Comments on: This Post Not Sponsored by Interest.com

By: mapgirl

mapgirl — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 03:52:49 +0000

Alea iacta est.

The die is cast. I’m at a new domain now and I’ll be changing over the advertising shortly.

Hooray for soft and lazy product launches.

http://www.mapgirl.net/mfc/

When you get a chance Jim, please update my blog links on my interview. I still get a lot of hits from it. Thank you for interviewing me while I was just a wee hobby blogger, doing this as a labor of love/insanity. Now I’m a money making blogger! woo hoo!

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 03:50:12 +0000

Oh, in addition to my previous statement… If you become a shill for the company then I think that also qualifies as selling out.

Shill (from dictionary.com)
1. a person who poses as a customer in order to decoy others into participating, as at a gambling house, auction, confidence game, etc.
2. a person who publicizes or praises something or someone for reasons of self-interest, personal profit, or friendship or loyalty.
–verb (used without object)
3. to work as a shill: He shills for a large casino.
–verb (used with object)
4. to advertise or promote (a product) as or in the manner of a huckster; hustle: He was hired to shill a new TV show.

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 03:45:33 +0000

It’s only selling out if you allow the advertiser to dictate what you post and don’t post. If you post something in opposition to one of their parent or sister companies and they ask you to remove it or they’ll pull their ads…and you comply…then you’ve sold out. Otherwise, I see no problem at all. If money is available and it’s more than you’re currently making – take it.

By: LAMoneyGuy

LAMoneyGuy — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 22:24:01 +0000

No, I know he was kidding. But as my friends and I used to say in High School, “you know, 90% of all kidding is the truth. Dude, you’re ugly. Nah, I’m just kidding.” Okay, we were dorks. Still are.

Regardless of that, I needed to make sure I was comfortable with it. I definitely am now, but wasn’t at first.

By: jim

jim — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 22:12:42 +0000

I never said anyone sold out

By: Flexo

Flexo — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 21:43:01 +0000

The simplicity is definitely key. Responding to advertisers and trying to work out exactly what they want is time-consuming. It doesn’t make too much sense to turn away an effortless $?,??? per month.

I think Jim was kidding on the MBN forums when he referred to nev as selling out.

By: LAMoneyGuy

LAMoneyGuy — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 19:09:05 +0000

Hey Jim and gang,
Good post, and I appreciate the support on this decision. This was the first truly difficult decision that I have faced as a blogger. I didn’t want to lose my identity or shoot myself in the foot with respect to larger income potential. However, there were three things that sealed it for me: 1) the money, 2) the simplicity, 3) I like and respect bankrate.com.

I probably shouldn’t have used the phrase “selling out” but I read the topic thread on the MBN forum for a while before disclosing that I, too, had signed with the interest.com folks. Nev signing was referred to as “selling out” which is fine. It’s a place to share opinions.

So, there was a lot of thought put into how I wanted to share the news with my readers. I’m really excited about it for how it will help my Fiancee and me financially, and also the affiliation with Interest.com and bankrate.com.

By: CK

CK — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 13:51:42 +0000

In the words of Steve Miller “Go on take the money and run.”

By: FMF

FMF — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 13:24:04 +0000

I’m with you — good for them!

By: Eco

Eco — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 08:36:07 +0000

I read another good article about FINANCE-in-SOCEITY on another website, which contains deeper thoughts. http://jtherese.globaldialectic.org/2006/10/31/the-interdisciplinary-core-of-banking-and-finance/

Why don’t you take a look?

By: jim

jim — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 02:02:30 +0000

I see the Nationwide deal as a little different because it’s more like an advertising deal, they paid for an image ad in a prominent position and they don’t control the commercial rights to the blog (which it looks like Interest.com demanded when they bought advertising on those blogs). That being said, you’ll find that a lot of companies are working with SEO/SEM consultants to improve their brand and so we’ve been dealing with a lot of consultants but very few actual companies.

By: Boston Gal

Boston Gal — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 01:59:22 +0000

It will be interesting to see what other companies start approaching personal finance bloggers. Kind of like the Nationwide deal you and the other MBN folks struck. It is interesting to see how blogs are networking together.

By: Kira

Kira — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 01:52:35 +0000

People think you are “selling out” when you are getting more money than they are.

Next they are going to think that The Man is getting them down and that’s why your writing is better than theirs.

By: jim

jim — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 00:02:25 +0000

I only mentioned “selling out” because LAMoneyGuy, in his post, mentioned it.

By: Lazy Man and Money

Lazy Man and Money — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 23:20:57 +0000

Maybe I don’t know enough about the deal, but I’m not sure why anyone would bring up the idea of “selling out”? I see more than a few personal finance blogs with advertisements and mine is not an exception. How is it different dealing with Interest.com?

Kudos to them, if I feel anything about the situation, it’s jealousy .