In an older post, I expressed my dismay about the clutter that has taken over the advertising scene, be it TV, Outdoor Billboards, Magazines, etc … in closing of that post I question whether you are buying, begging, bugging for the attention of your customers, or are you earning it!

This is where I’d like to start off with today’s blog post – earned attention! If I were to just highlight one difference between a blog and a website, I would say that the former is slightly more personal and less corporate than the latter. If you are a regular reader of my blog, you have to come to expect a certain level of transparency, honesty, controversy, and loads of marketing – I would safely say that you and I have established a certain level of trust – that I have earned through my writings.

By now, you’re probably asking yourself, so what is it exactly that I’m trying to say here? How is what I said so far related to the title of this blog post? Ease your curious mind; I won’t leave you hanging much longer.

The reasons why people usually start a blog is for sharing their thoughts, be it in writing, video, photos, etc … to some people, it’s purely for that, others use it to promote their skills and hopefully monetize on them by exposing them to their intended participants. It’s no secret, my blog promotes my passion for marketing and clients seek it out to understand my approach. I wish I could live off comments and RT, but unfortunately I can’t cash that in at the bank. I share this stance with a lot of people who try to monetize their blog.

But …

Monetizing on your blog is different than commercializing it! I read a lot of blog posts on a daily basis, and more and more I’m starting to see ads everywhere, and all sorts of ads … this is where my problem lies! This is where I think the mindset should change!

It’s not wrong to make a little money from ads placed on your blog, but make them relevant, make them personal. It all goes back to issue of trust earned mentioned earlier in this post. If, for example, I advertise for Nokia on my blog, this means I, John Antonios, am telling my readers I trust this brand and I would recommend it to my readers. This is what I’d like to call digital word-of-mouth – the latter is probably the most trusted source when it comes to consumer purchasing behavior. Remember trust is viral (in most cases at least) – so if I trust Nokia, and you trust me, and my judgment, chances have it that you’d probably be more willing to buy into it.

Stop being commercial, be more selective when it comes to choosing the next advertisement you place on your blog. In my humble opinion, I would go so far as to say that your credibility is at stake. Think About It!