Forbes blog network : Anyone know anything?
Anyone hear about the formation of a blog network by Forbes? Word has it that the magazine is pulling something together and is asking for bloggers to join the network.
I've been a follower of publisher Rich Karlgaard's Digital Rules blog for a couple years. I also see that David Ewalt, Deputy Editor, Special Projects at Forbes.com, publishes the Digital Download blog. Unless I'm missing something those are the only blogs I see running at Forbes.com now.
Maybe it's just me but the snowball of publishers turning to blogs, at least to the extent of having blogs complement their existing content, is turning into an avalanche.
Contact information:
Nicholas G. Kaizer
Vice President - North Law Publishers, Inc.
tel: 212-737-0400
fax: 212-396-4152
nkaizer@northlawpublishers.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
North Law Publishers, Inc. Announces the Launch of the Washington, D.C. Judicial Ratings Website, www.robingroom.com/dc/
New Site Modeled Upon its Highly Popular Federal Judicial-Rating Portal
New York, NY - November 1, 2007 -- After the launch last year of www.therobingroom.com, a highly successful, online portal that allows lawyers and other members of the legal community to rate Federal judges, North Law Publishers, Inc. has unveiled the Washington, D.C. version of this popular site. The robingroom.com, with more than 8,000 critiques of Federal judges posted to date, has gained prominence as the fastest growing judicial-rating website in the country. The Washington, D.C. version of The Robing Room will provide the same intelligence to those who use the State courts as the Federal site provides to Federal court users.
"After launching the Federal site, we were inundated with e-mails to launch State sites," commented Nicholas G. Kaizer, vice president of North Law Publishers. "This is the first of 50 State sites that we will be developing over the coming months. We also are in discussion to develop several international judge-rating sites as well. These portals will become invaluable resources of information for attorneys and other members of the legal community at large."
User-friendly interfaces allow visitors to rate judges based on set criteria, and to submit an in-depth commentary so that others researching a judge for an upcoming case can see the rationale behind the ratings and prepare themselves accordingly. The identity of the rater remains completely anonymous. "The quality and integrity of the comments posted reflect the legal community's acknowledgement that a resource of this caliber is needed and highly appreciated," asserted Mr. Kaizer. "We are thrilled at the amount of interest generated thus far and are excited to be expanding our efforts to the State level."
The sites are free to use and will, in the very near future, offer members of the legal community an online platform to advertise their services for a nominal monthly fee. "Advertisers will be able to target their promotions on a national, state or local level, reaching the specific audiences that will best support their businesses and build their brand," noted Mr. Kaizer. "Legal service providers, in particular, will find advertising on these sites of great value because of the high level of traffic and the ability to custom tailor their outreach to the target markets that will generate the greatest return on investment."
Mr. Kaizer, why have you left your press release as a comment on my blog post about Forbes.com? Does it look like I am asking folks to post leaflets like they would for yard service on the bulletin board outside a grocery store?
I'll leave Kaizer's comment up here as a perfect example of companies having not a clue of what they are doing on the PR side. Any credibility their judicial ratings site, North Law Publishers, and CEO Kaizer may have had is gone. Anyone that's this out of touch with how the net and blogs work is not likley to be able to pull off a web site that has any merit.
What say you Nicholas?
Yes, it's true. Forbes has formed a blog network through adify.com. It goes live sometime in January. To join, the blog agrees to post ads that run across the entire Forbes network.
Yes. They are launching one. I've been invited and they've already posted the ad tags on my site. For now, the ads only direct you to register if you're a blogger. Eventually they'll deliver ads from their sponsors across the network and the blogger will keep a portion of the ad revenue on a CPM basis. The bigger benefit is that member blog posts will be posted on the Forbes network site and bloggers wil be able to post the Forbes logo on their site. Pretty cool opportunity. If you want to register, go to my blog and click through (I don't want to be like the guy above and post a URL or anything stupid). I hope this helps.
I know you may already know, but yes they are creating a blog network and it is by invitation only. We are in the process of signing their agreement for our blog. The network is advertising based with shared profits. You get a special banner to put on your blog once you are finally approved.