You can think of advertorials as a cross between an informative article and a sales copy. Advertorials usually start off by presenting a problem, and ends with a solution of some kind. The solution they offer is typically a sales pitch to subtly persuade the reader into buying something.
To give you a better picture of what I’m talking about, here are 2 ads that are frequently seen on Yahoo. The ads themselves are not advertorials, but once clicked, you are directed to the corresponding advertorial page.
The 1st is an ad from HowLifeWorks.com, and the other is by ARALifeStyle.com. ARALifeStyle was the 1st to use these types of ads, but HowLifeWorks was quick to jump on the business model. It was kind of innovative because the design of the ads sort of made you feel like those articles were just a part of Yahoo.
Once you click on one of those links, you are directed to a simple looking website. The landing page offers an article, a few related articles, and some sponsored PPC ads.
So you may be asking “what is the big deal?” Well, there really isn’t. Simply put, these websites are nothing more than beefed up arbitrage sites. Except, instead of flipping PPC traffic, these websites are buying CPM traffic and flipping them to PPC and affiliate revenue. We can easily spot the PPC ads, but the affiliate links are embedded within the article itself. So, someone who has no clue about affiliate marketing would have no idea that the article’s true intention is to promote an advertiser’s service or product.
The advertorial business model is not entirely new though. We see it almost everyday. Websites like eHow, About.com and HowStuffWorks.com all have similar business models. When you break it down, they are all websites that provide informative articles about certain topics, and they all make money from PPC ads. The only difference is that these sites do not include sales verbiage in their articles. For this reason, we do not look down on eHow or About.com like we do the advertorial sites.
What are your thoughts on advertorial sites?
[...] about Website traffic as of August 12, 2009 What are Advertorials? – liveambitions.com 08/12/2009 You can think of advertorials as a cross between an informative [...]
So is there any reason to trust these “adverorials” any more that a host of other sites like the acai berrry scams? How is the average consumer to know that the product being presented, as you stated most won’t know it is a paid endorsement of the product, what is a decent product and what is just junk? Do we “the consumer” still have to try to sift thru the hundreds of “fine print” links to find this is just another scam? It would be nice to find a decent product for a change without having to be so defensive constantly.
In their defense, HowLifeWorks does put a disclaimer at the bottom of every article that states who the article is sponsored by.
As far as figuring out what product reviews are legit and which ones are “fake,” we won’t ever know for sure. Creating a website is so easy nowadays, that practically anyone can sell something online.
The Internet is a money-making machine, and like the real world, you’re going to find shady people. Keeping that in mind, I believe it is always the consumer’s job to do due diligence before buying something online. There is no way someone can hold your hand through all the activities you do online.
I honestly find these advertorials to be very annoying and nothing but a huge waste of space. These should be terminated immediately, or else as soon as possible.
I agree – advertorials are annoying and sometimes can be misleading.
In the earlier days of the Internet, I think when people did reviews of products or services, it was more honest. Now, product reviews are too motivated by money or ulterior motives.
I agree with siwel, these advertorials are annoying and I would even say they are disrespectful towards the consumer’s intelligence, like they assume we are all idiots. Unfortunately I’m afraid to say, most people are way too naive to filter through all the BS online. Working online for more than 10 years, I can easily see what is genuine and what’s not, but I understand that a lot of consumers can’t. I think we need more education, like we try to educate people regarding email scams and hoaxes. I laugh everytime I see those advertorials that use my location like “Seattle driver?” or “Seattle Mom discovered a secret” to take advantage of the tendency people have of giving more attention to ads they can relate to. That’s horrible!