Interesting. The NY Times is conspicuous in its reluctance to start a blog of its own, unlike many other traditional media companies that already have blogs, but the paper can’t seem to get enough of writing about blogs. As if to underline that point, it has recently started advertsing via Google AdWords/AdSense on the topic of blogs. I recently saw the ad pictured here on Duct Tape Marketing’s blog. The ad links to this NYT story about Nike’s new blog.

Huh? Here’s an idea: if you want bloggers to think your publication is cool and relevant, start a frickin’ blog instead of advertising about the stories you write about blogs!

This article in the Washington Post describes how popular advertising on weblogs has been in this political season. The story notes that most of these ads are going through the BlogAds network.

The story includes an anecdote of A.B. “Ben” Chandler, a Kentucky Democrat running for a special House election back in January who spent $2,000 for ads on 11 blogs, which was perceived as a risky idea in a tightly funded political campaign. The ads were so successful that in two weeks, some 1,700 readers from the blogs donated $80,000 to the campaign, mostly from out-of-state, which the campaign plowed back into tradiational broadcast and print ads and went on to win the campaign.

W. Post: Some Candidates Turn To Blogs to Place Ads

CEO Henry Copeland launched this do-it-yourself ad network for blogs nearly two years ago, and at that time there was a fair bit of skepticism that the business would ever pan out. Well, it has. The service now has more than 200 blogs using the system, each of which has at least 3,000 ad impressions each week. Some, such as InstaPundit and DailyKos, have millions of readers per month. The service has proven particularly popular with political advertisers — more than two dozen candidates in the presidental and other races have used it to reach political junkies through blogs. But many smaller and medium-sized companies are also find blogs a great way to advertise niche products. Blogs are ideal “for products that have a sensibility, not commodities, those looking to find audiences with a particular mindset,” Copeland said. Some of the biggest bloggers using the system are now earning thousands of dollars a month in advertising.

I have counseled BlogAds about its overall business strategy.

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