Online Marketers Funding Virtual Blight
by Blight Fighter
VB’s own Blight Fighter was featured in Search Engine Land this week, talking about the need for online marketers to be responsible about where their money is going. The central thesis of this argument is that the public perceives the Internet as a dangerous, unregulated place. While this may appeal to many, it is keeping marketing dollars from flowing online as rapidly as they will if sights are able to demonstrate that they have effective strategies against blight. Google spends a lot of money fighting Webspam because it makes them a more desirable destination:
Do senior executives see the Internet as a safe place to associate with their brand? Is this perception preventing U.S. marketing dollars from flowing online? The public is skeptical of advertising claims made on television, but there is a common belief that claims made on TV pass regulatory scrutiny. Television is able to transfer belief to the viewer and provide advertisers with credibility.
To compete with the power of the subconscious influence of television, online marketers have to be diligent about where they place their brand. Current ad networks, both search and display, offer many opportunities for embarrassing or damaging brand placements. Faced with the possibility of seeing their ad on a blighted site or being tarnished by association with a casino or adult site sharing a page view, brick and mortar marketers limit their investments in online advertising.
