RedState is right!
By JR Hoeft | Monday, April 6th, 2009 | Catch-AllWell, of course I’m going to say that, especially given this very welcome and highly unexpected shout-out:
RedState has a lot more national clout than say Minnesota Democrats Exposed, but MDE plays a damn vital and necessary role. But, if you look at its ads, it’s got google ads up. You’d think the Minnesota Republican Party would have some big donor who’d want to sponsor that site via advertising.
And I don’t mean to single out MDE (but dammit there is one site that did the Lord’s work this year and I bet most conservatives in DC never heard of it). It happens everywhere. Look at Virginia: Virginia Conservative and Bearing Drift are two of my regular reads. You’d think the GOP would be falling all over itself to encourage these sites, fund them, and make sure they have the resources they need.
We’re certainly pretty lucky here at BD. Candidates have in the past purchased ads. Shoot…we’ve even offered them to the Democrats (unfortunately no takers, as of yet). And Bob McDonnell’s campaign for governor has generously purchased the above banner ad for the duration of this campaign.
But what of the rest of the conservative blogosphere here in VA?
Day after day, bloggers spend countless hours researching, writing, communicating, and defending positions. We all do this because we believe in the cause and are trying to do our part to make a difference.
But computers cost money. Travel costs money. Time is definitely money.
Wednesday, Lt. Gov. Bolling will be hosting his annual bloggers day – which is a terrific way to outreach to bloggers; it is certainly a step in the right direction as it provides access and familiarity – it truly informs and provides context for bloggers seeking to paint an accurate picture.
That is certainly one way to outreach to bloggers, but a simple ad purchase is another.
I don’t think most bloggers are looking for a large investment…again, this is a labor of love. But an occasional ad purchase would certainly be helpful.
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About the author
Conservative to the core; liberal with his opinion! J.R. has been involved in politics for over a decade and has worked on several campaigns in Hampton Roads. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Chesapeake and the Central Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia. He is also the director of “Blogs United” in Virginia. E-mail J.R.. Follow J.R. on Twitter.
Comments
9 Responses to "RedState is right!"
We’re never going to make money doing this. And I never liked the idea of an official RPV blog on the RPV website. That should go immediately, just as frederick’s photo has vanished.
I don’t think anyone intends to make money off this…and I certainly wasn’t implying that.
As for official blogs on any official site – be they political, government, business, non-profit – they don’t really have much credibility; everyone knows you’re getting only what that entity wants you to see.
Of course, they do serve as a source of info for research…but not much more value exists beyond that.
Given that this will be the first one that is exclusively a Republican event, I don’t think it’s fair to call it an “annual bloggers day.”
As for ads – I hate ‘em.
I guess it’s kinda like Moran’s bloggers day that he held in late February. For some reason, I don’t recall BD being on the invite list.
At least we now know why Blogs United is an important venue…there we truly all can get together to discuss politics and blogging.
Every campaign has a website, and many pay very well for those websites, and no one complains.
I don’t remember anyone complaining about Obama’s website having every word written on it being written by someone paid to do so.
As far as bipartisanship, I’m happy to show lots of it as soon as the Democrats show any of it. Thus far, my experience has been most Democrat politicians only want bipartisanship when they want Republicans to change and be closer to them.
When the chips are down, the only thing Democrats really want in the end is to beat Republicans. Their presumptive nominee is already running negative ads attacking Bob McDonnell and it’s APRIL!!
So if the left wants bipartisanship, start showing some, and get back to me.
i don’t think enough average voters read political blogs at this point (if ever) to make ads cost-effective. Us political diehards who write and read this stuff want more than just a banner ad.
Actually, I am pretty impressed by our numbers…and am glad to see their continued growth.
An ad is as much a badge of support to the blogger as it is for the blogger to provide a link/portal to the campaign.
In fact, it’s so common there is an industry name for it. It’s called “an affinity buy.” That means even though the numbers might not justify a partnership, there is value to publicly supporting the effort and being associated with it.
Program advertising in the arts community is sold the very same way.
You must have meant February 2008, as Moran didn’t do anything this year.
Still hate ads – and with all the software to block them, I never see them.
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