Do Readers Hate the Ads on Your Blog? – Feedback Friday
Ads.
They have the power to help you turn your blog into something profitable … but they also have the power to destroy the experience you’ve created for the readers of your blog.
So, should you try to monetize your blog with ads?
It’s something a lot of bloggers struggle to decide on, so I thought it’d be helpful to take a closer look here. If you’re still trying to decide, consider this: unless you have massive amounts of traffic, you probably won’t be able to make enough money from basic pay per click (PPC) ad units. On top of that, readers might not approve of your ads. That said, every blog and niche is different, so you could make substantial money.
Before you think you missed the boat, there’s still a powerful alternative to the PPC unites from ad networks.
Consider selling ad space directly to advertisers. This requires more work on your part, but you’ll be able to secure a monthly payment per ad unit, which leaves no guess work … you can say because you sold four 125×125 ad units at $100 each this month, you can expect $400 this month.
Again, ads tend to dent the experience for the reader so you’ll need to consider how it all weighs together before committing.
Let’s Take a Look at Your Ads
If you have already placed ads on your blog, and you’d like some feedback regarding what an unbiased visitor thinks, submit a link to your blog in the comments below.
Christopher is the editor of FuelYourBlogging & FuelYourVenture. He’s an abstract painter striving to make full-time living from his creative work by the time he’s 30, and shares his journey at CreativeBlogger … Subscribe | Twitter | Facebook
Feel free to check my blog, http://www.jcopro.net/ (about mechanical and electrical projects) out. It has some ads, but I try not to make them too in-your-face.
That being said, what do you consider a “massive” amount of traffic? I get less than 1000 hits/day generally. I do get some cash from them, but I’m not getting rich by any means!
Hey Jeremy –
That’s the thing about traffic … it’s all relevant. One blogger’s lowest point in traffic could be another blogger’s highest. More importantly, the blogger with lower traffic could be converting it better than the blogger with higher amounts of traffic.
I suppose you could aim for a general 10% conversion rate of your traffic.
Looks like you’re pretty aggressive with the placement the ads on the front page (sidebar, two posts down, and footer), but I don’t see it being annoying by any means. In fact, you could probably get even more aggressive by placing an ad unit above your category section … because it’s visual, I thought it was an ad anyway.
I’d get rid of the text based ad at the footer of your front page … unless of course … is it getting clicks?
The closer the ad is implemented into the content or upper left of your blog, the more likely it will attract clicks (in general).
What’s the highest yielding ad unit as it stands?
Hmm, I’ve had that suspicion about people thinking that was an ad. Thought it was a cool way to advertise my categories, but maybe that’s a little counter-intuitive.
Thanks for looking it over. I swap the right up into the top right sometimes, been experimenting with changing it around. As it stands now the upper right sidebar gets the most revenue, followed by the second one on the sidebar. Interestingly enough the bottom text ad does get about as many clicks as the other ads with the exception of the upper right one.
Glad you didn’t think it was annoying. 10% total conversion (not exactly sure how you calculated that) is probably way higher than I get, but I try not to be annoying with my ads, so maybe that’s the tradeoff.
I think the key is to avoid spammy ads altogether by avoiding most ad networks and being careful about what you allow into Google Adsense. Above all else, avoid annoying techniques like putting more google ads on your site than there is text, as well as “pop up” text-link ads like Kontera.
Ask yourself, are you trying to build a loyal audience or make a quick buck? Odds are making less money in the short term will pay off later.
Definitely agree, Nick.
Trying to overload your blog with ads can quickly result in a negative impact … not only for your readers, but also for your placement in the search engine indexes. Google’s made it clear that they’re penalizing blogs that blatantly stuff their pages with ads or blend ads into the content too seamlessly.
I can’t stand those double underlined hover-activated links (are those what you’re talking about with Kontera?) … though they might not be penalized, they’ll ruin the experience for the reader unless it’s a topic people tend to fanaticize about.
Thanks for sharing, Nick — looking forward to your future comments.