Placing Ads in Surprising Places

Brian Carroll, e-business editor for Furniture|Today in his blog Tecnology Today writes in Placing Ads in Surprising Places

...advertising on blogs is a a huge growth category, giving advertisers a laser-like ability to target certain readerships that traditional mass media cannot provide. One example is Budget, the car rental company, which at last count is advertising on 177 blogs.

Budget says they can't outspend rival Hertz so they advertise on 177 blogs. (The owners of Landfair Furniture are going to rent a car in Cabo beginning Jan. 7th for a week. We are open to taking advertising money from a car rental company.)

Brian Carroll goes on to write

Ah! Outspend Sears or Crate & Barrel or Rooms To Go? Not likely. Outsmart them? Out-nimble them? Maybe.

One example: Sippican Cottage, a small furniture maker in Massachusetts. This is a nimble company, advertising-wise, that is choosing to invest in the blogosphere. You could even call what the company is doing a blog-centered integrated marketing campaign. The Web site I just pointed to. In the site is a blog, which is dedicated to news from the company (http://sippicancottagefurniture.com/page31whatsnew.htm).

Advertising on this section is automated, with a trickle of change coming from companies such as Amazon.com. Not much, mind you, but all automated -- no human intervention required.

Companion to the site is the Sippican Cottage blog, a thoughtful read by the company's entrepreneur, Gregory Sullivan. No advertising there, yet, but that has not stopped Sullivan. He's dipping his toes into blogads by advertising at, among other Web destinations, Althouse, a blog by a law professor with a readership Sullivan has determined might like his furniture.

Another blog-savvy furniture company -- Landfair Furniture in Portland, Oregan. Beverly Landfair emphasizes interior design and consulting -- in other words, a lot of customer contact. A blog, then, makes perfect sense.

So a blog is one click off the home page (http://landfairfurniture.blogspot.com/), where it gives readers (and potential buyers) tips and perspectives on home decor and quite a bit more. ( Click here to see our sister publication's writeup on Landfair.

On Landfair's blog are Google AdSense-place advertisements that, like the Amazon.com trickle, doesn't provide enough money for anyone to live on, but it costs only the space at the top of the blog.

I'll keep searching, maybe devote a print column to this subject. It's too easy not to consider, particularly the explosive growth in blogs and in the numbers reading them.

Need more on the study of blogads? An in-depth study can be found by clicking here.

Hat Tip to Gregory Sullivan for bringing this article to our attention. We were aware of Lisa's article but not Brian's. You will notice we have linked to Sullivan's web sites and will investigate whether we can use his line in our store.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery