Finnish candidates not advertising on Finnish blogs
The Finnish parliament elections are less than a month away - candidates are advertising in newspapers, magazines, buses, subway, billboards, across bridges….basically everywhere, everywhere except Finnish blogs. Are there rules/regulations/restrictions against this? Or has the blog medium yet to used? I’ve looked on around on quite many Finnish blogs (excluding corporate blogs like Helsingin Sanomat blogs), and found just one so far. (maybe I need to look harder?)
Ads on blogs are usually quite cheap, and a view of an online ad is valued more than a print ad because the user can click to learn more. For instance this blog, you can get a one week ad for $10 (US), two weeks for $15, one month for $20, and 3 months for $40 - all through the Blogads service. Thousands of people visit here each day, most are from Finland, and the vast majority are interested in politics - ideal readers for Finnish candidates I reckon.
One of the problems I think I run into, is that these blog ads are very America-centric, and since it’s obvious that most readers here aren’t from the states, American companies pass this blog over when buying ad space. The same goes for Finnish companies, they’ll realize that many readers aren’t from Finland and/or don’t speak Finnish.
Looking from the Finnish blogs, few have any blogsads-style service setup, so they’re basically not welcoming any ads. Maybe they don’t want ads, or maybe they don’t think they’d be profitable so they don’t bother. Or maybe a Finnish company needs to create a blogads-style service. Finns read more newspapers and magazines per capita than any other country, so there’s a lot of competition out there for ad space. This print media has their own advertising team out hunting for ads, we bloggers don’t have this luxury, so we’re waiting for the ads to come to us - that’s a huge disadvantage.
Why do you think Finnish candidates have yet to take full advantage of Finnish blogs?
I don’t know, personally I use adblock not to see crap and jumping frogs. If there was a choice of a blog with ads and without, I’d read the one without.
Comment by Hank W. — Sun, Feb 25th, 2007 @ 12:55 pm
My old blog (not updated anymore) has Google ads and there are lots of ads from candidates. My current blog has not ads, however.
Comment by Niko Lipsanen — Sun, Feb 25th, 2007 @ 2:37 pm
This just in: Finnish police beat up two North Korean diplomats and held them against their will. No racism or bad cops in Finland, yeah right…
http://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/artikkeli/Pohjois-Korea+ep%C3%A4ilee+Suomea+ihmisoikeusloukkauksesta/1135225372564
It’s in Finnish as HS won’t publish this kind of news in English lest it damage Finland’s reputation.
Comment by truth — Sun, Feb 25th, 2007 @ 5:22 pm
Höh, Koreans attacked the customs officer, locked themselves into cabin and didn’t produce any papers. What do you expect to happen at the border control?
Comment by Antti (the redneck one) — Sun, Feb 25th, 2007 @ 5:57 pm
This just in. “Truth really ought to get out more”.
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/North+Korean+diplomatic+couriers+removed+from+train+after+scuffle/1135225215835
Like, six days ago.
And what’s this got to do with candidates and blogs, anyway?
Comment by kylmä totuus — Sun, Feb 25th, 2007 @ 6:05 pm
So, Phil, any chance you getting any candidates to Radio Free Finland? I’d be especially interested in an interview of Jyrki Kasvi
Comment by Passer-by — Sun, Feb 25th, 2007 @ 9:10 pm
“Koreans attacked the customs officer, locked themselves into cabin…”
That’s pretty funny! What a bunch of douche bags
Comment by Kristian (in Espoo) — Sun, Feb 25th, 2007 @ 10:47 pm
And now the North Koreans are accusing Finland of human rights violation
Comment by Hank W. — Mon, Feb 26th, 2007 @ 12:47 am
“And now the North Koreans are accusing Finland of human rights violation”
We’ll meet them at the tanner’s purlins.
Comment by Antti (the redneck one) — Mon, Feb 26th, 2007 @ 2:21 pm
Olisi suomalaisilta kansanedustajaehdokkailta aika hölmöä ostaa mainostilaa englanninkielisestä blogista, jota kirjoittaa Suomessa asuva amerikkalainen “haluan kymmenen miljoonaa muslimimaahanmuuttajaa Suomeen, koska islam on rauhan uskonto ja suomalaiset ovat punaniskarasisteja”-peelo.
Comment by Mikko Ellilä — Mon, Feb 26th, 2007 @ 6:49 pm
Many candidates have bought Google AdWords and therefore they’re advertising in private blogs too. I’ve noticed ads at least from three candidates, even though my blog has nothing to with politics.
I guess it depends on keywords and contents of the blog. I’ve often covered issues such as broadband (Finnish: laajakaista), information society (tietoyhteiskunta) and munipical networks (kaupunkiverkot) which interest especially candidates from the Green party (Vihreät).
Comment by Tero Lehto — Mon, Feb 26th, 2007 @ 11:09 pm
Aargh, sorry for my typos again. I meant to write “nothing to do with” and… “municipal networks”. I guess everyone got my point anyway.
Comment by Tero Lehto — Mon, Feb 26th, 2007 @ 11:13 pm
[url=http://digg.com/health/FIND_BABYSITTER]Need a babysitter? Find the most qualified and perfect Babysitter.[/url]
Now, in addition to [b]finding babysitter[/b], users can find nannies, petsitters, housesitters, elder care providers, and tutors.With hundreds of thousands of care providers across the US, we make it easy to find Babysitter.
[url=http://digg.com/health/FIND_BABYSITTER]Click here to know more[/url]
Comment by robertcrow — Thu, Oct 25th, 2007 @ 9:46 am