Blog Tipz

Why should you not be accepting advertisements on your blog?

Some would say that blogging was never meant to generate revenue, while others feel that unless they are able to profit from their blog, they won’t be able to develop goals or have any motivation for continuing.

There are many reasons that people deny to accept any form of payment for their time and effort put forth on their blog, and I will share a few of them, especially if you are thinking about converting your blog from advertisements to none/no profit.

The following ideas are presented in respect to paid advertisements – ads that you explicitly receive payment for (such as on a monthly basis), rather than sharing links for sites you like or services that you want to embed simply for sharing with your readers.

Reason 1: When people start blogging, it is usually not for profit, but for sharing their thoughts with others.

Even though you might think that a majority of people do start blogging to make a little extra side income, there is still a large portion that start blogging to share their interests. This means that there is no reason to place ads on the site; there is more focus on giving the most unbiased opinion.

Reason 2: As previously stated, when you begin accepting paid ads on your site, you typically begin to develop a bias for companies and sponsorships that pay them to place their link/ad/image on their blog.

I typically feel that you should be developing a “better” relationship with those who have paid to advertise on your site to help you garner return sales for the future. This will, in turn, create biases, but they will nearly always result from receiving cash for something that you have provided (advertising space).

Readers are sometimes able to notice this, but in reality, the number of ads on a majority of blogs isn’t near that of what is seen during a television, let alone more traditional websites that contain a multitude of advertisements and advertisement areas.

Reason 3: There may be more opportunities if you don’t place paid ads on your site.

By definition, you could create a product that you sell, without the need to place other ads on your site. You can make money by “sharing” a product that you have created. More planning will need to take place, but there is a way, with enough traffic, to ensure that you make as much, or even more, than through traditional advertising sales.

Additionally, you could create a service off-line that pertains to your blog. In this case, you would be using your blog as a marketing tool more than anything else, creating a place to share ideas, your upcoming events, and connect with your customers.

Reason 4: Paid ads can detract from the value of your brand.

If your blog is rooted in creating a high quality area for people to connect with one another, paid ads can often diminish the brand. Think about it: advertisements show that you had to “invite” other people into the picture to sustain something that you wanted to create for “free.” Now, I am not saying that everything you do is free, but this is what some visitors might think if you transition from no ads to a sidebar and heading filled with ads.

Reason 5: Your niche might not have a sustainability for advertisers.

Much like the saying goes that you need to pick a good niche to blog in, you have to ensure that there are enough advertisers to continue generating revenue from your blog. Otherwise, it won’t be worth it to place ads on your blog and it’ll be nearly impossible to continue enticing the few advertisers that you are able to scope out.

Conclusion

Not all paid advertisements are bad, but when choosing them, make the decision based on the interests of all parties involved – you, your readers, and your advertisers. If you don’t, one of the groups once interested in your blog will no longer contribute.

Blogging for money and accepting paid advertisements can go deeper than just “accepting payment” for your work, but reflect your moral beliefs. There is an underlying concern from everyone that someone “new” to something won’t be able to take the traffic and revenue from the giants, those that have been creating content online for years. Inevitably, this is somewhat true, because it has been rare that someone (an individual) has taken leadership away from a company already with a commanding lead in a short period of time.

No matter how you look at it, accepting ads on your site can have positives and negatives and they all have to be weighted against one another, with the side with the most benefits winning out.