SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW, SOMETHING AWFUL, SOMETHING BLUE [Author: Lum the Mad]
Rich “Lowtax” Kyanka over at Something Awful posted this weekend that eFront, his host, is promising that really, honest, they really have money coming in someday like a real business, and may actually, you know, at some point pay the people they’re owed. Imagine that!
Basically I said that I’d be shutting down the site at the end of this week if I’m not given anything tangible (ie, at least SOME part of the money owed to me). At this point in time, I’ve been screwed too much to put faith into any network’s word without the accompanyment of concrete proof. If they hold true to their word and I get at least a partial payment by the end of this week, then this site will stay up until (at least) February 19th, when I have been promised full payment.
I don’t want to close down this site or stop doing it. I’ve put too much time and effort into it and have loved almost every moment of it. This is probably why I keep wanting to believe what they tell me regarding the future, and how this situation is a deviancy, not the norm. I *want* this to be true, and I want eFront to be around. I guess we’ll find out at the end of this week if this is possible.
He also has a new, serious article up this morning – entitled “The State of the Internet“, it’s basically a primer into how marketing content on the net is broken, and what can be done to fix it.
Simply put, the current advertising model does not work. Readers know this, companies know this, and online advertisers definitely know this. Advertisers, whom the entire Internet is funded by, need things that aren’t currently being offered by large networks. This is primarily because the online world is very young, immature, and doesn’t provide the technology needed to effectively woo advertisers. The advertisement industry needs information. They need to know what age group they’re advertising to, what gender they are, what their annual income is, what location they live in, and what makes their audience tick. Television has been around for so long that the practice of collecting viewer data has been almost perfected. If a company wants to run a 22-second ad on CBS at 7:30, they will be provided with a dizzying assortment of information regarding their target audience. They’ll be able to compose and market a near-perfect ad campaign that should appeal to whatever demographic they’re aiming for. Although the Internet is being compared to television, the online world simply cannot compete in terms of advertising. Banner ads are served blindly across hundreds of sites on a network with absolutely no correlation between ad design and the target audience. The lure of the Internet was never targeted advertisements, but rather bulk advertisement. See your banner ad with your company’s name spread across hundreds and hundreds of sites for the low, low price of $10 per 1,000 ads! Everybody will view your ad and your name will spread like wildfire! With such lofty promises, how could this possibly fail to lure advertisers?
More on this, including my own overrated bloviating, later today. Plus I may call Kthak “greeby” again or poke fun at Dawn. You never can tell with these wacky web pages!