Why You’re Obliged to Make Money from Your Blog February 7, 2007
Posted by The Probabilist in : [Articles], Entrepreneurship, Productivity, Purpose, Studies, Assets, Blogging , trackback
I bet this statement doesn’t resonate very well with some bloggers, but this is how I view it. If you’re not making any money from your blog, then you’re not being true to your own value. Before you bash me for being an evil capitalist, hear me out and you’ll come to understand why I want to see ads on your blog.
I’ve been holding a weekly carnival to help people get some exposure to their blogs and in the process I’ve had the privilege of reading plenty of excellent articles and finding promising blogs that I’ve enjoyed browsing through. However, some of them will undeniably be gone or idle by this time next year and the main reason is that they do it part time and generate very little income from their blog - if any.
These are the people that update their blogs at snail pace and publish a new post 2-4 times per week. If they had the common sense to do their best in realizing their blog’s true potential and make some money that they rightfully deserve, they would surely last longer and probably write 1-3 posts per day instead.
And that’s what I want to see above all else. If more bloggers realized how valuable ideas they’ve got, they would have a much greater chance to reach the positive spiral of working as a full time blogger - for everyone’s benefit. But since many decide not to untap their revenue stream, I again lose another good read because they give up. Or then the blogs don’t get updated enough because they’ve got a “real job” to deal with.
So to provide you with some details, I took a look at 50 blogs that are familiar to me and categorized their income potential into four groups.
To the right is the percentage breakdown of how well the bloggers are using ads on their websites. Only two showed that they had thoroughly thought about how and where to place their money magnets. They also understand to use more than one ad format (mostly banners and text ads) to add a more diverse mix to their blog. And most of all, the ads fit perfectly and are sure to reach nearly maximum potential.
The blogs that I considered doing a fairly good job were the rest that used more than one ad format, but had either placed them in cold spots, picked slightly off-topic ads or made them stand out too much. They are on the right track, but could use some additional tweaking or blending.
Bad results are definitely seeing those who decided to rely on only one ad format and who also placed very few ads, in poor locations or that fit very badly in the overall layout of the blog. For those 36 out of 50 blogs that use ads, 22 use only one ad format and 14 use more than one (of which the majority relies on two formats).
However, the blogs that I’m most sceptical about were the 14 that didn’t (yet) run any ads or other forms of income generating means. And some of them are downright excellent reads. There are of course a few valid points that counterattack this small study/observation.
Firstly, these are mostly upcoming blogs that only have a few months of experience under their belts, so a couple of the bloggers may still be in the phase of contemplating how to make their monetizing move. Secondly, as they still don’t have a great reader base, the really good advertising programs aren’t available because of the low traffic. But there are plenty of options to choose from even if nobody has heard of your blog yet. There will be a future entry specifically outlining how to choose, use and place ads later on in this blog. So stay updated.
If you’re concerned about losing readers by putting up ads then think again. There are plenty of visitors like me who hold an advertising blog that supports its blogger in much higher regard than a blog that gets updated twice a week because it doesn’t pay a single bill. Another good reason to put some ads on your blog is that you’ll get another indicator for yourself of how valuable you and your entries are to the world. I’m hard pressed to write a review of a blog if it doesn’t indicate that it takes this work seriously, because nobody likes dead links or obsolete posts on their blogs.
All work, even if it doesn’t feel like work, should be paid for. So would you please start making (more) money from your blog so that you free up time to write more entries?
(1 votes, average: 3 out of 5)
Comments»
Thanks for the motivation! I began my blog with the thought of monetizing it at some point or at least using it to gain some experience and then developing another monetized blog. I have wondered if my readers would think that I was “selling out” but you bring up many good points - that monetizing a blog benefits everyone - the more money I make, the more I can afford to devote time to my blog creating more and better content.
On the flip side, I see monetized blogs and I don’t think that the blogger is selling out. But I’ve come to that belief after months of reading blogs like JohnChow.com and ProBlogger.net. I want them to make the big bucks!
Your post makes me realize that I shouldn’t feel “guilty”!
Thanks!
Another great post, with a great point made. I know that I spend a considerable amount of time working on both the content of my blog, as well as tweaking the format, advertising, etc.
I absolutely consider it a revenue stream, and there is no reason not to. People pay hundreds or thousands of dollars to attend seminars and buy products and services that are information based, so I see absolutely no reason why someone who is providing quality information outside of those more traditional formats should not be paid for their efforts.
However, for my part, I make sure that the content is worth them coming to my blog to begin with, and for them to frequently return as well.
On with the capitalism! (as long as you are providing something valuable, that is)
Glad you liked it, Ms. Q. I feel very strongly about this because I’ve got some big goals to achieve and I want others to realize and find theirs as well.
I appreciate your comments Aaron. In this case, it all evens out since the value delivered is somewhat proportional to the reader base and the generated income.
It’s also notable that you’ve got to be a bit promotional at times too to build some traffic. As long as you don’t overdo it and mainly send some nice comments around and point to your pillar articles, then it’s all cool. I’m inclined to be treated in the same way.
Why do advertisers pay for ads on weblogs? I use the Adblock add-on w/ Filterset.G for Firefox; I read weblogs nearly ad-free. Don’t most readers already or won’t most eventually do likewise?
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I would love to make money from my blog, but the traffic is very low.
I fall in the category of blogging for less than a year but trying to offer valuable products as well as content, am just starting to look into affiliate programs other than Amazon which has done poorly on my site. I know some people do, but frankly I’m not comfortable offering products I wouldn’t like or use myself, so will continue the search.
You’re welcome, Michelle.
Blogging requires persistence since it’s about getting the snowball rolling for increased momentum and results. Ad optimization increases your leverage and monthly growth in revenue.
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