The always forward-thinking Gabe Rivera, creator of Memeorandum and its theme focused clones, has created a clever new kind of advertising for TechMeme.  Basically, he’s offering three sponsors a month the chance to have about 40 words or so of the latest posts from their blogs, plus a logo and a link to full blog entry, appear in a special sponsorship box on the front page of TechMeme. 

The first slot costs $4,500 a month, the second costs $4,000 and the third is priced at $3,000.  

At first glance, it looks like a fabulous idea.  I’m anxious to see how the numbers look after a month or two when the novelty wears off.  But, having spent much of my life writing and selling special advertising sections for business magazines, my experience is that whether people actually read paid content or not depends completely on whether they are interested in the topic.  If they are, they don’t care that it’s advertising and not editorial.  On that basis, TechMeme certainly has the right eyeballs in the right place for the kind of advertisers it’s going after.

And, since it’s such a great idea (and not quite unique enough to copyright), I’m prepared to steal it and do a sponsored blog box just like Gabe’s right here in the right column.  Only difference is, my prices are $450, $350, and $300 a month.  Any takers?