The prestigious Washington Post has launched a very interesting advertising program specifically for all Bloggers that will bring additional site traffic to your blog plus open up a new alternate revenue stream from advertisements.Anyone can apply for this Washingtonpost Blogroll program and once your blog is accepted, it will be promoted as a rotating banner on the Washingtonpost.com website which is again a very high traffic Internet property. [see screenshot from their website below]
These blogs will be made available to potential advertisers and will only show ads that offer better returns than your existing Google Ads or other networks. Basically, you will have to suggest your existing CPM to Blogroll and that becomes the threshold for potential advertisers. No ads would be served that of a lesser value.
Here's the current status of the program [from an email message] - "Since our first announcement in August, we have been working diligently with our platform partner, ADiFY, to build out the infrastructure to support the program. We apologize for the long silence, but are very excited to say that our systems are in place and we are sorting through the 1,200+ blogs that were submitted to us."
The WashingtonPost Blogroll programs has all the right ingredients to become a hugely successful and popular ad network program for bloggers. Some reasons:
1. The "Washington Post" brand name needs no introduction and will easily bring in a pool of good advertisers. And their sales team already has decades of experience.
2. The Blogroll technology would show ads only when they offer better returns [higher CPM] than your existing ads. So blogger get the best of both worlds.
3. WashingtonPost Blogroll lets you approve or reject ads before they appear on your blog property. Not all existing ad networks offer that facility.
4. The Ads would be served in standard sizes making it easier for publishers to blend them in their existing blogs. They could be a mix of text, image and Flash.
5. Since your blog link would be displayed on properties like WashingtonPost, it may translate to gallons and gallons of Google juice plus an avalanche of new visitors. [rel=nofollow ?]
6. Now the real winning point - Buyers can purchase ads directly from your website and make instant payments via Credit Card or Paypal. This could be the biggest attraction as advertisers get an easy way to advertise on websites that they accidentally discover on the web.
The extra effort involved in sending an email to the site owner or going to a third site for placing ads may be turning lot of potential advertisers away.
There are also plans to promote blogs on other properties including Newsweek.com, Slate.com and BudgetTravelOnline.com.
However, there's no information on the commission rate or what percentage of ad revenue will be retained by WashingtonPost.com. Our rough estimate is that it would be somewhere in the 30-40% range, slightly above the standard industry rate.
These are again very interesting times. Web companies likes Google are partnering with print newspapers to show ads offline and here, a traditional newspaper company is setting up space in the online advertising market.
Apply Your Blog Here | More about Washington Post Blogroll here or here.