Many top agencies have blogs that consistently deliver valuable information and ideas that can be worth their weight in gold for any professional marketer. Luckily, they are free to read, so the only excuse to avoid reading them is a lack of time. Even that excuse is eliminated when you follow this list of the top 5 advertising blogs you should be reading.

The Inspiration Room

Just as its name suggests, The Inspiration Room can spark ideas and help you hold your own blog to a higher standard. The image-based blog posts are accompanied by a short bit of text, but The Inspiration Room manages to reveal both why a picture is worth 1,000 words and the power a few words can truly have.

Wieden + Kennedy London

Think global with the blogs that you follow. The Wieden + Kennedy London blog is frequently updated and written in a fun, approachable way. Unlike some ad blogs that can veer in the way of self-congratulations and a bit too much self-promotion, this blog keeps their purpose and audience clear in all posts.

Adland

Serving readers since 1996, Adland posts blog entries that are image-based and extremely focused. The website’s articles themselves demonstrate how advertising can be done in clever ways without any in-your-face elements. The simplistic design also helps keep the focus on what matters: the message being conveyed.

Ad Verve

Ad Verve offers posts that are edgy yet fully dipped in pop culture. This blog is also not afraid to keep things simple. Some posts are comprised mostly of video with a brief bit of text to provide commentary, insight, or an explanation for what is on display. This works because they are carefully curated with just the right amount of accompanying text.

Ads of the World

Offering a diverse, large archive of ads, Ads of the World is an entertaining blog that you’ll want to revisit time and again. You can even customize your experience by using the search menu to seek exactly the type of inspiration you need in the moment. Creation should be enjoyable, and this blog can help show you how the masters have done it.

Finally, keep in mind that the blogs of ad agencies, creative shops, industry associations, and others can be a consistent source of ideas to inspire you, and they can help increase your skills as a professional marketer in a wide variety of ways. Read these top blogs regularly and stay in the know with what’s going on in the industry.