On Advertising: Blogosphere increasingly international: Some companies that advertise on blogs pay from a few pence up to £1, or $1.80, per click on blog ads, according to Dusan Hamlin, media communications director at Isobar, a British agency involved in online advertising. This is slightly less than what is paid for equivalent clicks on blogs in the United States, where highly specialized sites can charge a premium, he said.
"There is definitely activity out there," Hamlin said, "but people are still approaching blogs with skepticism. If you are concerned about how your brand is perceived, blogs might not be the venue for you."
That may have been the result when L'Oréal, the French cosmetics company, created a blog around a fake character, Claire. The character praised a new anti-aging cream, but was eventually unmasked by bloggers who attacked the cosmetics company with vicious messages online.
Another problem with blogs, Hamlin said, is that there are no controls on what part of the blog your ad might appear next to. "By advertising on a blog, you leave yourself open to both positive and negative impact," he said.
Blogs "do, however, show an interesting shift in the way people are using the Internet."
