Yes and no. I decided to take a wait-and-see attitude until June 30. I decided that if there is not clear community consensus that ads in feeds and ads on blogs are a bad thing or will get me shunned, I’ll go in that direction if I find sponsors or advertisers who are interested in paying me to do so.
I just have never been convinced that the Amazon tip jar was a good way to go.
I still struggle with the issues of independence, objectivity and the like. And they are very difficult issues. One of the most interesting approaches someone suggested was to move away from sponsors and advertisers in the legal technology space (my most natural sponsors, but also the ones that raises the thorniest issues for me) and seek out advertisers outside my subject area. I think I was flattered that the two sponsors he mentioned first as examples were Jaguar and Mercedes, but his idea of looking at banks, credit card and financial organizations, rental car, airline and travel companies and others for whom my audience is a good match struck me as a good way to bring in revenue while avoiding the different types of conflict issues that can arise when you use sponsors who are in your field. Unfortunately, I have the contacts in the legal tech industry, but I don’t know how to get out to the decision-makers in the other types of companies. I’d appreciate any help on that. It seems like there would be a niche for a marketing person who could pair up blogging sponsors with bloggers. And I’m referring to sponsorships rather than traditional online advertising approaches.
The answer: We’ll see. June 30 arrives soon and I’ll look into some options. I welcome any inquiries.
[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (https://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]