Flogs: The Year That Was

When 2009 comes to close, after taking a deep breath, many are going to look back on this year and do something only those on Wall Street will do – celebrate. What’s amazing about the rise of the flogs is how equal opportunity they have been. Those making money on them aren’t simply the same people that made money on ringtones or the same ones that made money on incentive ads. Flogs have created new marketers, many of whom would be considered newbies just a year ago. They also helped networks and specialized offer owners that weren’t necessarily in dominant positions last year to take a position of prominence.  All in all, it’s been a remarkably lucrative and eventful year, and despite the setbacks – Google, Yahoo, the FTC, etc. – they continue as the driving force for revenue in our sector. As this year, comes to a close, we thought, we would take a walk down memory land and showcase some of what the flogosphere / fakeosphere has provided. 

The Ads

Display inventory owners will alternately curse and thank the floggers. Performance marketers, the group that brought the fake Windows prompt ads, the seizure inducing winner banners, and the belly slapping, duck shooting game ads, have once again shown that even if only 2% of the population clicks on ads, they will find that two percent better than any other. From their minds comes:

Unfortunately, some of the ads above were too effective, drawing unwanted attention on their own. For better and worse, our ads also helped spur new policies and guidelines by networks and inventory owners who wanted greater control of what ran. Now, you will not see ads using the likeness of Oz or Obama, and no longer is their the ubiquity of "Jenny."

The Landing Pages

Over the course of the year, one of the biggest changes to take place were the landing pages themselves. It was in the beginning a true free for all, a land of frantic copying and experimentation, some of which went over better and lasted longer than others. In the beginning, it was the flogosphere because everything was in a blog format… and that one infamous check.

The blog formats began to morph and leverage, like the ads, the fact that the ingredients in the products were touted by celebrities from the subtle to the extreme.

Then the fun really began as the blogs evolved into other formats, such as the news site and fake celebrity sites. Today, it’s a platform that with a few simple tweaks can sell the same diet pills for men or women, or as we see later, just about any thing to anybody.

The Disclaimers

What started with little to no advisory text for users has increased, although it still lacks, on the whole, completeness and prominence. Almost everyone we’ve seen running today copies and pastes the basic terms from the offers they run below. Now, many will say "Advertisement" at the top, and if they resemble a newspaper, they will have text the effect of "Not associated with any news publication." In addition to the disclaimers, the more cautious ones will use stock photography, be written on in the third person, and avoid the word free. We especially like the below. Item (1) Height and goal weight for a make money from him offer? Sounds like someone tweaked their Acai offer. (2) Don’t be too generous with the trial period; and (3) Classic.

1. The information that you must supply on the Site in order to obtain Quick Profit Kit™ Products and/or enroll as a Member may include, without limitation: (a) your full name; (b) mailing address; (c) e-mail address; (d) phone number; (e) credit card information; (f) current weight; (g) goal weight; (h) height; (i) gender; (j) year of birth; (k) date of birth; and/or (l) any other information requested by us on the Application (collectively, "Registration Data"). You agree to provide true, accurate, current and complete Registration Data (not including Registration Data associated with your debt and personal goals), as necessary, in order to maintain it in up to date and accurate fashion. Quick Profit Kit™ will verify and approve all Applications in accordance with its standard verification procedures.

2. If you do not cancel your Trial Membership during the applicable two (2) day period as set forth in Section 7 hereinbelow, your Active Credit Card will be charged the monthly Membership fee of Seventy-Nine Dollars and Eighty-Six Cents ($79.86)

3.

Hello 2010

Yes, it’s been a great year and one of the most memorable. If this is a sign of things to come then 2010 could be even better. Say hello to pills for pet, flog for dog owners.