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Help support both JournalismHope.com and our print brethern by buying newspaper print subscriptions for friends and family! Note: they also make great 'gag' gifts for the younger generation. (On a more serious note, I have thoughts on story ads and advertorials, stuffed in between the mastheads, which are clickable by the way. This is a 'working example' as they say. ;)

On a more serious and less desperate note, I've been experimenting with 'story ads' - that is, a page in a CMS tagged as advertising. They're going over fairly well. Maybe I should just shut-up about it and continue the ad experiments, but I want to get the idea out there to see what other people think.

Two examples so far are Mr. Mouse in Yorktown (a bar/tavern) and Damon's Grill (franchise Rib place.) Both have been successful so far, with one even getting comments.

That brings up an interesting point - do you allow negative comments on story ads about businesses? Explaining to business owners that it's an opportunity for them to talk one-on-one with their customer is going to be hard but very much worth it.

Another problem is that the ads are sticky and for the most part permanent - part of the fabric of the site, being tracked by tags. Why would advertisers pay more once they're in the system? I need to create more value there somehow...

And believe me, when the money's there to have a sales staff, they're gonna have to know the internet. It's a changing world - and that includes advertising too. Bigger isn't always necessarily better.

Thanks for your time. This is crazy kpaul, slashing prices on ads in all formats. (Which reminds me, the classifieds money is starting to trickle in at MFP too...)

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