Author: Adrienne

Good morning to friends around the world!

So, I have been talking in the last few posts from a branding viewpoint about ethics and advertising and what is called a testimonial ad.  I have been talking about paint, and that was Valspar paint, which I am buying to do over a very tired old room.  I’m doing this project myself as an artist and so this is where I think WordPress and the new Gutenberg style of doing things “mesh” but let me show you what I mean about “global reach” on something like this.

This was this morning:

We talked about how companies are using advertising on Twitter, and looked at that.

Where do Testimonials and Advertorials meet in a field that has the incredible global reach WordPress has?

Well, you are looking at that in these stats.

But let’s begin to think about what that would look like in a Testimonial ad that was “branding” a page with an actual product.  I think the Portfolio concept is where I might write an advertorial campaign.

I am using many different things in this redesign that could be branded “to me” here in WordPress.  This design has global feel, because of where all the products originate and the stores they came from, so I would show that as well.

Let me show you the look of the first two painted doors and the paint I used, that I got from an antique dealer here in town.  It’s fantastic paint.  A joy to use, and my first time trying chalk paint.  It’s also made here in America, and I want to support as many of those companies as I can.

The chalk paint is NOT a Valspar product.  It’s by a company called Old Town Paints, here in California.  I’m going for a Delft style in the blue and white, the knobs come from India.

What does this have to do with Advertorial and WordAds?

The minute I start talking about what things I am using and the companies that made them?

Those are the ads that could run advertising on my page or buy space on my page.

In this way, it is ethical.

In this way it is not just any old paint company that hops aboard.

In this way the company is getting “intellectual  property” of the writer, and the work of the artist, but it is the artist showing you “how.”

When we think of Advertorial in this way it is a different animal altogether.

Like I said I ❤ WordPress for so many reasons you would not even believe it.

❤

So,  small images from a very big redesign.

Very big.

Advertorial big, in terms of the paints and so forth.

I am amusing myself this morning trying to make this work on a new machine.  So,  believe me when I say I ❤ WordPress.

Because:

Realness in the Web.  What does that mean for human beings?  What does that mean across all demographics?  Across age groups?  Across human lives, and adding in Semantics and language.

So when I first “entered” the web as a writer, it was “myself” but I chose a nom de plume like many writers do.  This last year, I decided to “drop” that.  So  FB is “realness” and now this blog is also “realness” – this is a difficult concept to grasp given these times we all seem to be in.  Realness is better.  Realness is Really YOU.

Okay so, I would never have thought at one time I would want to monetize “myself” but now I do.  In life you know, we go through so very much.  Educations, careers, relationships – across “time,” but what humans go through is pretty much the same?

They face the same things, the same basic emotions, the same wants and drives, loves, feelings of sadness, all of it.

This last year I took two books with me to the SB Writers Conference.  I have a short story in both of them.  So, here are pictures of those book covers.

Story is “A Little Irish Honey” and here is the book over in Amazon.  I loved the cover an that book.  https://www.amazon.com/Book-Lovers-Stories-Under-Covers/dp/158005529X

Before that I was in this one for “Flowering”  https://www.amazon.com/Mammoth-Book-Quick-Dirty-Erotica-ebook/dp/B00OGUT3I0/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1535982285&sr=1-1&keywords=Quick+and+Dirty+erotica  I wasn’t crazy about the cover on this one.  Really.

Being a writer is not the most “money making” thing I have ever done, believe me.

But it might be one of the most fun.

I had TOTAL FREEDOM.

So anyway, the persona of my old blog.  It is hard to believe I did that much writing here in WP.  That thing was like a running scroll.

So when you look at yourself in the web what do you see?

Little pieces?

Little things you said or felt?

Groups of people you used to know or still do?

So anyway.

Monetization.

I was thinking this morning I could probably do that with Advertorial copy.

So this is a new frontier, but I want my old blog there too?

That is like my history, oddly so.

So I am reflection on all the short stories I wrote that were published and the little book I put together that is in Amazon.  Imagine if those were translated?  I mean that would be ‘global” audience for me.

As a writer.

So anyway more thoughts on this, because I’m sick of not working.

It was a pretty big deal becoming a published writer, it really was.

The FREEDOM in being a writer is that you write anything you want.

So last night I was looking at my old presence in the web as a screenshot of  “Valentine Bonnaire”  I’m not sure how it would be to “integrate” that blog into this one or even how.  I was thinking I should pay to keep that alive?  Except that this is my new blog home.  https://valentinebonnaire.com/ Imagine that was me in WP since 2007.  I think it might have been New Year’s Day when I started it.   That is coming up on 12 years soon.  It’s just wow, when I think of this and how much time.

❤

Continuing along the path to what is included in Premium as I figure out about WordAds and how that is being run and used here in WordPress.

I’m really glad to have met Jon Burke.

So let me show you what I was looking at yesterday.   I see I’m not able to “categorize” and tag right now, that is fine by me.  These posts are for the internal admins, anyway.  And for myself.

So I have screenshots of things from yesterday.

First looking into what Jetpack is.

I remember there was a year when you could “buy” this?  And now it is included in Premium.  I’m not sure what it does, exactly but I did see something that was interesting to me, and this is around the concept of Demographics.  And language usage.

I did a little research to see what the ads were looking like, here and read this piece.

So I am looking at a banner ad.  The question would be do I WANT to brand with that company?

Perhaps I don’t.

In this case I would want control over what is on my page, and I am assuming that the Business version of WP would allow for that.

So I would always want to be branded with WP, but not the company I see in the banner.

So here is how demographics work.

In my demographic we might not want that brand, and we might prefer that brand in a glass bottle.  (Because of too much plastic in the sea).

So in this piece from four years ago or so the author took it upon themselves to do a huge survey and it’s worth a read.

Further down on the page we see an ad that does fit with my demographic.  How this got there is because I was actually looking at that company a week or so ago?  As with anything you look at in the web, it tends to pop up in ad form.  I would not mind branding with say that company or Williams Sonoma.  Why?

I might like or buy a product from them to cook with.

So for me, “Taste” in terms of who could advertise matters.

So I saw something over at Jetpack yesterday.

It was under the Proofreading function about editing?

Editing of content, and I felt, well, how does this work with various demographics when it comes to WORDS themselves.  WordPress is ABOUT using Words.  The red line is fab.  The green may not be?  Here is why.  As a writer you want total freedom to express and suppose you wanted to speak of the poet e.e. cummings who broke all grammar rules?

So “realness” and language use as human beings.

Eventually most of us will try our hand at doing a paint project on something, be that a wall or canvas.

For me as an artist, doing a redesign has required much thinking from an artistic standpoint on this paint project I am doing.  I am using more than one brand of thing for this.  So there are many things I could talk about such as all the paints, how I did something, how I chose the palette and so forth.

What I like best about WordPress is the “realness” of the writers.

Okay so back to that ad site to show you another picture.

This ad appeared at the bottom.

There are three ads I saw.

Of the three only one mattered to me.

I would not “click through” via the blog?

I know where the shop is here in town.  Seeing the ad did not help me either decide to go shopping at that store to buy the little tomato shaped pot I thought was cute and looked at once, not the charming pumpkin and tomato tureens I like at Williams Sonoma.

So this is where Advertorial comes in.

If the blogger had waxed rhapsodical and meant it over one of these products?

I would sense what Demographic I am looking at quite easily.

Around the purchase of the paint.

I did not go to a Big Box style store to make the purchase.

I went to a very small Hardware store here in town where my demographic likes to shop.

The closing of the chain Orchard Supply Hardware has made me very sad of late.  My demographic is nostalgic for much simpler times.

❤

Again some thoughts for WP admins and all others.  Have a few pix for you today but also showing a few experiences as well over last few days.

#1 I am not sure why any email I get from WordPress goes to the spam folder, and I really don’t like that.  I rarely check email.  It bores me to do so.  More and more any talking I do is behind the scenes in Facebook, as it is really fast.

#2 I would prefer to have a conversation right here at my blog.  Ease!

#3 I decided I would go look at my email yesterday, specifically for WordPress and I noticed that it is similar to what FB does there, EXCEPT!  I got an email asking me to join a group called WordAds.  In WordPress.  I accepted.  Really happy about that.

Okay so shows you the Pilgrim’s Progress via screenshots, and talks a bit about ads and demographics.  Who is the market?  This is the first question.  In Demographics being in WordPress represents a segment of the population.  Key concepts = Freedom + Elegance + Ease – so in a sense the advertorial “WordAds” represent readers who choose to BE HERE vs other things.

In a way, your blog is YOUR BRAND.

Your blog is your brand under the WordPress Brand.

I would never want to NOT ADVERTISE WordPress itself at the bottom footer on my pages.

That is called “BRAND LOYALTY.”

I would always want the logo for WordPress in my footer, and so I did that.  It signifies my own brand loyalty.

What are demographics?

Demographics are “like groups” under various umbrellas, but they are not sheep.

For instance, I am loyal right now to Valspar Paint for the exquisite quality and texture.  Now let me show you some pictures.

This is their presence on Twitter, which I am no longer using at present.  You are looking at the company “advertising” itself.  One of the things I noticed was that they had developed a BPA free can for the paint?  This matters to my demographic.  We would see that as “GOOD.”  So, demographics are about finding a “niche” that is “like you.”

Advertising is about “selling something” to others.

I loved that the invitation was in my email so I joined!

Here is that picture.

This is what I meant yesterday about “goodness” in the WordPress world.

It’s made up of like minded people under the WordPress brand.

❤

My sentiments exactly here: https://bloggingkits.org/wordpress-announces-yet-another-maintenance-update/

I hope it is the same Mr. Burke mentioned in this article.

Thank you for the invitation to the WordAds Group.

I have some more visuals upcoming that are screenshots for you.

I’ll talk some more about what I think in terms of design and why WP is the most elegant place to run Advertorial.

I ❤ WordPress

Very glad to have met Jon Burke – https://wordads.co/author/jonburke/