Television? The word is half Greek and half Latin. No good will come of this device. C P Scott, 1936

Television won't last because people will get tired of staring at a plywood box every night. Darryl Zanuck, 20th Century Fox co-founder, 1946

But TV finally fell to advertising and is now fully one-third ads and very little content, except for product placement and sponsored content.

But because advertising ruled our lives when internet was launched in 1995, we just naturally assumed that advertising would rule online as well. But we got it wrong. I spend hours online daily and do all I can to ignore flashing, blinking banners and skyscraper ads and sponsored links glaring from top, bottom and now edges, of screen in front of me.

How do people behave online? Simple, they search. They search for things they have an interest in. They bookmark favorites. Most don't know why they get results they do when searching.

It's because top ranking sites in search results are very specifically designed by people who know how to gain those top rankings in search engines. Why on earth would anyone spend good money on advertising when most web surfers seek to avoid advertising and even buy software meant to block advertising from their web pages? Why on earth don't more businesses see that search engine positioning is number one solution to visibility and success online?

Here comes another funeral march. They probably bought Super Bowl ads and have banners flashing all over my favorite web site. Oh and look! They have banner ads on hearse! I guess they didn't want to waste eyeballs attending funeral. At least they aren't animated banners. Have a little respect!

Well, I'm going to usurp job of Captain of Kings' bodygaurd and announce that "Advertising is Dead!" "Le ROI est mort!" (Return On Investment) "Long live Search Engine Positioning!" Viva le ROI! Viva le SEO!

http://ezine-tips.com/articles/management/20010316.shtml

In an earlier article by same author, (Janet Roberts, associate editor of "List-Universe.com") many articles by online writers are labeled "advertising in disguise".

I'll buy that definition in many cases. I'll buy it in this case. I'm advertising my weekly newsletter and my web site by offering opinion and insight on web. And it works! I've written openly and widely that content I provide is just like an ad for my web site and my business.

http://www.workz.com/content/1680.asp

Advertisers pay to have their ads appear in my newsletter and on my web site. You might say that my "advertising in disguise" attracts advertising to support my advertising if you want to see that advertising as inherently wrong.

But I'll also ask then why is it that my articles are well read and syndicated across many networks of web sites and ezines. I run a business content distribution service called "Free-Content" at:

http://yahoogroups.com/group/Free-Content

Over 500 well respected writers and publishers subscribe to that list and publish articles distributed there. I'm about to expand that service into additional topics and expect all to be just as successful as business content list.

It's not advertising, it's content, it's free and I am a professional. What does that all mean? I leave it to you to decide.

And now for a word from our sponsor.