When it comes to driving people through the front door of local businesses, Groupon is a force — offering tantalizing deals from local restaurants, spas, shops and more. And now Groupon and some of its competitors are beginning to reach out to neighborhood blogs to encourage them to become distribution partners. Groupon, for example, has an affiliate program where sites can link Groupon deals and share in the resulting revenue.
On one hand, the affiliate program is a great way for sites to drive incremental revenue. But for local blogs with their own advertisers, it raises an important question: as sites like Groupon become more popular, will advertisers begin to shift away from traditional online ads? Should local sites and blogs sell their own deals, to their own advertisers, instead promoting someone else? Let us know what you think in comments below…
