My presentation at the Financial Bloggers Conference | Bloggers Lair | Yakezie Forums

Hey everyone,

I'm slowly preparing my 20-minute presentation for the Financial Blogging Conference. My topic is "ethical monetization," but my approach is really something more like "selling without selling out." I'm getting my thoughts down and preparing what I hope will be an entertaining discussion, but before I get much further, I wanted to check with bloggers who will be attending to find out what they'd like to hear about.

So if you're going, whether or not you plan to attend my session as I'm sure there will be some great presentations going on at the same time, feel free to share some thoughts about what you'd like to hear. If you'd rather email my privately, feel free, or just respond here. Or not. :-)

Thanks!

Flexo

If we were able to go I would be at this session for sure (Mrs. SPF is due to give birth to our first that week so we're a no-go).

I think the cash advance loan / payday loan business and advertising for such companies is important.  As is advertising for companies that give mortgages that over extend borrowers purposely.

The usual topics of porn, cigarettes and alcohol sales have certain negative connotations but the grey areas of advertising are what i'd most want to hear about.

Budgeting in the Fun Stuff said:

I accept ads from pretty much anyone except for porn and cigarettes, so I am probably not your target audience.

 

Bah.  I'd take the porn and cigarette advertisers over those unethical payday loan folks.  :)

Jason@LiveRealNow said:

Budgeting in the Fun Stuff said:

I accept ads from pretty much anyone except for porn and cigarettes, so I am probably not your target audience.

 

Bah.  I'd take the porn and cigarette advertisers over those unethical payday loan folks.  :)

I'd even accept porn and cigarette ads if porn didn't offend people and cigarettes weren't as gross (I have asthma, so just their existence hurts me, lol).  I wouldn't use payday loans, but I don't curse their existence.  I figure that full grown adults read my blog and are intelligent enough to ignore ads, even payday loan ads.  I can't picture someone reading my posts and saying to themselves, "You know, Crystal has that payday loan ad right there and it looks mighty tempting…let's click on that…what a great deal…"  If they do, they'd stop by the payday loan place on their way home anyway since that sign is way bigger.  Plus, Adsense advertises payday loans anyway. 

All in all, I'm not picky when it comes to advertisers but I don't feel like a sellout either.  As long as my conscience is clear, I'm good to go, and my conscience is fine.

Thanks for everyone's feedback so far! This is really wonderful.

Question – what does it mean to "sell out?" Just looking for some opinions here… don't think anyone's wrong. I have an interesting definition I'll reveal at conference but I'm wondering how in line my thoughts are with yours. (Or with "all-y'all's," as they say… somewhere…)

If you shill for products you don't believe in or lose track of your personality or reasons you've started for money… you've probably sold out.

I think selling out is selling ad space and advertisements that go against your ethics. That is the only reason that someone would do it is for the money. If you are not against credit cards for example then having a credit card ad is not selling out for you. However, if you are ardent in your beliefs that credit cards are terrible then posting ads for them is selling out.

I like your attitude Crystal. I think it makes sense. I try to follow something similar. As long as my conscious is ok then I don't turn anyone down. 

Budgeting in the Fun Stuff said:

Jason@LiveRealNow said:

Budgeting in the Fun Stuff said:

I accept ads from pretty much anyone except for porn and cigarettes, so I am probably not your target audience.

 

Bah.  I'd take the porn and cigarette advertisers over those unethical payday loan folks.  :)

I'd even accept porn and cigarette ads if porn didn't offend people and cigarettes weren't as gross (I have asthma, so just their existence hurts me, lol).  I wouldn't use payday loans, but I don't curse their existence.  I figure that full grown adults read my blog and are intelligent enough to ignore ads, even payday loan ads.  I can't picture someone reading my posts and saying to themselves, "You know, Crystal has that payday loan ad right there and it looks mighty tempting…let's click on that…what a great deal…"  If they do, they'd stop by the payday loan place on their way home anyway since that sign is way bigger.  Plus, Adsense advertises payday loans anyway. 

All in all, I'm not picky when it comes to advertisers but I don't feel like a sellout either.  As long as my conscience is clear, I'm good to go, and my conscience is fine.

Great definition Super Frugalette. I agree. Selling out is putting money over quality and above your original mission. I think not selling out is sticking with your original plan- using integrity. 

Super Frugalette said:

Flexo said:

Thanks for everyone's feedback so far! This is really wonderful.

Question – what does it mean to "sell out?" Just looking for some opinions here… don't think anyone's wrong. I have an interesting definition I'll reveal at conference but I'm wondering how in line my thoughts are with yours. (Or with "all-y'all's," as they say… somewhere…)

To me, selling out means "blog erosion" — someone clicks on your site and there is so much "$%$&@" on it that visually I do not know where to look, or your posts are so scattered, that I cannot figure out a point of view.

I started blogging on account of "blog erosion". I found tons of "deal" sites that features items that no one should buy or the "deal" was not a deal. I wanted to provide clear information with a point of view.

 

FYI – I'll be at the conference so now I have to go to your presentation.