I was contacted by
renowned Quebec blogger Michel Leblanc (in French) who suggested to put advertising on my blog. His idea led to the creation of a new ad network specialized for the local market and fostering links between Quebec's leading blogs. There are a couple of unique aspects to it:
- It's really targeted to local blogs and local readers, with ads about local events and local companies, what François Laroche (in French) calls "social proximity"
- It will creates links between leading blogs and globally increase traffic to them
- The ad format is unique, a 145x145 Flash pub that will be well positioned in the page layout
- The new ad network is managed by LesAffaires.com, a leading business magazine in Quebec, owned by Médias Transcontinental, largest printer in Canada and leading consumer magazine publisher
- The sponsoring of participating blogs and the revenue model is also quite unique
- Each blogger keeps his own autonomy while being part of a larger "elite" group
For the reasons above, it's much better for me than Ad Sense, which hasn't proved to be very effective. A great initiative that gives a hand to local bloggers. So we'll see how the pilot run goes starting September 20th.