Saturday, November 12, 2011

Do ads add up to a better blog? I wonder ...

When I was a reporter,  I had a certain feeling about advertisements: Yuck. Advertorials? Even worse. Fill those pages with good, solid news content. Let "other people" worry about bringing in the bucks.

But I'm not a reporter anymore. My personal writing now is for blogs and books - I have two blogs and a book that sells for 99 cents. My book sales are pretty steady - and I'm grateful for every sale - but at that price, I certainly won't get rich. The blogs are all content-based, and I like it that way. I've seen blogs with giveaways, lots of ads, etc., and I think that's fine  - just not for me.

Or so I've always thought. But now I wonder ... am I just being old-fashioned?

After all, a content-based blog doesn't bring in any money. Ads do. And it's hard to pay the bills on your high principles. So now I'm keeping a closer eye on the ads I see on blogs. Are they worth it? I know it's a lot of work, getting sponsors and such, but I've talked to some bloggers who say it's a nice way to make money doing something you like. Am I just being snooty, not working toward that?

I waffle, both ways. And I wonder. What makes a better blog?

2 comments:

  1. Diane,

    I think you have to have a pretty high volume of traffic to make any money at all ... but worth investigating. I'm not sure if you've ever seen John Saddington's Blog http://tentblogger.com/ but he's very good and talks a lot about generating revenue.

    Also, you might want to check out "Pro Blogger" by Darren Rowse (sp?).

    I'm a former reporter, too :)

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  2. Thanks, Scott! I'll check them out.

    I wondered if it was even worth it for small blogs, but everyone seemed to be talking about it so I thought maybe I was behind the times!!

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