I was reading this post on Folio magazines website today and I wanted to throw the laptop into the trash. It makes me puke when I hear publishers such as Inc. and Fast Company falling for the sales pitch from ABC and BPA.  ABC and BPA get fat and rich of their “audit” services for print magazines and newspapers.  A couple of years ago, a bright spark at these two companies realized they could print more money if they offered their “auditing” services to publishers - but for their online properties.  Both companies then embarked on a PR/Marketing blitz to publishers saying “you must get audited” and told Ad Agencies and large advertisers “don’t trust websites that aren’t audited - demand transparency!”.  To this, I say PFFFT!  What a crock of crap!

Any decent size website is already 3rd party audited - and NOT by ABC or BPA - but by long-standing, trusted vendors such as Websidestory’s Hitbox, WebTrends or even Google’s Analytics.  These vendors are well established in the market, provide excellent, bulletproof data and reporting and don’t rely upon scare tactics to get publishers to sign up.  The message to publishers and advertisers is don’t get sucked into the FUD from ABC or BPA -check out all the options and data points and make your decision based upon relevant points.