Joni, Megan and Linda discuss advertising on blogs - are they good or bad? Do they diminish the voice of the blogger? We also chat about other forms of promotion - products, events and book reviews.If you're a blogger, do you accept ads and what is your criteria? And if you chose not to, why not?
Comments
There's a way to do it right and there's a way to look ridiculous. Needless to say, I think you three have blogs that are very pleasing to the eye.
One suggestion I have is to give away the ad space before you charge. I wasn't sure I would be into the look of ads on my site so I made up a few slots and I've been giving them away to get used to to the idea and get a feel for what I can live with.
I also found out that many people love their blinking flash ads and I might end up with competing blinks. My first giveaway I ended up with two winners who had blinking ads that blinked at two different rates. I ended up creating a program that took stills and faded them at the same rate. Now I can tell giveaway winners I only accept stills, but if they'd like animated ads I can run the two together. These are just a couple of things I learned by giving away the ad space before I charged. So much to learn!
I'll be linking to this!
Good food for thought, Gals!
I love blogs with that truly personal feel and maybe that goes a bit away with all the ads. It becomes an enterprise...
Usually I look at content and writing, so it does not disturb me to much, but there are some blogs, where I have a hard time figuring out what's the blog content and what's not, that is bad and I tune out.
Big hug to all of you, Megan, Linda and Joni!
XX
Victoria
PS: How about a radio show about blogging in the face of few readers and how motivation drives us, is there enough to go around for all of us? I so often see similar posts and it is so hard to find subjects, which haven not made head lines elsewhere. How private should we be? I know you somehow covered the subject in all your talks, but for me it is still a big theme.
I feel my blog makes more sense when I act more locally, since we all have access to most books and magazines on the market and it is more interesting to see what's special about each blogger. I personally do not care much for celebrity pics and such, this is for the rainbow press to fill me in...
other subjects: proportions, scale and patterns, working with awkward room situations...???
Enough, just a thought! Love to hang out with you all!
V.
Thanks again for a great "chat"!
Thanks for sharing! :)
I'm also asked to do product reviews and giveaways sponsored by companies. I would never lie and say a product is good if I didn't really feel that way and I only accept products for giveaways if it's something I think my readers would enjoy.
I resisted Adsense for a long time but finally added some links to try it out. I'm making $150/month from them now on average, so I think they're worth it--and a lot easier than selling private ads! But I'll continue to do both.
I get about 200,000 page views/month on my main blog (Hooked on Houses) and was told by several bloggers of a similar size that they charge $100-$200 for a 125 x 125-sized ad, depending on high up on the page it's placed--above the fold or below. I can't bring myself to charge that much yet, though, and keep it between $65-75/month at the moment. I give discounts for people who sign up for 3 months or more at a time because it makes my life easier when they're longer term.
Hope that helps some people who are trying to figure out what to charge and how it works! I think the extra few hundred dollars a month are worth the trouble if for no other reason than it helps me justify all the time I spend on the blog. :-)
This was the first episode I've listened to- great job & off to hear more!! :)
-lauren from pure style
Susan
I just posted a AD FREE blog header on my blog this morning as I am tired of responding to the requests for advertising for heated socks or dental floss.
I will remain ad free. As my blog is truly my online journal. My soul.