feelin' like a hundred bucks

writing a blog is fun, but i never saw any commercial potential in it. i was therefore surprised to discover this message in my inbox a few weeks ago:

Chris,

I am interested in posting a few text links on your http://chrisuggen.blogspot.com/ site. I work for xxxxx, located in yyyyy. We are the #1 zzzzz for the Twin Cities area and HUGE bbbbbs. I like your blog and I see that it has a pretty high google ranking. I am interested in putting 5 text links with the URL http://www.ccccccc. If you want to see another site I advertised on, see ddddd. I would want to do basically the same thing with you and have my links up for a year. You could put my links on the bottom of your sidebar above the Archives if you wanted. Let me know your thoughts. I sincerely appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you soon.

i know what you're thinking and it isn't like that. the inquiry came from a fine and respectable business -- one that i might patronize myself, as a matter of fact. but i figured i must have gotten the message by mistake. since there really isn't much traffic on the blog, particularly from those in a position to use a local business, i couldn't imagine this would be a good deal for anybody. but then, this follow-up message arrived today:

Chris, any thoughts on working out a text link deal for your blog? 5 links for $100 for a year? I can pay you via paypal or check as soon as the links are up. Please email me ASAP –eeeee is under way!!!!

well, the felon fund could certainly use another $100 and i'm obviously not too worried about messing up the aesthetics of the page. but what if my advertiser changed from good and reputable to ... some other kind of business? moreover, would folks distrust my motives? what would the good people of the minnversity think? would i be venturing down a slippery slope toward offshore gaming and pop-up altoids commercials? and wouldn't the nice folks at blogger industries deserve a cut of the money too?

ahh, it all seems too complicated -- like way more than a hundred dollars worth of complicated. so, i've declined the invitation. that said, i wouldn't mind peddling some of the impossibly cool site-specific products available on better blogs (with proceeds to the felon fund, of course). how about a paul frank-style hoodie with the pubcrim url? or maybe a this is what a sociological criminologist looks like ringer t? more audaciously, i could launch an academic-themed line of non-sexual man-crush or woman-crush coffee mugs (professor sampson represents an obvious target, but i'm sure you can think of others).

any other product ideas? some of my favorite blogs have ads or sponsors, but most do not. what if they were offering $1,000 or 10,000? under what conditions would you put commercial links on a blog such as this one? and what sorts of businesses would you welcome or disqualify?