The next post in the b5media 12 days of Christmas series is from Nikki, one of our newer bloggers who has joined b5 as a result of our merger with the About Weblogs network. Her blog is on fashion accessories and is one of the AW blogs that we’re still to bring across onto a new domain and design. I hope you enjoy what Nikki has to say.
Hi, I’m Nikki from The Fashion Accessories Blog and I’m here to talk to you about the pros and cons of advertising on your blog. The upside is easy – you get to make money doing something you love. The downside is not so pretty – you can lose portions of your readership, you can destroy your design, you can lose your credibility, and more.
So how do you integrate some money-making ideas without losing the focus of your blog? It’s actually pretty easy. Advertise products and services that apply to your blog topic.
Blogging about dogs? Include your favorite collar accessories and link to them with pictures via Commission Junction.
Blogging about the real estate process? Include a Google AdSense banner in your sidebar that will pull up real estate related links.
Your readers won’t be as rebellious if you are including advertising that is applicable and useful to them. Some may speak out against your desire to make a few dollars, but if they’re not willing to help fund your hosting costs with a Paypal contribution, try not to let their comments get to you.
On the other hand, if you’re including distracting ads from a multitude of random companies – and your followers can’t find your blog categories because they’re buried far beneath the fold, don’t be surprised if you find your pageviews beginning to decline.
Happy blogging and happy holidays!
I find it really hard to decide how many ads is too many. I’m especially concerned about my genetics blog because scientists especially despise ads, but even my other purely consumer blogs have had the odd complaint. It helps when the ads are more streamlined instead of shouting out “I’M AN AD, LOOK AT ME!” But I’ll be covering that in my other blog tip for the Christmas series. ;)
Well i have a blog at http://computadorasportatiles.blogspot.com but i only have chitika ads on there but they are the same topic has my blog. So i make money but also add cool ads on my blog. Lets see how chitika does.
Has anyone tried LinkExperts?
They seem to be new but have a unique offering – any suggestions?
I think an easy way to intergrate ads with your blog is to have ads for books on the same subject. Whatever you blog about there is usually books about it. The ads should be pretty non intrusive, since most readers of your blog are probably also interested in other information sources on the same topic.
And if you refer to a book in your post, you can have a link to where readers can buy the book.
I don’t know about you but to tell you the truth I would rather see a ton of Ads on a Blog then to see or even hear about someones personal life and the little details I won’t mention.
I feel that Blogs are for information, even if they put in Ads it really is not all that bad as long as they are providing some kind of information about a Product or Service.
It helps to keep Advertising costs low to, because everywhere I look it is increasingly more expensive now if you want to place an Ad that you would like to be seen.
Blogs, they are here to stay I believe, I also think they can be a friend instead of an enemy, to all. Just my two sense. :)
[…] Day 1 – Writing Gooder Day 2 – Ethics for Science and Health Bloggers Day 3 – It’s all about the Lifestyle Day 4 – Fund Your Love of Blogging Day 5 – Get a Little Bit Personal Day 6 – Tips for Writing Hardworking Posts – Part A Day 7 – How Pictures can Sell Your Post (and Your Product) […]