Advertising is such a strange beast. I’ve been asked by many people why I’m not running ads of any kind on my site. I remember the conversation on Robert Scoble’s blog. Lots of people have had this same conversation, and lots of them have reached different decisions. My own mind isn’t made up.
Next week, I’m speaking at the Affiliate Summit with people much smarter than me. I’ll also have the chance to meet with people know LOTS more about advertising than me. I’m hoping to ask them for their thoughts and insights.
But what about you? I’m thinking that I might want to put a few ads on my site. I’d want them to be relevant to my community. I’d want them to reflect things I believe you might actually WANT to know about. But does that cheapen our relationship? There are ads in the New York Times. There are ads in Fast Company. But there aren’t normally ads in our discussions.
Your opinion matters a great deal to me on this one.
Photo Credit, Zach Klein
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{ 46 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m personally ok with ads. I know how to find the information that I’m looking for on a page and the ads don’t get in my way. And if they make it easier for people to get content out (less financial burden) then I saw bring them on.
I think you should add ads for sure. As long as they are relevant to the theme of your blog. I see nothing wrong with it. The only problem I have with commercialization of blogs is when the blogger becomes obsessed with the monetization of their site and totally disregards what made their site so successful in the first place. I know that won’t happen here, but I’ve seen it happen to many blogs that I’ve eventually had to unsubscribe from due to the constant attention and posts geared towards generating hits and income instead of why we went there in the first place.
So, I say go for it! You provide a valuable service to the online community and I know that you feel you get back so much from us but why not get some more compensation for your efforts? We all know that’s not why you do this but that’s even more reason why you deserve it. :)
pai
If the ads will enhance your message and pertain to your community, go for it! I don’t have a problem with ads if they do not detract from me as the reader trying to read your message. However, I am writing to you as a blogger. So, I am not to sure how a non-blogger would react to this situation?
Thanks for sharing as always!
You already have ads on your site.
Utterz.
LinkedIn.
MyBlogLog.
Feedburner.
Feedbutton.
B2B Expo.
Upcoming.org.
BlueSkyFactory.
You’re just not getting PAID for having those ads on your site.
What’s the difference between the ads you have now and paid ones?
You get paid for the latter.
I am in the same boat as you. Sites I visit a lot I all but block out the ads because I am coming there for content not to move on to something else. My question is what is the next version of PPC advertising? And does advertising on your site mean you carry more weight? Who knows it could be argued from both angles. I am not sure ads on blogs is a good idea unless maybe they are tools for other bloggers or for that vertical.
The reason that I think advertising fails on many blogs is because it shifts the communities impression of their value to the writer. Rather than feeling valued as part of a group that engages about interesting ideas, it’s easy to feel that you’re being counted as traffic to determine CPM, or viewed as a potential ‘clicker’.
I’ve seen it happen that when the community feels their primary purpose is to generate revenue for the site, things go sour quickly.
That said, I could potentially see the value in some affiliate ads. If you were recommending a book, site, or some other product and had an affiliate link to get it on your site, that’s going to give you control over what you promote. That could be a reasonable compromise.
I’m not against anyone making money off their blog. I know that lots of hard work goes into them. But, you need to make sure your community understands what you are doing, why you are doing it, and how it will affect them.
If done tastefully I guess we’re all used to seeing the ad thing and have learned to live with it.
No of us can/should complain about trying to monetize content or traffic as long as it doesn’t get in the way of the message.
As one of your admiring crowd, I would say “no”. When I see an ad-laden site, I know that the ads are the “reason for the season”, so to speak. The content is secondary, only put there to attract more clickers.
Doesn’t that change the nature and purpose of your mission? No longer to educate and benefit your readers? Seems un-Broganlike!
The estimable Mr. Penn is, of course, correct.
But… I would argue that you should accept paid advertising only if you accept that your blog is a business (or at least part of one). In your case, I would argue that your personal brand and media “empire” is indeed a business, and it makes sense to treat it as such. Effectively, you are an entrepreneur on the side, even if you don’t necessarily categorize yourself that way at the moment.
What do I mean exactly? Well, if you are going to operate as a business and generate revenue, have a plan. It need not be detailed or etched it stone, but have a revenue goal. Set content objectives. Seek to maximize revenue. Track revenue and expenses clearly so you understand the cost/benefit of what you are doing. Because it your enterprise is focused on personal branding, you will also need to factor in “soft” benefits like reputation.
Consider setting yourself up as a company. It will provide only modest liability protection since your greatest risk is likely slander/libel, but it also isn’t very expensive or difficult and it underscores your seriousness.
I don’t mean to make this sound involved because it need not be. I set up companies all the time. Indeed, I just set the process in motion to create about a half dozen new ones this morning.
Why do I suggest this course of action? Because a half-hearted willingness to accept advertising does a disservice to you, your sponsors, and your audience. Treating it like a business will maximize the value you provide and get.
We all advertise in some way or the other, just by what you use in our daily lives and by what we have on our blogs. I have no problems with advertising, as long as it’s something my members would be interested in.
Plus, the income from advertising helps the blogger more time to focus on his/her blog, at least that’s how it would work for me…………..:)
As long as you’re not running someone else’s campaigns, the onus remains on you, Chris, to keep things relevant and tasteful. If advertising DOES cheapen the relationship, it’s because you made bad choices.
If you can direct-sell advertising, then by all means, I say, do it!
Too many sites however rely on Google AdSense or national campaigns, which of course are often waaaay out of touch with the audience.
I have no problem with ads - you and your content (2 separate things) add to much value to what I do that I’d like you to benefit in some way. Especially with the large amount of quality content across mediums you generate.
Go ahead!
As long as no dancing woman are involved. . .
Congrats on the new career. Do they get a free ad?
1) Don’t trick me with your ads (many AdSense users are guilty of this) and 2) don’t make the ads trashy (again, AdSense).
If you are putting ads on your site that are relavent to the topic and you are sensitive to what you are backing (like you said, you must really believe in the value of the product/service) then go for it! You should get paid for all the content you produce here. Ads definitely don’t cheapen the relationship if they are done right, and it sounds like you know what to do :)
Chris, if you feel the need for extra cash, your blog (with its traffic) could be a really good source.
If you choose to add paid ads here, you might have to change your blog design to house those ads.
In that case I would suggest you use programs like Amazon Associate to sell stuff like media related electronics (mics, cameras, etc) and books about new media and internet and such.
If you do feel the need to have more ads on your site, while there’s no real need for extra money, I would just suggest adding non-profit, charity and/or humanity related ads, which is kinda giving back.
Just my 2 dinarii…
As is often the case, Chris Penn is right. You two should collaborate some time! ;-)
Seriously though, I say go with your gut. What does your gut say?
I’m working out the same thing. I agree with what I think I’m seeing here in the comments — that it’s fine to post relevant ads.
The way I’m looking at it on a new blog I’m creating is to have a few that hopefully don’t get in the way, but also offer something relevant to visitors.
I think sponsorship is the best since you can pick and choose who you link to, next is affiliate since it’s a little more relevant.
I don’t like a lot of ads on a blog, but if they are there to give me as a reader something, then I’m cool with a few.
That’s what I’m seeing anyway.
It is your blog, you are giving a service and, should be compensated ! Your blog is your business !
I think a decsion on
ad or no ads is not a huge deal one
way or the other.
Try it, you may like it. You won’t know
without getting some real world experience.
You occasionally hear content providers refer to advertisements as a value-added proposition for the readers. Usually that is pure bunk.
There is a case where it can be true - if someone (like you, Brogan-San) uses affiliate ads which you carefully and personally curate.
Of course you would need to choose carefully, because you implicitly give your imprimatur and put your reputation on the line with each ad. It’s not like Adsense.
I have no objection to ads, and in fact have ads on a new specialty blog (while choosing NOT to have them on my main blog). My major concern with ads, paid or not (re comment 3), is whether they increase the time required to load the page. If page loading does not deteriorate, and if the ads don’t dominate the page, then go for it.
Chris … great topic as usual. I obviously have ads on my site but they do nothing for me or my audience. While I have signed up for a couple of affiliate deals with relevance to the social media space (Compete.com, etc.) I’m making no money off them yet and don’t feel overly compelled to keep them.
Still, I get excited when I see traffic bumps and swells, holding out hopes there will be a deposit in PayPal and the end of the month and I can afford to download a CD’s worth of music.
So they’re there, but done in what I think is a tasteful and subtle way that doesn’t interfere with the user experience. My hope is that the placeholder ads I have now (affiliates and Google Ads) will one day be replaced by real companies wanting to reach a captive audience. Until that time, I almost forget they are there.
Your content is valuable. You have lots of traffic and could probably afford a CD or two from your payouts. But is it worth a 50-100 or 200 or whatever bucks a month to put a companies brand on your site? I don’t know, but I doubt it.
I’m never going to not read you for that or any other reason. I don’t think anyone else would either. But again, that’s not a good enough reason to use them in my opinion.
(And yes, I work at an advertising agency.)
Heh.
Interesting bunch of thoughts and ideas here. Thank you for them all. I’m grateful for your opinions, and will consider them all when deciding what it is I ultimately do. Nothing will change for a week or two, at the very least, so thanks for weighing in.
As always, the best stuff is in the comments.
Fascinated by the various opinions, not least of all the guy from the ad agency. : )
I think your comfort level is what will determine that. I didn’t ever want ads on my blog, but gave it a try with the BlogHerAds … they’ve been adorable and they’ve all been for really good stuff so far.
I promise I’m not pushing my ads, I’ve just actually been sad once or twice that it was a violation to click on my own stuff. I’m not kidding.
If you can find the kind of quality that makes you want to click on your own stuff, then do it.
You could also let individuals (aka owners of companies that you like and respect) advertize individually on your blog. Kind of a case-by-case company-by-company basis. That way it wouldn’t be random and you could feel comfortable the ads were for things that you really liked and wanted to support.
I definitely support you adding paid ads to the blog, and agree with others that you’re already doing plenty of advertising, just not getting paid for it.
My advice would be to control your own advertising and only accept advertising for services/products that you personally endorse anyway. If I see an ad on your site that looks interesting, I’m a *lot* more likely to make a purchase through it, because I’ve grown to trust your judgment. If it ends up being crap, that’s going to count against you. (I will still like you, though!)
On my 12 blogs, I’ve saved space for advertising my own products and services. It sounds like you’re pretty busy these days, but if you were thinking about offering an ebook or hourly consulting or something along those lines, that would be the ideal thing to advertise.
as usual the comments are adding exceptional quality to an oft asked question for bloggers. As I primarily read your writing via RSS feed which already carries an ad I don’t see the problem with having ads on the site.
Hi Chris,
I typically read your blog via RSS and am a relatively new subscriber.
I ignore most ads (”banner blindness”) and usually find them irritating - especially when they are not relevant, get in the way of reading the content, flash and jump around, pop-up, overlay the page, etc. At the same time, I have absolutely no problem with you (or anyone else for that matter) receiving compensation for the efforts that go into blogging, and advertising done right could be a win-win.
What I think might provide more value than ads per-se (at least to me) is embedding inline affiliate text links right into your content if/where applicable - i.e., Amazon.com links for books, electronics, whatever that you may discuss in your posts. Another idea would be a recommended reading list or something like that. I’d be more likely to buy a book or whatever that you personally recommend (or mention in the context of a post) if it has relevance to social media, etc. versus “random” ads on the page (or AdSense or whatever).
@Tim (#27) the only problem with the idea of using things like affilate links within a post is that Google may look upon that as paid text links which could end up with Chris being penalized and when it comes to this Google doesn’t play nice at all. Just ask all the people who saw their page ranks get wiped out in one fell swoop recently when Google changed their policy.
That isn’t to say it isn’t a good idea except it is also one of the easiest to be abused.
I don’t mind a few ads. It’s when the ads start overwhelming the content that they get annoying.
It’s not that I mind ads on my blog, it’s that it’s not my business model.
Lots of good comments above. I especially connected with Chip’s and Marina’s points, but everyone is basically right in what they expressed.
But the real issue for me, on my blog, is what am I selling? In my case, my brain-share. I haven’t run the numbers, but I doubt advertising could touch that in value. Now. Later, if my consulting and speaking time is 100% sold out and there is *still* traffic in excess (a Scoble situation) I might behave quite differently.
For now, it’s not for me. But I can’t say a thing about you.
Chris,
Seems most people posting don’t mind ads, as long as they are tasteful.
I enjoy your blog and would hate to see something tacky pollute your good work.
Tacky is one thing, but what happens if ads are served for products or companies that don’t approve of?
Now that ain’t cool.
I’d suggest you connect to an ad platform that gives you more control, even if it means you give up a little cash.
YOU are a rockstar and you’ve got a great brand, Chris. It’s worth a hell of a lot more than you may realize.
Happy Marketing.
Patrick Byers
The Responsible Marketing Blog
http://responsiblemarketing.com
Great thread. It’s interesting to hear/read other peoples thoughts. I think though if you don’t have a specialty blog, fixed obsession, huge readership, your own franchise to promote, a CRM hooked to an SQL database with mindreading blog platform plug-ins that it’s kind of hard to match esoteric posts with readers with an unfulfilled urge to consume.
If you want to be actively involved in controlling your ads it will take time for an admin task which won’t benefit you or your readers
I’m 100% okay with the idea of you placing ads on your blog.
I also think that the clients you advise will benefit from whatever insights you gain from the first-hand experience of having ads on your own blog.
My $0.02
Man, I really wish you had an opinion on this one. The fact that no one’s said anything is really depressing. : )
Thanks for your thoughts, everyone. I appreciate your advice.
I’m also 100% cool with ads on your site. Especially if I get a 50% family discount for advertising one of my newest ventures - selling dust. “100% Pure Afghan Dust - From My Pores to Yours.”
Of course if it’s not relevant to any of your postings on social media, I’m sure you’ll think of something.
;-)
Running a site like this takes time. It provides benefit to site visitors. You’re entitled to make a little money from it. If the ads start to detract from the content, you’ll lose in the end - it will make people less likely to visit the site - but in general, I think it’s fine to have some advertising here.
Figure out why you really want to put ads on your site in the first place. Is it only about the money? (Somehow, from what I know about you, I don’t think so.) Or is it also about adding value for your readers by providing ads relevant to what you are talking about.
As a business owner, I can tell you that every decision we make with our company revolves around two things - value for the client and potential for making money. If it leans too much towards the client, we don’t make any money and the business fails. If it leans too much towards making money, we lose all our clients and the business fails. It’s fine balance, and one that we need to continually revisit.
Take the same tactic when it comes to running your web site and you can’t lose. Good luck!
With all these comments, I’m surprised no one has mentioned the potential to compromise your freedom as a blogger.
If every social media company becomes a potential revenue stream, won’t that add another layer of personal editing to your work, based not on the company’s product, but on their potential revenue opportunity?
What happens when one of your primary advertisers makes a bonehead move? Will you call them on it or will you be thinking about tuition?
Traditional publications have editors and executives who make those decisions, freeing journalists to maintain their impartiality. I know you’ve said before that you’re a blogger, not a journalist, but today your only encumbrances are your relationships, and you know what it feels like to pee on a friend’s parade.
Case in point, ooVoo.
In the middle of your first day with ooVoo you made a tepid comment on Twitter about your experience and followed it up with an equally tepid article. If they were a potential sponsor would you have conducted yourself differently, even if that meant saving all comment for some future date?
I’m biased because I work in internet advertising, but I see nothing wrong with a controlled amount of ads on a blog.
Some of the key points to consider though:
I’m going to assume you won’t want to spend a lot of time selling against your blog. Sure, some people might come along direct to you, but you’re probably not going to want to be out there cold calling anyone. As such, you’re going to need to go to a network of some form (and even if you direct sell some, you’ll need a network to fill the gap).
The problem with most networks though is that you’re going to get pretty big generic advertisers (Verizon, Sprint, Ford, GM, etc) most of the time. You may get some interesting niche products at times but the majority of your impressions are going to seem fairly generic.
You could try to join a relevant vertical ad network and have them rep for you and sell within a niche at least closer to your readers (Burst Media I believe just launched a vertical network for early adopters/technology innovators for example). If I had to guess though, even in those cases you’ll still end up with a lot of generic ads.
Also, to the other commenter (Reed Smith): Actually as long as you don’t go with Google (which I highly, HIGHLY advise against using if you want to actually monetize your inventory) you’re probably be paid on a CPM or Rev Share basis. Most display ad networks don’t even do a significant portion of business in CPC (or PPC as it’s also called). In fact, I highly suggest looking at using networks that pay on a CPM basis.
I could probably go on for hours about this topic, but I don’t want to write an entire article here on Chris’ blog. :)
Don, While I can’t claim to speak for everyone, I think the reason nobody brought that up is that we all know Chris has too much integrity to be a blind shill.
I do agree that to do it right will be a time sink.
Chris, the best thing you could advertise would be your own books. Write them! Compile them even (lord knows you have enough stuff to cull from)! :)
Kevin,
I would never expect Chris to go down the shill path.
I was pointing out a more subtle dynamic. Not that he would just give up his reputation for cash, but that it might have an effect when it comes to pulling the trigger on some of his opinions.
Not that he’d hold back if he felt passionately, but perhaps he’d have to evaluate the domino effect of his opinions as they relate to his advertising revenue stream BEFORE saying something unflattering about a sponsor or a potential sponsor.
It would be naive to think otherwise.
What would happen to us if we were saying bad stuff about our employers in a public forum, even if what we said was true?
Readers may view him differently when he monetizes his blog, but they’ll keep coming back based on the content, as long as they are confident the sponsors don’t impact the honesty of the content.
In any case, a revenue diversification strategy will ensure Chris’ continued independence.
Thank you for asking, Chris. You are the best at walking your talk. That’s why we love you, man.
Go for it, go for the advertising. We understand, we have grown up on OLA (online advertising), we get it.
We want you focusing on your content that we crave. With the advertising revenue, you’ll be able to do that.
Again, thanks for asking. You never cease to amaze.
Cheers,
Z
Chris,
As ever, you have sparked a superb and highly informative discussion - I hope you do a follow-up post on the basis of the ideas and opinions expressed here by your community.
I’m not sure I even have $0.02 worth on this topic, but I do have a few questions:
1. I was fascinated to see Businespundit, in one of hish sign-off posts, state that he had been making about $1000 per month from his blog. Not to be spat at, but not exactly big potatoes either. So, first question - how much do you want to make?
2. Given that the majority of your commenters fall between the “necessary evil” and “all advertising is invisible to my eye” schools, I don’t see how advertising will enhance the Brogan experience, but it’s probably not going to detract from it in the short term. So, second question - what are your long-term aspirations for your blog? What is it designed to do? (For example, if it’s designed to attract paid speaking gigs in the long term, then advertising is probably not going to have any relevance. If it’s intended as a revenue stream all by itself, then that’s a very different story.)
3. What about one big button? How effective is the “Buy me a cup of coffee” strategy on blogs? Your blog design is pretty clean at the moment it would be an aesthetic shame to besmirch that …
I have been a long-term subscriber because you make my brain hurt with your wonderful, provocative thinking. I would be very sad to see a “read more” snip on your RSS feed so as to force me to visit your blog for the purposes of upping your traffic numbers and possible click-throughs - but I’d still visit, unless I detected a real change in your tone.
ads make me think the blogger is greedy. why waste the page load time for a few lousy dollars?
As a side note for those complaining about page load times, the problem is easily fixed by putting the ads in an iframe.