Barter News Weekly

I found a link on Twitter that led me to this site: http://www.okanaganreview.com/kelowna/ARTICLE-Trade-Exchange-Barter-System-Kelowna-AK2N5A1C8/

At first glance, the page looks like a page from a reputable or established news source. My second glance let me to a number of oddities: all of the google ads were for Trade Exchange Canada, the article was written about TEC, the comments were in place, but with no way of actually contributing a comment on the article, a customer review from a TEC member in the sidebar.

It turns out, TEC is using one of the new grey-area lead generation techniques already in use by thousands of businesses on the net. Instead of doing a traditional press release or attempting to sway traffic from Google searches, companies are turning to marketing companies to make “advertorials”. From the company that TEC hired, ”

The Okanagan Review is a website dedicated to online advertising editorials. Advertising editorials (aka advertorials) are the latest trend in the magazine and newspaper industry where a page is designed to look like an article, yet it is actually an advertisement. The Okanagan Review is your online equivalent.

With rates as low as $99 per article, using the Okanagan Review to promote your website is a great investment.

We make it easy for you… we can write the advertorial for you, or you can simply complete our submission forms and we will publish your advertorial. We guarantee that 100% of the links on your advertorial page are directed to your site, including the “Sponsored Links”.

It looks like a good deal, it sounds like a good deal, but may not be a good idea. According to an article on the Online Journalism Review, ”

In the world of online publication, where the nature of the medium is that both journalistic sites and their ads are fraught with slick graphics, clear labeling of articles and advertisements can be key to keeping potential readers aware of what they are reading. However, when an advertorial is not labeled as an advertisement but as an ‘InfoSite,’ or with other such euphemistic labels, it may serve to lure readers into ads. This may ultimately create what PC World magazine calls ‘stealth sites,’ material that looks like news but is disguised marketing material.

‘I don’t think the average consumer that sees ‘InfoSites’ will know that it is advertising and not independent editorial material,’ said Cathryn Baskin, editor in chief of PC World print magazine. ‘The average consumer will have to exercise a lot more caution on line than they do in most print publications.’

Which means that online advertisers also risk their reputations when engaging in stealth sites and infosites that are not clearly labeled and clearly understood to be advertisements.

Good luck TEC…let us know how it goes…