Welcome to this weeks edition of the ‘Blogging Behind The Scenes’ series. Throughout the ‘Blogging Behind The Scenes’ series both myself and a group of bloggers will be sharing our experiences and advice upon a range of blogging related topics, this week we are discussing advertising, the pros, the cons and the realities of hosting ads on your site.
Advertising Is All Around Us
Advertising is everywhere we turn these days, from the magazines we read, the television we chose to watch, the flyers posted through our doors, the billboards plastered all over town to the websites we visit.
I personally feel bombarded by advertising these days and whilst it may have once been an effective way in which to sell something, I now feel we are actually overdosing on adverts thus ignoring the majority of the information being force-fed to us as we go about the daily grind.
Adding Advertising To Your Blog
Whilst I realise the sheer power of advertising and the fact that it may well equal ‘big money’, I haven’t really made much use of advertisement upon my own blog other than the odd affiliate scheme advertising opportunities such as ‘Google ads’ or ‘Amazon affiliate’ banners which are casually placed within the header and footer of my blog.
Whilst I have been offered numerous advertisement schemes throughout my time as a blogger I have tended to steer clear of adding any further invasive banners to my blog as I feel it distracts from the content and purpose of my blog.
Respecting Your Readers
Advertising is big money and as money and advertising alike seems to make the World go round it would make sense to include such things on your website. However, it’s down to personal choice as to whether you decide to do so as advertising can not only distract but may irritate your readers making them less likely to read your content or return to your site in the future.
I often find websites dominated by advertising to be off-putting, especially should the adverts be of a pop-up nature, there’s nothing more annoying than having advertising randomly popping up as you are trying to read or view something else, worse still if you accidentally click on said adverts and end up finding yourself navigating onto sites you weren’t intending to visit.
Subtle Success
If you do decide to place banners or such like upon your blog or website then be sure to experiment with the placing and size of such advertisements, try to keep advertising subtle and to a minimum amount where possible.
It’s certainly worth considering what impact advertising may have upon your website, if you may be considering placing advertisement banners or such like upon your blog or website then it may also be worth giving this a test run for a few weeks and monitoring your stats to see how visitors and readers respond.
It’s Up To You
I for one wouldn’t mind earning a few extra pennies through advertising but as I value my readers a little more than my purse strings I have refrained from adding anything other than a few non-invasive affiliate banners for the time being. There is money to be made in advertising and whether you chose to do so upon your own blog or website is entirely your own business.
I asked other bloggers their views and thoughts upon advertising, here are a few of their responses:
“I rarely bother, as I think the amount I would earn isn’t enough to potentially annoy readers. I’d never use pop ups that’s for sure! I have one sidebar ad the moment but that’s quite non invasive!”
“I don’t see a problem with it, as I’m a blogger though, rather than because I’m a reader. When I see someone with lots of ads I think good for them trying to monetise, in the old days, before I was a blogger, it probably annoyed me.”
“I don’t personally as my blog is purely a hobby. As a reader, I find them annoying but tolerate them as I know some people blog for a living. Too many pop ups though and I eventually stop reading as they drive me mad and are often a pain to get rid of on a mobile!”
“I’m not keen on them personally I have some in my sidebar but only ones that fit my style (I have not had any income from them). I also can’t stand pop ups.”
“I used to have adverts between my posts but they were starting to annoy me! Who knows what my readers thought! I know have a couple just on my side bar. Much more reader friendly.”
“I don’t monetise my blog as of yet, but as a reader I find ads quite annoying and they are quite a turn off however as a blogger, you do see the reasons behind it but overall I think ads should be kept in the sidebar/footer of your blog.”
“I have three at the bottom of my blog, so away from the main content (hence not worth the bother as noone sees them!!) I don’t mind ads but as a reader I hate pop ups or advert videos in the middle of a post. Grrrr.”
“I don’t do it, I find it distracts from the blog post and I find it super irritating when I’m trying to read a post!”
“I prefer seeing sponsored content and banners or side bar ads to google ads they interrupt the flow of the content.”
“I don’t mind banner ads at all but I hate pop ups, especially on mobile. I tend to just shut a site as soon as one pops up.”
“I just have a Google ad in my footer. It’s super annoying when a website is plastered in them. Especially if it pops up over the screen n a mobile and you can’t get rid of it!”
“I don’t use banners as I think it ruins the aesthetic of a lovely blog and makes it look a bit, meh. I do use affiliate shopping links tho with the actual clothes I buy for my kids so I guess technically that’s advertising.”
“I don’t have them at the moment. Unless ads are placed neatly on the sidebar, they can make your blog posts difficult to read and look a bit untidy. I hate pop-ups more than I can express.”
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“They can look a little messy but don’t really bother me – unless you get those huge pop-ups that are hard to get rid of and make reading impossible! Thats a sure fire click-off for me!”
“I really dislike ads throughout the text of a post, but I have no issue with them on the sidebar or header. Everyone has to pay the bills and if that’s your way of doing it then I say crack on.”
Should you fancy being part of the series and sharing some of your own ideas or expertise then please feel free to join the ‘Blogging Behind The Scenes’ Facebook group’, we’d love to hear from you! Alternatively you can get in touch via email, drop me a message via social media or add your comments below.
1 comment
I found this really informative and am going to look further into using my blog for advertising, thank you, Rachel