Steemians! Would You Let Advertisers Touch YOUR Typing?
Your voice is worth something. But for how long? I've read some people bemoan the 4 week reward cutoff here, and can understand their frustrations.
Considering how much traffic some pages will get from Google, long after they were created, something should perhaps be done to reward contributors in the longer term. But it might not need to come from the platform. The community itself could decide to embrace the evils of ADVERTISING!
One solution which contributors could take into their own hands, would be to place affiliate adverts within their own content. A dedicated Steemit orientated affiliate network might even emerge in time. I've already seen some affiliate links here on Steemit, and as long as they are used in moderation, (and they are usually declared) they have so far not been met with any resistance. Affiliate links, be they in text form or using dynamic graphics, are often (and ideally) relevant to the content, so you might see an advert for camera lenses on a blog about photography, or the link could be somewhat discreetly placed within the text.
As a reader, would an advert in the middle of an article perturb you?
Or perhaps you would be happy to know that the author has a long term chance of earnings. Perhaps it all really depends on where the author draws the line between reasonable affiliation, and spam.
Flipping the table, as an author, would you be prepared to place adverts in your content, if the chance of some passive income was there? I think that's one of the issues with Steemit for people coming from a more conventional blogging and "internet marketing" background - Unless you're a "Sure-Shot" with copious fans and follow-bots, Steemit in its current incarnation does not give you stability or consistency.
As a quick example of a content creator who is making a living from carefully placed adverts, leading photography writer, Neil van Niekerk uses both graphical advertising, and contextual affiliate links in his blog, but it doesn't bother me. His content is amazing and he remains extremely popular in the photo community.
Passive Income.
Passive income is very appealing for anyone with inconsistent lifestyles, schedules or indeed, health. Imagine having some money trickle in during periods when you're ill or busy. That's the safety net of passive income, and only a long term strategy for milking value from your content can achieve this.
I'm especially interested to hear peoples thoughts on this as readers. Would you flag or mute someone who included adverts in their content? I'm sure some may be utterly disgusted by the idea of advertising being placed on Steemit. Please, don't shoot the messenger! Rather than flag me - let's discuss it below!
Thanks for reading. This post started off as a response to @deanliu on @myfirst's post about the decline in the price of STEEM, but I ended up going on a few tangents so decided to blog it here and hopefully get some feedback.
I'm very interested to hear peoples views on this subject. Please let me know in the comments!
Colour images courtesy https://pixabay.com/
Main vintage image is public domain.
I've been saying it for a while and will continue: if businesses want to advertise on Steem, they better get their asses an account and start posting... preferably they need to buy some Steem Power and power up as well.
This turns the advertising dynamic on its head since it has the potential to eliminate the middle layer of the advertising structure. B2C direct interactions with payments to the business for their products, services, or thought leadership and payments to customers for their support and/or loyalty.
Well very subtle advertising is ok, I've read some posts where people would provide a affiliate link, as long as It's not eye popping or too aggressive, it's ok. In fact I would encourage people to use advertising, but with caution, if you advertise in a nice way, no one will complain, but if you go a bit too aggressive on it, you'll get flagged for sure.
revisiting the idea
https://steemit.com/steem/@condra/why-i-m-in-favor-of-advertising-on-steemit-better-content-and-passive-income
I do think we will see advertising here on steemit at some point. Although i think we should be able to opt into any ad additional google style ad rewards program, but initially the program should only show adverts to people who aren't members of the site. this would be a great way to provide the long term residual income that many authors rely on to make a living.
Personally I'm not so keen on affiliate marketing and sponsored posts and would avoid users who produced this type of content but there are always exceptions to the rule.
That's an excellent idea!
I think relevant advertisements are ok. I have never done it, but may in the near future. Have seen authors promite their books with links to amazon and think that's completely fine when relevant to the post. I wouldn't flag if it was irrelevant and in a short bio at the bottom of the post either.
I play fantasy sports for a living and plan on doing some blogs on football picks and recaps of my own play. Would posting affiliate links with signup bonuses for people on steemit to the fantasy sites (benefits for me as well) be poor form?
That's what I'm trying to gauge. Personally, as long as your content is excellent, and you declare an affiliate link, I've no problem with it.
The thing I like about Steemit is the lack of advertising. I think this would be the wrong way to correct the 30 day payout issue. It would be better to just fix that directly.
I agree. Keeping my fingers crossed.
My personal opinion on the subject would be that users should be able to organise and advertise on their own posts, I have no problem with that, I would have a problem with Steem or Steemit placing adverts on pages as Facebook does for example.
Quite honestly? I probably would stop reading a users post. One of the things I like about steemit is the lack of advertising.
I LOVE the lack of advertising on Steemit. Especially the flashy, graphical, non-targeted stuff on most sites. I'd run a mile from that kind of stuff, but if a tech reviewer for example was to post a link to the reviewed product, it wouldn't both me as long as the review felt sincere.
Now that I wouldn't mind. Referral links, commission links, and such as long as there is some original review, thought, or opinion on the subject. Even a tiny image link.
More revenge flags from red-handed spammers. I must be doing something right.
I think if an author sincerely likes a product that they are advertising, then I don't see a problem with it. Of course, they should disclose that they're affiliate links as well. It's only obnoxious when it's incessant and insincere.
advertising here? its just a matter of time, i guess :)