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Are “Shameless Plugs” Worth It? Some data

danmaz74.me

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Re: Are “Shameless Plugs” Worth It? Some data

#21

Post by pestaa »

benologist wrote: post #19
gabemart wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>97% didn't react to your shameless plug, and probably a good chunk of these were annoyed by it I think that's a pretty bold claim. I can't remember ever being annoyed by a blog post which included a brief "This is me and what I do" plug.

It's not the "This is me and what I do" plug that's annoying, it's the endless advertisements its attached to. Right now we have on or just falling off the front page - 37signals writing about Siri - Thumbtack writing about ab testing - weddinglovely on why a startup has a print product These are advertisements disguised as random bla bla written for HN.

Not all random bla blas are created equal.

There are a few authors I wish they advertise themselves more on HN.

Re: Are “Shameless Plugs” Worth It? Some data

#22

Post by danmaz74 »

zalew wrote: post #12
danmaz74 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The placement of the menu was very conventional and I didn't think it could be a problem, but, now that you made me think about it, I'll consider this. On the other hand, I don't think that the "binary crap" can be so much more distracting than any other picture I could put there. And I happen to like it :)

my point was the pic takes enough attention I didn't notice there is a menu below. the important elements for you are under-exposed. you added the plug but didn't fix the main problem that made it necessary in the first place :)

Ok, I'll look for a solution. Thanks!

Re: Are “Shameless Plugs” Worth It? Some data

#23

Post by danmaz74 »

ckluis wrote: post #16

Shameless Plug Why reinvent marketing best practices? At least be aware of them before you test something. Design - 3-4 C2A at the bottom pointing to your consulting page (or about page) and then A/B test those C2A. Readers are probably more annoyed by a shameless plug then a well designed C2A.

But a call to action makes sense if the post is about what you want to promote. If I write a non-specific post about something that interested me (and should interest readers), I think that a call to action would be perceived as a shameless plug anyway :)

Re: Are “Shameless Plugs” Worth It? Some data

#24

Post by simonholroyd »

huhtenberg wrote: post #4

The other way to look at it - 97% didn't react to your shameless plug, and probably a good chunk of these were annoyed by it. An ad is an ad, regardless of how you call it.

The author could start to answer the annoyance question by AB testing the plug and looking at reengagement figures and time spent of the two segments. No drop off in time spent or second visits would be a pretty good indication there's no significant annoyance. I think this can be done quite easily with Google Analytics and his AB test library.

Re: Are “Shameless Plugs” Worth It? Some data

#25

Post by ashray »

So your conclusion is that advertising works ? Well, I can see why you'd be concerned about pissing people on HN off.

However, if there were no advertising anywhere, how would we know what products to buy ? Mainstream advertising channels make users extremely susceptible to 'banner blindness', 'channel flipping', etc.

Of course, the more sensitive users on HN would question your motivations. It's because advertising is becoming so insidious these days that you can never be sure whether an 'expert' is just talking out of his hat or actually giving 'expert advice'.

In this case, since your product is yourself, I'd still give you the benefit of the doubt. Anyone getting annoyed at that needs to think about what's being sold and why :)

I don't know how it's elsewhere but in India lawyers and chartered accountants aren't allowed to advertise their services. They can have only a small board (very discreet) outside their workplace saying who they are and what they do. I wonder if programmers are ever going to go the same way :O

Re: Are “Shameless Plugs” Worth It? Some data

#26

Post by danmaz74 »

simonholroyd wrote: post #24
huhtenberg wrote: post #4

The other way to look at it - 97% didn't react to your shameless plug, and probably a good chunk of these were annoyed by it. An ad is an ad, regardless of how you call it.

The author could start to answer the annoyance question by AB testing the plug and looking at reengagement figures and time spent of the two segments. No drop off in time spent or second visits would be a pretty good indication there's no significant annoyance. I think this can be done quite easily with Google Analytics and his AB test library.

Unfortunately, I'm not such a prolific blog author, so I don't have posts to spare to this kind of experiments...

Re: Are “Shameless Plugs” Worth It? Some data

#27

Post by danmaz74 »

goldfeld wrote: post #13

Regarding shameless plugs, how about using your own app embedded midway through the article to exemplify the concepts being talked about? Is that done, and how is it perceived?

I'm sorry but I don't understand which app you're talking about. The Hacker News plugin can't be embedded...

Re: Are “Shameless Plugs” Worth It? Some data

#28

Post by goldfeld »

danmaz74 wrote: post #27
goldfeld wrote: post #13

Regarding shameless plugs, how about using your own app embedded midway through the article to exemplify the concepts being talked about? Is that done, and how is it perceived?

I'm sorry but I don't understand which app you're talking about. The Hacker News plugin can't be embedded...

I'm talking about any given app which the developer embeds into his own article to create a seamless promotion.

Re: Are “Shameless Plugs” Worth It? Some data

#29

Post by danmaz74 »

goldfeld wrote: post #28
danmaz74 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry but I don't understand which app you're talking about. The Hacker News plugin can't be embedded...

I'm talking about any given app which the developer embeds into his own article to create a seamless promotion.

Ok - when that's possible, it makes a lot of sense.
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