Advertising, Penguins and Trouser Theft

I got a strange e-mail this morning from a guy named Jim Doherty. Jim runs a family boardgame business out of Westford, Massachusetts, and he's looking to get some exposure and drum up a little more business.

Now, usually I don't run ads on the site, barring the occasional flirtation with Google Ads. The main reason, of course, is that they pay squat and you have to earn $100 before they'll pay out a penny. Add to this the fact that Blogads won't return my calls, and it all seems too much like hard work.

Still, I took a look at Jim's site, Eight Foot Llama, and let me tell you this is a company I want to be on board with - sorry, that pun was quite unavoidable. See, these aren't just ordinary board games (throw a 6. Oh no. I have to go back 3 spaces. Woe is me). No, these are special. These are the kind of fun and quirky games I grew up with: The Penguin Ultimatum; Monkeys on the Moon and the improbably titled Who Stole Ed's Pants?

I will, of course, be placing Jim's ad prominently on the front page as soon as possible. See, I have friends who come from disfunctional families, full of yelling and slammed doors, asking how the hell my family seem to get along so well. Why aren't there any bitter feuds and hey, why isn't there any crockery being hurled against the walls? I couldn't give you a perfect answer, but at least part of it is down to the fact that we've spent years sitting around a coffee table playing games just like Jim's. Now, I don't want to claim that cardgames breed happy families, but they surely can't hurt, can they?

And now my second point: why isn't there more of this kind of advertising? Why is it that the choice seems to be limited to Google Ads for small sites, Blogads for the big guys? Why can't it be the case that a small business, maybe one that doesn't have the advertising budget to invest in Blogads, can go to a blogger and offer a little cash for an ad? Hell, why can't bloggers take the initiative and approach businesses themselves? Surely they more than anyone know what kind of demographic their site reaches. Surely they are the best placed to judge the type of business that could benefit from advertising on it.

The main thing, the thing that really reaches in and grabs a company like Blogads by the balls and squeezes 'til it cries, is that the bloggers get to keep 100% of the revenues. That I can get on board with.