Advertising on Your Blog
- December 12th, 2008
You may have noticed that something is a little different lately on my blog. The appearance has changed. It feels a little different. Similar to a new haircut, advertising subtly changes the look and experience of a blog.
The decision to add advertising to my blog was not taken lightly. I’ve been thinking about it all week, and finally, last weekend, I bit the bullet. After getting requests from advertisers, I went for the gusto. I strategically placed ads that I felt weren’t as obtrusive and didn’t take away from the quality of my work or distract my readers. I treated this research very carefully, as if I were changing my haircut. (And if you’re a woman, you know exactly what I mean!) For all of you out there that can’t relate, I’m going to go into further detail of my analogy.
Keep it Fresh
After I’ve had the same haircut for about 6 months, I’m ready for a change. I’ve done everything there is to do with this style, and ready to move on to something bigger and better. Much is the same with a blog; you need to continually look for ways to improve the image, writing, readership, and the bottom line.
Research Options
Once I’ve made the decision to do something drastic (or subtle) to my hair, the first place I go is online. I look at different hairstyles of celebs, research the trends, and note different coloring techniques. I want something that’s new and fresh. I don’t want a haircut or color to be something that everyone and their mother is wearing, yet I want it to be flattering and accommodating to my lifestyle. Similar to this, when you are making the decision to advertise, there are many options available. You need to sort through these options to decide what kind of advertising meshes with your content and readers. The advertising needs to be appropriate and applicable. Make sure you have done your research to ensure the most effective advertising is implemented on your blog.
Here are a couple of advertising sites I’m using and currently researching:
I’m planning on a follow up post to each of these to describe in more detail.
- PerformancingAds
- Google Adsense
Ask a professional
If I’m going to be cutting off 6 or 7 inches off of my hair, I’m definitely going to want the advice of a professional hairdresser. Would this style work with my type of hair? Is it going to require a lot of maintenance? Do the hairstylist have any other suggestions on haircuts? Just as a haircut, when When you’re thinking about changing your blog, make sure that you ask a professional (aka a blogging buddy) for their thoughts on advertising. What types of advertising campaigns have worked for them? What do they suggest specific to your blog? Use them as a resource and sounding board for your questions and concerns.
Like it or Leave It
Here’s the climax. Do you make the leap of faith or do you decide that this isn’t for you? The hairdresser thinks that she can slightly alter the hairstyle that you’ve chosen but make it a little more flattering to your needs. You decide that you want to follow through with it. Hair grows back, right? That’s the spirit!
The great thing about advertising is the fact that it’s not nearly as permanent as a new hairstyle. You can completely remove the ads and start from the beginning; but unfortunately, you can’t glue hair back on your scalp. With advertising, if you do make a mistake, and end up loosing readership you can learn from those losses. On the other hand, you could love the new and improved site. If you place ads on your blog, and a week later see that it’s really hurting your return visitors, you may want to re-think the campaign. Or simply tweak it. Just like a haircut, if you don’t like the advertising, you can always make minor readjustments to improve the end result.
What are your thoughts on advertising on blogs in general? Any feedback on the ads on AverageGal?
- Share on Twitter • Stumble It! • Digg This!
- Blogging | 10 Comments | Leave Comment
- Like this article? Get posts via RSS.
No related posts.
I like your analogy!! I personally use cars as a comparison to a lot of things, but the hair style comparison works very well here.
I myself have found that the advertising I am currently using is something that I don’t find to be intrusive, but there’s always room for improvement right!!! I guess I’ll look into that when I take a look at a re-design for the blog, but that won’t be for at least another 6 months!!
Good insight as always Rachel!
If you are blogging online to make money, don’t apologize about the advertising. If you have you had a readership of 30,000 but could never monetize it, what value is that? Better to set the expectation now, while your small and growing, than to try changes later after you have grown your viewership. You are training us on what to expect.
Far be it for me to comment on anything related to -ahem – hair, but I think this article makes great sense. It’s a wonderful anology. The decision to monetize is a big one and should not be taken lightly. I think you’ve got just the right amount here, they are topic related and I think they enhance rather than detract from your site.
When you’ve made your first Adsense million, please pop over to Tumblemoose and donate to my fund for an Apple Powerbook.
As always, good job Rachel. Stumbled
George
It’s a lot faster to remove ads then grow you hair back – lol. I had ads on my main site very briefly and then removed them. It wasn’t for me but I think it’s fine when others ad them.
@BusinessX:
Yes this is definitely true – you should only apologize if you do some harm to others, not if you are trying to make the most of your web traffic!!
Rachel
Advertising on a blog is a personal issue. Like Kim said – not for her. Others plaster their blogs with ads that it’s hard to see the content. I don’t like too much and I don’t like too flashy. Personally.
I am learning to place the ads on my blogs. I have tried to follow the same format I use on my online stores, but they do not work out for me the same. I certainly need advice when it comes to ads on my blogs. Thanks for posting this, makes plenty of sense and sounds so simple…
I’d love to have some sort of advertising to make my blog essentially free for me to maintain, but I guess I should experiment with my options.
Alberto you should look into affiliate marketing and adsense. As I’ve always said, blogging should be about doing what you love and making money should be second. It sounds like you are doing what you love, since you are doing it for free, now it might be time to make some extra money as well.
Lol if something has to change.. It has to change! Who knows if its for the better or worse until you have done it?