Potential advertisers, take note: We're now allowing XML feeds in our blogads

What that means is that your ad on this site can now look like the Reuters box at the top of the left hand column. (The Reuters feed is a free demo we're doing.) You'll notice that the box shows you the latest political headlines from Reuters, constantly updated, and anyone can click any link and go directly to the specific story on Reuters.

What does this mean for our advertisers? It means that you can put links to your Web site content on AMERICAblog, live, and change them an infinite number of times throughout the day.

Let me give you some examples.

1. The New York Times or CNN can feature the headlines of their latest 5 or 10 stories, with direct links to those stories, updating the list every few minutes (I believe the new ads update the XML feed every 15 minutes or so).

2. The John Edwards presidential campaign, or Hillary, or Obama or anyone else, can literally buy a box on the blog in which they can showcase, real-time, the latest headlines from their Web site or blog, with direct links to that content.

3. Circuit City can showcase specific products on sale today or this week, with links to those products. A movie studio, or ad agency, can list, with links, all of its movies released this week. Or a bookstore can list its latest (or best-selling) books, again with direct links to where one can purchase the book.

4. Planned Parenthood, People for the American Way, the Human Rights Campaign, or the ACLU can own a box on our blog - as prominent as they're willing to pay - in which they can constantly stream their latest action alerts and press releases.

5. A public relations firm can finally get the blogs to cover their clients' story - just buy the ad and stream the story(ies).

6. Any blog, political, tech, or any other kind, can literally put their latest content on AMERICAblog, inviting our readers to pop on over and read what they have to say.

The beauty of this new ad template is that you can finally solve that age old question, "how do I get the blogs to report my stuff." You can report your stuff yourself via these constantly updated blogad feeds. And unlike a typical blogad that states relatively static, this ad can be updated a practically infinite number of times throughout the day. You literally have your own mini-Web site incorporated in our Web site.

HOW TO BUY AN AD

For now, this new feature is in beta form - meaning, we're still working out the kinks, so keep that in mind if you buy an ad. Because we're still working out the kinks, we are not charging any extra, at the moment, for this feature (and let's face it, if your content is good, I believe you'll get far more clicks on an ad like this than a standard static ad). In fact, this week only, we'll even double your ad for free (read more below).

Here's how to place an ad:

- First, use the links below to go to our ad-buying page on BlogAds.com.
- Then, select a "standard" ad.
- Next, in order to submit an XML-feed ad, in the portion of the ad template that asks for your ad text, you only insert your XML feed (XML only at the moment) preceded by the following 5 characters @RSS:

So, were you to want to buy an ad that streams AMERICAblog's latest content, you would insert the following in the text portion of the ad:

@RSS:http://feeds.feedburner.com/Americablog

That's it. And be forewarned, if we get too many requests for these ads at the same time, we will be forced to queue them up so that we don't have too many feeds running at the same time. So, first come, first serve. If you need more help figuring all this out, contact BlogAds directly via their Web form.

In order to buy a new XML-feed ad on AMERICAblog, you have two options for where on the blog your ad will be placed:

1. The top position in the left-hand column, where only one ad runs at a time - so you own this spot exclusively, guaranteed always on top. This is the spot the Reuters feed is currently running in. (If you buy an ad, we'll remove the Reuters feed.)

2. The middle position on the site (middle price), where you see the New York Times, Chuck Schumer, and Freedom to Marry Week ads. These ads are cheaper than the top ad, but they are also lower down on the site.

We are currently not accepting XML-feed ads in the lowest-position-ad on the site, where you see the "Gay Agenda" ad. Any XML ad purchased in that spot will be rejected.

And to sweeten the deal, if you buy a one-week or two-week XML-feed ad this week only, we will double your ad for free. That means, if you buy one week, we'll run your ad for two. And if you buy two weeks, we'll run your ad for one full month. This special offer does not apply to 1-month or 3-month ad buys.

I'm very excited about this, and think this will be of great benefit to advertisers and our readers.