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.

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

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.

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)! :)

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. :)

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?

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!