Zoetica Media

  • Home
  • Services
  • Speaking
  • About
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Contact

Things Aren’t What They Seem: Marketing Tactic Goes Underground

February 20, 2008 by Kami Huyse

Share this:
Twitter0
Facebook0
Google+0
LinkedIn0

 

Day 47: Live In A Hiding Place - IdlewildOne of the things that distinguishes public relations from other disciplines, such as marketing, is the notion that coverage is earned and not purchased.

Not to say that purchased solutions are any better or worse than the earned variety.  While I prefer using public relations strategies and tactics, I am not opposed to sponsorships and other solutions that are considered marketing.  We often use a mix of both with our clients.  It depends on what will be most useful in reaching the intended community.

However, for every legitimate use of marketing, there is a dark side.  Darren Rowse is a widely popular blogger who maintains, among others, a blog about making money with blogging.   He outlines a disturbing practice of people who place text links into high ranking posts.  In this exchange with Darren, the link seller offers up to $400 a link.

=====

Thanks

you can write my paragraphs by yourself according to your page content only place my link.

I am again up my price to $250 per page per paragraph, a paragraph contain 4-5 links

If you have any question please ask

Kind regards

Shawn

=====

I'm not interested.

Darren

=====

$300 per page per paragraph

You have to right to cancel my any link if you don't like anyone.

Shawn

=====

No thanks – I'm not interested

Darren

=====

last and final price

$400 per page per paragraph

Shawn

=====

do you promise that this is the last one?

In that case – no – I'm not interested.

Darren

=====

This gives media buying a whole new spin.

Darren doesn't participate in this kind of activity and points out that it would compromise the quality of his content.  Not only that, but Google can (and has) penalized blogs for these text ads.  As such, the advertisers are now trying to seem like they are part of the content, and the transaction isn't even above board.

It goes without saying that I find this kind of activity unethical at best.  If you want a fascinating read, click over to Darren's post.

Photo by Emma

Filed Under: Online Ethics Tagged With: Marketing, Public Relations

About Kami Huyse

Kami Watson Huyse, CEO of Zoetica, is passionate about great communication. Working in Public Relations since 1994, and blogging since 2005, she has seen trends come and go, but one thing has stayed the same – people are looking for ways to authentically connect. She loves to connect with readers, so leave a comment or follow @kamichat on Twitter and connect there.

Subscribe to get the newsletter and premiums

Enter your email to subscribe:

  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter

About Zoetica

Zoetica Swish SmallWelcome to Zoetica! We are an experienced team of communicators led by Kami Huyse who are dedicated to teaching you how to bring your communication to life with sound strategy, community building and solid success measures. Check out our blog, Zoetica Talks, browse our Resources, and check out our Sevices.We can't wait to get to know you better.

Recent Posts

  • Which Social Media Platforms to Use for Business in 2023
  • Creative Professionals, Get Ready for the Artificial Intelligence Takeover
  • The 5 Social Media Trends That Will Shape the Industry in 2023
  • The 5-Part Visibility Plan That Will Help Promote and Grow Your Business
  • Are You Ready for AI in Creative Work?

Zoetica in the News

5 Tools to Measure (and Manage) Reputation in Complex Environment PR News Byline

2014 trends for public relations, marketing and social media | Business | Kentucky.com (mobile mention) 

Digital PR & Social Media Guidebook – Contributing Author

How Communicators Can Get Started with PR Measurement, PR News Mention

Proving PR’s Value in the Age of ROI—How to Tie Results to Corporate Objectives | Bulldog Reporter (Speaker)

A Gnawing Crisis in PR: Measuring The ROI on Social Media Channels, PR News Byline

Named as one of AGBeat's top 50 industry influencers in 2014

Will Houston B2B companies answer the social media call? - Houston Business Journal

Social Media Measurement Twitter Chat: Evaluating Impact of Social Media on Foundation Outcomes (with tweets) · RWJF (Moderator)

Top 100 Social Media Power Influencers in Houston 2013

Named as one of 30 PR Experts You Should Follow on Twitter by e-releases

BusinessWire Congrats for Making the Top 100 Women on Twitter

Posts by Topic

Zoetica Talks

 

#SMBHOU

Influencer Outreach

Best Ranked

Measurement

Book Shelf

Nonprofit and CSR

Community

Online Ethics

CoolTools

Social Media Tactics

Crisis

Guidelines

How To

Social Networks

Humor

Speaking

Trends

Strategy

Latest Tweets

Tweets by @kamichat
© Zoetica, LLC | Disclaimer | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 - Zoetica Media · designed/developed by Petersen Media Group