The BlogHer ad network launched this month, with the release of BlogHerAds. (Keep an eye on Lisa Stone's blog for the launch of the full site next week.) Here's a closer look at this effort towards an economically viable market model for blogging:
The blogger needs to....
- Qualify for the ad network. BlogHer seeks blogs that are over 90 days old, active, open to the public, and meet BlogHer editorial standards.
- Choose what ad size will work best with her/his blog layout
- Indicate if there are any organizations or industries that they'd prefer not to have advertise on her/his blog
- Insert a line of code into her/his blog that will add a BlogHer ad unit as the only graphic advertising above the fold
BlogHer will insert...
- BlogHer Ad Network branding
- An ad (from 24/7 RealMedia, a third-party ad server)
- Three to five related links in the ad network (much like a web ring)
How the revenue is shared:
The BlogHer introductory rate for advertisers is $10 CPM, or $10 per 1000 impressions. 60% of this goes to blogger, and 40% goes to BlogHer. Note that 24/7 RealMedia pulls out spider/bot traffic, so this has a 15 to 30% hit on measured traffic.
I'll have to mull over whether or not I can get away with a test drive. (gasp! sell out?!)
