Last week, BL Ochman posted a great story on whatsnextblog.com highlighting the need for awesome creative in blog advertising. This doesn’t mean recycling your traditional creative, however awesome it may be, for the purposes of blog advertising – it means thinking about how social media is uniquely created and consumed, and taking into account the psychology of the blog reader.

What was also interesting is the recommendation that media buyers should avoid blindly buying all blogs in a network, and instead focus within and across networks, "picking blogs based on their content, reach and branding within the social media community." Excellent criteria: I would add to that the consideration of a blog's conversation footprint - essentially, the network of bloggers who have gathered around a specific piece of content. Which blogs have formed relationships with each other around niche topics, and are sending traffic back and forth? Understanding the trusted relationships publishers have with each other across verticals and established ad networks can also help targeting become more precise, without sacrificing scale.