This is probably one of the most common questions a blogger ask: When should I monetize my blog? There might be some different answers, but I do have my one and only answer for it: I monetize my blogs early. Learn the reason why…
The common sense / the “best practice”
The best practice many experts suggest is that until your blog has reached a certain level of readership or visitor counts, then you may start monetizing your blog via ad banner placements, adding Kontera, AdSense, etc., sponsored reviews, etc.
The main reason why the above is the case is because you don’t want to bother your readers with ads during the early life of your blog.
Some experts suggest that you should add advertisements carefully so that they won’t annoy your readers.
The above suggestions are sound ones, but I beg to differ: I against monetizing blog later on. Here’s why…
Why you should monetize your blog as early as possible
You know, maintaining readership by trying hard not to upset your readers is great, but it’s not easy to monetize your blog without upsetting your readers.
Some bloggers think that in order not to upset or bother their readers, they “hide” their ads on less-than-prominent places, mainly on the bottom part of their blog pages.
The above is contrary to the best practice of site monetization – to get the most of your ad placements, you should place the majority of your ads above the fold (the “screenshot” your visitors see when they visit your blog without scrolling down the page.) Such placements mean more conversion and if you are into PPC, more payment per click.
Furthermore, how about the idea of “betraying” your readers? You start off with a blog with no ad, and suddenly, your blog has ads – something that makes some of your loyal readers think, “Uh oh – there are ads on this blog now! I’ll just go to other blogs with no ad distraction whatsoever…”
Some experts suggest that you should seek balance, but then again – what is “balance,” anyway? I question the idea because one way or another, ads will ALWAYS annoys some site visitors.
So, my argument would be: If placing ads on your blog will somehow annoy some of your readers, why don’t you start up with a blog + ads immediately?
That way, you are “training” your readers to understand that your blog is monetized (be sensible, though…) – so in early stage, you “screen” your readers.
And do you know what’s best with “screened” readers? Yep, they are PERMISSIVE toward advertisement. They like what they read; they might even be interested on what you have on offer if you offer the right products to the right readers. This way you are running your blog without any worries that your blog ads will repel readers.
So, all in all – yes, I believe blogs should be monetized early (unless you want them as hobbies, not a business venture.) How about you? Are you monetizing your blog early? If not, why?
yea,thanks 4 d post..my friend and i just set up a sport blog,and we have started posting and publishing,after about 3 and a half weeks,we applied for adsense in other to monetize the blog,but we were told by google adsense to look 4 more views and get more traffic,is dis not contradicting your ‘monetize your blog early’..because,its like you can only monetize ur blog if u’re allowed to do so,or if u’ve met the requirements and all that…
I’m getting 500+ visitors/day in my site but running ads in my website makes me ashamed of myself. My blog is for sharing my thoughts, my experiences and providing my knowledge to help others. But making the website filled with ads(I consider them malware) makes a bad sense. I know there are ads in the web and this website is not a exception, but I enjoyed reading your article.
Yes, there are costs involved in running a website, but shameless use of advertisements to makeup the cost (and probably filling pocket too) is the thing I hate.
But does that mean I’m not making money from my website? No, I am making small money which is enough to pay the hosting bolls and other expenses and I like getting paid by my loyal audiences as a form of donation.
But YMMV.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Arup!
In my opinion, that’s fine getting paid via donation. I know bloggers who even don’t want to make even a cent from their blogs. To them, their blogs are their diaries, and diaries should not be monetized, I suppose.
I’ve found another way to promote my blog. It’s a new traffic exchange service (http://liqad.com/) and it sends back to my site much more readers than I send to liqad. I mean it’s absolutely free – my stats are going up. Admin says it should be possible to sell extra traffic to monetize blog soon.
Roman,
Cheers – gotta check that out!