The future belongs to the trusted few.

This last week I have been reading a few articles about how readers are feeling less and less trust in the information they find in blogs, forums and social networks.

That’s a shame. Blogs and forums in particular used to be the places where people could trust the writing as being non-commercial and honest.

And I think things will get worse. Companies love the idea of getting their messages into these channels. More and more ads and videos are finding their ways into blogs. More and more marketers are creating blogs, forums and social network pages specifically to promote their products or services.

The future? Levels of trust will continue to decline as more and more marketing messages flood every aspect of the web.

All bad news brings an opportunity…

Yes, I think it’s bad news. I think it’s unfortunate that there is so much “advertorial” out there. I think it’s a shame that hundreds of thousands of MySpace pages don’t belong to individuals at all...but are created by companies which pretend to be individuals.

But there is an opportunity. And it’s an opportunity I like.

As levels of credibility and trust sink lower, readers will seek out the gallant few. That is to say, if you deliver honest, useful content on your site, with no sneakiness, then people will get to hear about you.

They will be hungry for information they can trust.

Does this mean no advertising?

Not at all. There are some excellent, trustworthy sites out there which support themselves through all manner of advertising and sponsorship deals.

The trick is not to remove the advertising, but to separate editorial from advertising. Just like they used to do, and sometimes still do in the world of print.

People understand that information media need to support their existence through advertising. And that’s OK.

What isn’t OK is when you try to trick your readers.

It’s not OK when you write content that is thinly-veiled advertising.

It’s not OK to try to make people think a certain page is editorial they can trust, when in fact it is there to deliver a marketing message.

It’s not OK to write a blog entry that appears to be editorial when you are being paid a fee by a company to write it.

It’s not OK to write rubbish content simply to attract readers in the hope they will click on an ad or an AdSense link.

These are the practices that dilute trust and make web users skeptical about the next blog, forum or web site they visit.

It takes time to build trust...just like when you are making a new friend.

Online every marketer is in a hurry to make money. But if you just slow down a little, and defer you income expectations, you’ll do better in the long run.

Create valuable, useful and honest content, whether it be in the form of articles, reviews, guides, white papers, blog entries or posts in forums. Keep marketing messages out of your content. Add them separately, and keep them separate.

Over time, people will come to trust your site and the information you provide.

Trustworthy content will win in the end...

As the web and all of its channels become flooded with untrustworthy content, those who build and maintain trust with their readers will be the long-term winners.

People are not stupid. They quickly learn which sites are trying to “play” them.

So while we are in the midst of an explosion of sneaky marketing right now, the smartest marketers will be investing in sites, blogs and forums that are genuinely trustworthy.

They will be the winners in the end.

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