The Boston Diaries

The ongoing saga of a programmer who doesn't live in Boston, nor does he even like Boston, but yet named his weblog/journal “The Boston Diaries.”

Go figure.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Selling out

From
XXXXXX XXXXXXXXX <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
To
sean@conman.org
Subject
Interested in Purchasing Text Link
Date
Thu, 7 May 2009 08:36:32 +0500

Interested in Purchasing Text Link

I am interested in purchasing textlink advertising on several pages of your website http://boston.conman.org/. Let me know if you are interested and we can discuss further details.

I can make a good offer.

Best Regards,
XXXXXX XXXXXXX

I get emails like this from time to time and sometimes, I'll follow up on it, curious as to what the actual deal will be, and for this particular email, I was curious.

The deal basically was a one time payment for a permanent placement of a paragraph on seven particular entries. And the seven selected entries were a pretty ecclectic collection of posts for text advertisements for educational, exam, certification and internet related websites. But hey, it's their money I'll be receiving …

The only thing that did bother me was the “permanent placement” part, especially for the amount of money being offered. I replied with: “I'm interested, but the price given for perpetual ads seems too low. A year is fine though.” Hey, it can't hurt to haggle a bit.

From
XXXXXX XXXXXXX <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
To
Sean Conner <sean@conman.org>
Subject
Re: Interested in Purchasing Text Link
Date
Sat, 9 May 2009 14:56:00 +0500

Hi,

I can understand your concern for a higher fee but you have to consider the fact that i am advertising on the internal pages. Also i am advertising at the bottom of each page which doesn't have much real estate value.

Most advertisers look to advertise on the top of the page but at the bottom of each page the value has to be lower.

See basically there is no opportunity cost there, plus you can continue to advertise on the top of your page which is really your premier advertising spot.

Even then, after reconsidering my budget, I am willing to [increase the amount by 50%] for the 5 years deal.

I hope, now, it will also OK to you.

Okay, if the check clears, why not?

So I received the ads today, and placed them on the given entries and am currently awaiting approval before the check is sent. And I figure that if I hear nothing in two weeks, I can pull the ads.

But if all goes well, I'll have some additional fundage in the bank account. And don't be surprised if you come across something like:

in the random entry or two …

Update on Sunday, June 22nd, 2014, after the ads expired

I go into bit more detail about this deal, and why I won't be selling out any time soon …

Obligatory Picture

[The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades]

Obligatory Contact Info

Obligatory Feeds

Obligatory Links

Obligatory Miscellaneous

You have my permission to link freely to any entry here. Go ahead, I won't bite. I promise.

The dates are the permanent links to that day's entries (or entry, if there is only one entry). The titles are the permanent links to that entry only. The format for the links are simple: Start with the base link for this site: https://boston.conman.org/, then add the date you are interested in, say 2000/08/01, so that would make the final URL:

https://boston.conman.org/2000/08/01

You can also specify the entire month by leaving off the day portion. You can even select an arbitrary portion of time.

You may also note subtle shading of the links and that's intentional: the “closer” the link is (relative to the page) the “brighter” it appears. It's an experiment in using color shading to denote the distance a link is from here. If you don't notice it, don't worry; it's not all that important.

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