5 Reasons Your Blog Ad Will Make Me Click

Sponsoring blogs is stressful.  Is it just me? Every time I even think about sponsoring a blog I get a little hesitant.  What if it doesn't work? What if it's not the right market? How do I ensure readers will click my ad?  All of these things run through my head each month & it got me wondering: Why do I click on ads in the first place? Thinking about this helped me discover how readers may interact with my ad in a blog's sidebar.

I always click through a few ads on blog's sidebars because I love discovering new things.  But I don't click through all the ads every time.  So what makes me click? Here's my list:

 Cool mix of type & imagery  - I love good use of text.  If you've got a great blend of cursive & sans serif text, I'll probably click.  If your serif text creates a cool texture, I'll click through.  If the proportion of the text to the image is a great composition, I'm gonna go see what you're about.  Throw in a great color palette & I'll click through like no body's business.  I'm drawn to graphic, bold colors, retro font choices, & texture.  Why do I click these? Because you'll probably have a great design to back up your button & I'll have fun looking at your blog, not just have fun reading it.  I think this is a universal reason to click through ads even though people's preferences will vary.  Whether you are artsy or not, you know what sort of ads you're drawn to so pay attention to what you click when you do & consider that when making a button.

 The image of you is relatable  - If you look like me, I love you & I'll pop on over.  If you look like you like the same things I do (ultimate book-by-it's-cover judgement here), you probably do & we'll get along.  You look interesting, I'll give you a shot.  If your image is well balanced with your text & you look like you are creative & fashionable and like we could be friends...I want to get to know you.  Of course this is purely my own opinion here.  The bigger deal is that you look relatable.  After all, you are trying to appeal to people like you when it comes to blogging...that's how you make friends right?

 You're a little bit vague  - Oooooh, so your ad is only colored text on a map looking background? Wonderful, I wanna know what that's about! Do you travel, let's find out!  I see that you've got a picture of your workstation & the name of your blog.  Great! Do you offer advice? Are you a designer? Are you a creative person? Is that your studio? Let's go check.  Leaving a little to the imagination in your ad will definitely make me click.  For example, if your blog is about travel...perhaps a map is a great piece to incorporate into your design.  It let's the potential reader know a little bit more about you but they wanna click through to learn a bit more!  Saying something about your blog in the way your ad has text over an image can go a long way.

 You're the Feature Sponsor  - If you're the feature sponsor that means you've got a lot of real estate to work with in order to make a big impact.  Your button should be impressive since you've got more space.  Often you're more experienced & you've figured out what you want to say to the world.  This doesn't mean that you have to be those things.  The feature sponsor is often a blogger taking blogging seriously.  Feature sponsors get the most perks and therefore the most traffic & often have well designed blogs with awesome content...so I wanna see whats up with you!

 You're on Trend  - While I don't always encourage this, sometimes you can't help it.  Be it those damn chevrons, the tempting draw of neon, or the tribal vibe of triangles if you're on trend I'll probably click.  Make sure I'm not disappointed though & have the trend somewhere in your blog design to tie it together.  Sometimes on trend is great but sometimes a unique take is better.  With this it's all about balance.

So there you have it, 5 reasons I'll click on your ad if I see it in the sidebar of one of my daily reads.

What makes you click an ad? Who are you marketing to?  What makes your target market click on you?

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