I received an email the other day from a finance company wishing to advertise on our website with a link back to their site. I didn’t think it was appropriate, and said as much, but they insisted it would be a “textual advert” and somewhat hidden within the content on the page. Still unconvinced but a little intrigued by the concept of a concealed advert, I asked them to show me what they meant. And so they did…

They suggested adding a paragraph to our website synopsis of The Language of Bees, by Laurie R. King – so that it would start as follows:

The Language of Bees is a well-written and interesting mystery novel with strong characters. The story features Sherlock Holmes when he is already semi-retired perhaps with significant savings and assets. (The word ‘savings’ would link to the company’s website…)

Um, nice try guys, but don’t think our readers would let that fly…  Needless to say, I declined the offer, but had to give them marks for an original online marketing ploy.

Chiara Priorelli, Publicity and Online Marketing Manager