Even “they” seem to put it right in there from the get-go LOL

…but what if your blog is a personal blog about your life and you want to make an income from it?

Hi Tess,

Even with a personal blog you are going to have a specific demographic. Who are you writing to, who would be most likely to read your content, what is your primary objective? – are all questions you should be able to easily answer.

Once you answer those questions, define what those people have in common and how you can tie that in to a monetization strategy.

Heather Armstrong (Dooce.com) is successful with her model due to the sheer volume of readers. But with a smaller readership you have to be much more targeted with your advertising and advertisers.

How early should a blog strat monetizing, especially through ads?

Hi Shri,

It is good practice to start out with content before you start monetizing your domain. Let’s say for example that you start a blog on “cat care” that you plan to monetize through affiliate programs and advertising. In the beginning you want to populate your pages with pure content. This helps you to get inbound links more easily, since your site is less “commercial”.

Once you establish content & inbound links, you can start monetizing by blending it in naturally.

Obviously you need to have your monetization plan mapped out upfront, as that helps you structure the site properly from the start. But its best to launch with content and invest in growth in the beginning.

I don’t have a huge subscriber count yet, but with the promotion I do, they are very responsive readers

1st reason: Google adsense doesn’t suit my audience. Most site visitors are mostly geeks and are aware of google adsense. They hardly click on these ads, leaving no scope for any earnings.
Reason 2: Initially it didnt seem fair to charge for ads to a new blog with few page views a day. As the blogs are picking up, I’d rather use that space to build my list, promote my affiliate programs.

I wonder, “How early should a blog strat monetizing, especially through ads?

I went back and have taken down that JPG from my blog and covered it up with something else for the time being.

Never expected that I could also make decent doe from the ad space on the blog as I am not getting that many visitors.

But now the concept seems much logical and doable.

Thanks for this

John

Excellent information both in your interview with Wendy and during the live session. Advertising sales is not something I’ve done heavily so I really got a lot out of the tips shared from personal experience across the panel.

It was great to see you again too, of course. Glad I finally caught up with you there at the tail end – and thanks for the cool stickers

Nonetheless, a splendid, thoughtful post, very nicely done. With some irony I will note that I powered up a new ad block on my site because I hooked up with b5media to sell some of my ad space. We’ll see how that goes!

Moderating it is probably a good idea. But when it gets to the point of being a hassle for me, it wont be worth having it on my blog. I would much rather spend my time writing content, and would gladly replace the widget if it became “high maintenance”. But that’s just me.

So, Lynn, do you accept/reject the ScratchBack peeps? I like the idea of the automation, but also the ability to reject the weirdo’s. Obviously not a problem on MY blog which, despite Dave’s assertion, is really only worth about $2.89.

I think I’d stick to affiliates even when I do hit the Big Time because those are the ones I’ve personally tested myself. Of course I may not have the same standards by then.

Annie