The Blend - 2008 Online Publishing Business Strategy

John Battelle riffs on how Yahoo!, Microsoft, and AOL are screwing up by following in Google's footsteps trying to create huge ad platforms, while ignoring their brand ad strength. And AdAge asks if we may one day see a web free of push display ads.

If traditional ads become less effective, we will still end up trusting ads that are links that look just like content. How to article linkbait, user generated content, and 100% blended affiliate links now make up the Mahalo business model. Which is really no different than the affiliate marketing Jason despises. That really puts a new perspective on somebody lashing out at SEOs and affiliate marketers before creating something that aspires to be more polluted.

[UPDATE: Yahoo! Search also is getting into the blend more aggressively, allowing brand advertisers to drive potential customers to branded Yahoo! Search results. More information on Search Engine Land, and an example Y! search for Honda here.]