Blogertize: To Buy or Not?

A few days ago, I heard about Blogertize, on a Blog Catalog Discussion. Some readers also asked us about that company. So, I thought of having a small review of the  site.

Some Introduction. Blogertize is a pixel based advertising website where you can buy ad space for 3 years for low prices starting from $15. Here is what they say about themselves:

Our aim is to popularize the information culture through innovative internet advertising. In this quest we engross partners who recognize the value of creating information properties for themselves as well as the community.

A popular style of internet advertising is pixel advertising which was introduced in UK but not explored at its fullest. A pixel-page is an advertising concept where advertisers buy a block of pixels in which to place their ad.

Instead of selling pixel buttons to big corporate houses, we intend to sell the space to rich content blogs & forums which have appealing articles and enlightening discussions respectively on topics ranging from sports, online gaming, current affairs, politics & health to lifestyle, travel & tourism, science, psychology, history et al.

Is It Cheap? Well, Yes. The Advertising space is divided into 4 segments viz. Red, Yellow, Green and Blue. Red boxes have dimensions 100x80, Yellow ones have 100x60, Green Pixels have 100x40 and Blue Pixels have 100x20. Here is a screenshot showing placement of ad boxes.

You can buy as many ad boxes as you want.  Your logo will be displayed in that space for the next three years (starting from April 1,2009). Here are the prices:

The categories available are: Sports, Tech, Health and Fitness, Politics, Money, Gaming, Career and Education, Showbiz, Travel and Tourism, Life, Literature and Social Responsibility. Social Responsibility is free to advertise and there will be only Red blocks there.

What Can be Expected?

They expect to attract traffic with the help of their Forum and Contests. Forum was launched on Nov 20, 2008 and currently has 124 members. They hope to organize Daily/Weekly Contests for visitors which will attract more traffic. Prizes include Laptops, Digicams, Vacations etc.

Blogertize will be selling products through Bloggers who advertise with them. At this time, it is not clear which products will be sold.

However, if their plans work well, you can get good traffic. But if they fail, you may lose your money or get very little in return.

Positives:

• Low Prices. Advertising Space is very cheap to say the least. $15 for 3 years is a good price.
• Impressive Plans. I am impressed with their plans. Organising Daily Contests, having a MarketPlace are good strategies to get traffic.

Negatives:

• Control. You should be controlling what you buy. But sadly, here you can not! Once placed, the image or URL can not be changed!
• Who will Visit? They are selling ads on a page that will have nothing but ads. Now, why would people visit your blog? Contest idea is there but then they do not make clear what type of contests they will be. Who will participate in those contests and how?
• Contest Prizes. Contests are good idea but they offer prizes like Laptops, Digicams, LCD Monitors etc. They are based in India and Indians can receive prizes pretty easily. But what about People in US and other countries? How will they send prizes like  LCD Monitors, Home Theaters?
• Its like Aiming in Dark. With Blogertize, you will be aiming in the dark on something(traffic) you don't know will be there or not! You give them your logo and they will place it there on April 1. Now, you don't know who else is placing ads on the page and where. What if your ad is shadowed by some nice looking ads? Only the most beautiful and ugliest tend to be clicked. Even if Blogertize gets a lot of traffic, you won't get the benefit you can get from targeted Advertising on quality sites. (with fewer ad blocks)
• Invisible Owners! No one knows who owns the site and what previous experience they have.  About Page talks about their aim and the background page gives an idea of "what" not "who"!
• What will Bloggers Sell? There is no information about what the market will sell. I hope they are not like Contest Prizes. Moreover, in my opinion they will not be able to sell much with likes of Amazon and E-Bay around. After all, why will people trust a Company/Individual when more trusted sites are around?
• How Will Bloggers Sell? They say bloggers will have to place a link on their blogs to sell products. What kind of links will they be? How will they track the conversions?
• Time. You have to wait till April 1, 2009 for ads to go live. But you have got to pay at the time of purchase. How can we make sure that they will not flee?
• Launch Date! This one is not serious but the fact is they are launching on April 1! This is April Fool's day around the world and who knows they may make you the next "April Fool" and flee with your money!

Conclusion: I would suggest not to buy  Blogertize ad space at this time. $15 is not much, but after all its like gambling! You don't know what you will get. Instead, work on free traffic building techniques and buy ads on good places!