ADVERTISING ON YOUR BLOG

The topic of advertising on your blog is a sticky one, primarily because blogs are about conversations, and most advertising is really about transmitting instead of engaging with your readers via conversations.

That said, sometimes you’ll want your blog readers to be aware of things happening in your company, and using effective advertising techniques is definitely one way to do that. Following are some thoughts for advertising on your blog, if you are inclined to advertise there. Remember that all blog ads ultimately need to be grounded in respect. If you can both respect your audience while bringing value to your company, your blogbased advertising will be a success.

• Don’t distract from the content. In the world of online advertising, you can use a variety of techniques to get users to click ads; most of these involve getting increasingly in users’ faces by overlaying ads on top of the main content, having a page of ads users have to see before they can see the content, and using other tricks of the trade. On your blog, your content is your only means of gaining trust, building relationships, and relating to your customers. Don’t let your ads hide your blog. Most customers who have a relationship with you via your blog will want to know interesting new things about your business, so figure out ways to tell them without overpowering your content.

• Why not write a post about it ? Instead of placing a fancy ad for a new product or something you want to highlight, consider writing a post about it. This provides room for discussion and lets you tell your readers why you’re passionate about what you’re advertising. This technique will not only result in more people clicking an ad link (because you’ve given them a reason to), but it will also fuel discussion and increase trust. Users like to be told why you like a new product or service.

• Don’t use ads in your feeds. Many executives at some point realize that lots of people are reading their feeds. In fact, if your blog is like most blogs, more people will read your feeds than go to your website. Resist any temptations to force people to go to your site or to put advertising in your feeds. Remember that traffic isn’t the inherent value in your blog, it’s the conversations that build relationships and trust. Doing anything to compromise that is a bad idea.

• Place the ad well. If you put an ad on your blog, place it in a location where people who are “looking around” your blog will find it. This can be in the top section of your blog, along the side, or even at the bottom below all the content. As long as it doesn’t interrupt the content, a number of options for placement are possible.

• Give people a reason to click the ad link. If you put an ad on your blog, give people a reason to click it. Don’t use standard advertising techniques like “Fantastic new product!” and “This will change your life!” Respect your readers enough to tell them the truth in your advertising. Consider offering blog-specific promotions, having contests for the best feedback on the product or ad, or offering other activities around the product or ad. People enjoy being part of your company, so leverage that in your advertising.

• Give customers ownership. I’ve talked about Microsoft’s Channel 9 site several times in this article. In early 2005, Channel 9 ran a contest for Microsoft’s annual developer conference. Anyone could enter, and anyone could win an all-expense paid trip to the conference (worth roughly $2500) if they blogged about the conference and displayed a little graphic promoting the conference. This allowed the readers and participators at Channel 9 not only to enter a cool contest, but to carry the message beyond the original blog. Giving your customers ownership of advertising and allowing them to carry that advertising is a powerful way not only to get buyin, but also to create a community around an event, product, or service.

• Don’t advertise. One of the best ways to advertise anything in blogs is not to advertise it at all. Bloggers love finding secrets, telling others about those secrets, and posting about secrets. This technique of “hiding” a new product or another announcement in content is extremely effective. It’s a little bit like reverse-psychology: you don’t tell bloggers what you really want them to do. For example, if you were operating a clothing company and blogged about some of your favorite fabrics, you might note as an aside that you’re using the fabrics in your new product line which you aren’t talking about.

• Be passionate. Many blogs are inherently advertising and marketing tools: you create them because you want to increase your visibility, build relationships, drive sales, increase your interactivity with customers, and for all kinds of other reasons. This is one reason why simply having a blog and not in any way leveraging it to advertise is such a powerful method of actually advertising. A large number of bloggers have put their companies on the map simply by being incredibly smart on their blogs. Joel Spolsky’s blog (www .joelonsoftware.com/) is just about the only means of advertising his company, Fog Creek Software (www.fogcreek .com) uses; Joel’s passion and intelligence is all the advertising Fog Creek really needs.

• Have a cause. Another great way to advertise is to get involved in a cause or a charity drive. Many of our clients have successfully promoted blog-based fundraisers for charities to kick off new products they’re launching. Bloggers, in general, love to link to interesting charity events happening on other blogs.

• Interview the person behind the ad. Instead of simply announcing a new product, you can get readers interested in the product by having a blog or podcast interview with the person in charge. It’s the equivalent to director’s commentary on a DVD and a great way to see into the mind, and the passion, of the person who brought whatever it is you’re advertising from an idea to reality.