The Government Relations Blog Network (GRBN) is a mini-network on blogads run by Chug Roberts of TheCapitol.Net, the exclusive provider of Congressional Quarterly Executive Conferences.
If you want to sell blogads (version 3.0) on your blog, read on.
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The vast majority of bloggers still write for free. For most, the satisfaction of publishing their thoughts and interacting with readers is reward enough. But an increasing number want at least a small return for their efforts -- the question is how?There are many routes, from affiliate programs like Amazon Associates and Commission Junction to cost-per-click text ads like Google AdSense. If a blogger wants to sell advertising space on their weblog they can use services like AdBrite, which will handle serving, billing and sales.
But what if a blogger wants to actively attract companies who might otherwise not even know their weblog exists? It's easy for established blogs like BoingBoing or Daily Kos, who already have a significant Web presence. But how does Joe Blogger get noticed? The answer appears to be the collective.
Gawker Media, Weblogs, Inc. and B5 Media have proved that there is a market for advertising on blog networks. And the launch of Pajamas Media last month and the increasing success of Blogads appears to herald a new way for individual bloggers to become part of such a collective advertising network while still retaining control of their individual site's content. By joining together in loose or more rigid groups, bloggers are beginning to appear on the radar of big business and advertising companies and present themselves in terms that big firms can finally understand.
"Get it together: Blog collectives seek to draw ads," by Paul Berger, Online Journalism Review, December 8, 2005
BlogAds founder Copeland said that business has been booming because political campaigns, interest groups, and others are beginning to understand the market. "I think we're going to see a lot more D.C.-to-D.C. advertising in '06," Copeland said. "People sat up and took notice when they heard Senator Cornyn, a 50-something Republican from Texas who is not your stereotypical hipster geek, begin his questioning of John Roberts by saying that Cornyn had stayed up the night before reading the blogs to see what they were saying about him. Then Cornyn proceeded to ask Roberts a question that a blogger had [raised]."Defenders of Wildlife used blog ads to promote PomboInTheirPocket, a Web site that tries to link Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., to land developers, oil companies, and lobbyists who want to amend the Endangered Species Act. The two-week ad buy ran mostly on California blogs, said Mark Longabaugh, the consultant who helped the group put it together. It included three "action items": telling a friend about the site, e-mailing Pombo's office, and making a contribution.
The ad raised about $50,000, Longabaugh said. "That would have more than covered the ad buy." He added that it generated thousands of impressions more than Defenders of Wildlife could have expected from a television or newspaper ad -- and it reached the right people. "The blogs tend to be where a lot of conversation is going on these days in terms of politics," he said.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America was equally pleased with its blog ads to enhance awareness of the group's BuySafeDrugs site. The ads were placed periodically on an array of blogs, generally for about a month at a time, according to Ken Johnson, PhRMA's senior vice president of communications. "It's an effective, cost-efficient way to reach select, targeted demographics," he said. It also gives drugmakers direct access to patients without their message being filtered by the media. PhRMA plans to develop more ads this month focused on topical news events, Johnson said. And the group plans to have a blog of its own at some point. "We're trying to make it where it's not a dartboard," he said. "It's one thing to hear what other people have to say. It's another to put a bull's-eye on your forehead."
"The Rise Of Blogs," by K. Daniel Glover, Beltway Blogroll, January 21, 2006
If you have a blog and you are a policy wonk or work in government relations, public affairs, or a think tank, or you have a blog with a focus on public policy issues and content, and you want to earn revenue from your blog by carrying blogads, please contact us to discuss joining the Government Relations Blog Network.
governmentrelationsblognetwork -at- gmail.com
Tell us about your blog, including: the name, URL, weekly visitor count, particular focus of your blog, if you carry other types of advertising such as Google ads, how often you post, and why you believe your blog is a good fit for the Government Relations Blog Network.
We are especially interested in
- DC-centric blogs
- non-partisan blogs
- multi-partisan blogs
- blogs affiliated with think tanks
- blogs affiliated with DC-based periodicals
- well-written political blogs that encourage intelligent and civil discourse
- blogs that examine and link to policy issues from different perspectives
The ideal blog in the Government Relations Blog Network is well-written, free of ad hominem attacks, updated regularly, and of interest to policy folks in DC, including Hill staff.
We are also looking for DC-centric blogs, so if you blog about living, playing, working, singing, dancing or eating in the metro DC area, please contact us.
As a member of the Government Relations Blog Network on blogads, you have complete control over the prices for your ads and over which ads run on your blog. All ads submitted to your blog are subject only to your approval. You set the policies for the ads your blog will and will not accept.
For example, Hobnob Blog does not accept individual campaign ads, although we do accept general advocacy ads and ads for products and services that we believe will be of interest to our audience.
The point is that YOU set the policies for your blog. Neither blogads nor the Government Relations Blog Network will tell you how much to charge or which ads to run or not run. (We are happy to give you our suggestions if you want them.)
Increasingly, blog advertising is being purchased via blog networks - like the Government Relations Blog Network.
Your blog can carry both Google AdSense and blogads, although blogads usually generate more revenue for blogs that carry both blogads and Google AdSense.
If you already carry blogads or if you already belong to another blogad mini-network, you can still join this network at no cost to you, presuming you meet the criteria and accept the terms outlined here.
The Government Relations Blog Network, like all blogads networks, is part of blogads, so any changes you make in your adstrip via the blogads site, including rates, description, etc, are reflected in any network you are part of. You only need to make those changes in one place, where you've been making them all along.
Networks are win-win: good for bloggers, and good for advertisers. They cost a blogger nothing to join, they increase a blog's visibility to advertisers, and they allow for easier ad buys for advertisers.
Hobnob Blog is the founding blog of the Government Relations Blog Network.
For more information, contact Chug Roberts at
All information sent to us concerning the Government Relations Blog Network will be treated with confidence and not shared with any third party.
Full Disclosure and Terms
Please note that the financial terms below are established by blogads, not by us. We set the logo / text requirement in accordance with blogads terms for network administrators. The GRBN logo / text link to the order page encourages potential advertisers to buy ads from all blogs in the network, and also facilitates finding the netwrok via Internet searches.
Blogads participation is currently by invitation and sponsorship only.
For blogads that appear on your blog, you receive 70% of the revenue from each ad, less a small per-transaction fee that covers credit card and PayPal transaction costs, and typically amounts to 2%-3%, while blogads keeps 30%. For blogs that we sponsor, the Government Relations Blog Network receives 5% of your ad revenue, but that 5% is paid out of blogads 30% share, not out of your 70% share. Blogs that are already members of blogads continue to receive their 70% share of blogads revenue.
All payments are made directly to you by blogads.
Blogs that become members of the Government Relations Blog Network are required to carry this text
next to their blogad ad space (above or below), with a link to the Government Relations Blog Ad Network page on blogads.
We also encourage all member blogs to carry the Government Relations Blog Network logo (150 x 75 pixels) next to their blogad ad space, as network logos are effective at encouraging potential advertisers to look at and buy ads on the network.
http://web.blogads.com/advertise/government_relations_blog_network
To attract more ads, it is best to have at least one ad running - to do that we have the following blogad you can run as one of your free ads:
- - - - - - -
Headline:
Government Relations Blog Network
Body Text:
Looking to reach those who design and influence policy?
Blogs on the Government Relations Blog Network are read by Hill staff, journalists, lobbyists, and the staff members of national associations and federal agencies.
To advertise or join, see our order page.
URL:
http://web.blogads.com/advertise/government_relations_blog_network
Image:
- - - - - - -
Once you accept the invitation we send you to join blogads and you are signed up with blogads, you alone decide what price to charge for blogads that run on your blog and you alone decide which ads to accept. Please accept or reject ads submitted to you within 3 days of submisison.
It takes a few days after you sign up with blogads for your blog to show up in blogads' system. When it shows up, we will add your blog to the order page for the Government Relations Blog Network.
Advertise on the Government Relations Blog Network
Please note that blogads run in a column format. The column is approximately 155 pixels wide. The code to insert blogads into your sidebar is two lines long. One line is the javascript to display blogads, and the other line is the link to your stylesheet on blogads. You will also need to add one line for the required text and link (or logo and link) to the network order page.
(Most blogs load from left to right, so if you want your blog content to load first, your sidebar should be on the right side of your blog.)
To attract advertisers, you want to run blogads in the top 400 pixels of the screen.
FAQs from blogads
You can see most, but not all, of the blogs that carry blogads, here. To see lower traffic blogs that carry blogads, on the "Select blog(s)" page, choose "Advanced Sorting", then, on the "Advanced sorting options" window, in the "Impressions/week" window, choose "1000".
Some blogs that carry blogads:
630 x 95 pixels
300 x 60 pixels
150 x 75 pixels
150 x 50 pixels
150 x 30 pixels
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