman.org [4]). So, let's
see how serious this Adam is.

> From: Sean Conner <[email protected]>
> To: Adam Barney <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
> Subject: Re: Advertising on conman.org
> Date: Mon, 24 Feb 2014 02:42:37 -0500
>
> It was thus said that the Great Adam Barney once stated:
>
> > Hello
> >
> > my name is Adam Barney and I'm working with Helena Jones She sent you an
> > email about advertising on your site
> >
> > I represent a few gambling sites and I would like to make a permanent
> > article in your site. I can assure you I have a brilliant writer and the
> > article will fit the content of your site.
> >
> > If it possible let me know your price for it
> >
>
> Without any other knowledge about the article (and not an advertisement),
> and making it permanent (seeing how I've had the domain since 1998, it
> could be a long time), at this point in time, with just the information
> given, I would have to set the price at $100,000.
>
> I am interested in seeing how your article could fit in with the existing
> content of my site.
>
> -spc
>

I never did hear back from Adam.

Color me surprised.

And yeah, this is probably a site you don't want to advertise on.

[1] gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2009/05/22.1
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank
[3] http://www.conman.org/
[4] https://boston.conman.org/

Email author at [email protected]

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