Does It Pay To Advertise?

Currently, none of my blogs run ads. But I'm quite often getting good traffic through them, and my Google listings are good enough that I now receive spam asking if they can advertise on one of my blogs. Does anyone have any experience of running blog ads they can share, or have an opinion on this topic they'd like to voice? I don't want to inconvenience my readers with adverts for just a few extra pennies, but on the other hand I don't want to turn down revenue that might be available.

Thoughts and opinions welcome!

Comments

[Malte Kosian]

I'm making a 3-5 Euro monthly with my blog.
That's a nice share without doing anything.
I show the ads only at the bottom of the page and on the right side.

But I like your way of advertisement more.
Recommend books etc.
It's much more personal.

[Brian 'Psychochild'Green]

I have a few advertisers on my blog, which gets a fair amount of traffic. Neither of them pays much, not even enough to covermy fairly low-rent site host. The biggest problem is that ads that aren't in your face don't get noticed much. The more obvious you make the ads (different color scheme, more central placement), the better your earning potential but the more adversely they affect your users.

The other problem is that the less sleazy advertising systems always have some catch to getting your cash out. Google only pays once you reach $100 earned. For my site, that's been once in the five years (perhaps four, it took me a while to put the ads up), and it's looking to take another few years to get my next $100. Project Wonderful (the top ad) charges a small fee if you want to withdraw money; but you can use your earnings to buy ads on the system.

My advice: skip the ads if you aren't hurting currently. If your hosting bill is getting out of hand, then look into ads to cover it. Until that point, you probably don't have enough traffic to make the headache worth it.

[Chris]

Thanks for the input, guys! If we're talking about figures below what I can spend on beer during a good night on the town then I'm not sure I want to hassle the visitors here with adverts. :)

Cheers!

[MikeS]

To be frank with you, if they don't appear on the RSS feeds I wouldn't notice even if you sold out :)

[Duncan Munro]

I run text link adds on my blog through a company called BlogRollPlease (http://blogrollplease.com/). They actually contacted me and seemed legit. They have a number of levels, but the base is a simple text link (no hidden stuff) that they track.

You submit your blog, they rate it and connect advertisers to you.

I've got a mid-rated blog with only 2-3 links per month and I get $30-$50US every month. It's pretty low key. They email me when a new link is to be added or removed and then they check that it remains active for the duration.

I like it because I have the ability to check the adds that go on my site and I can reject them if I don't want them.

[Chris]

Duncan: thanks for sharing this! $600 a year would actually pay for the Vonage phone line I pay for from my US account, and without having to transfer money from the UK... This, in fact, might be worth my while just to avoid the hassles of the international money transfer each year.

Which is your blog? (I feel I should know as I think it's one that's in my reader!) I'd like to see how the ads look in situ.

Many thanks!

[Chris Lepine]

I have to admit that I completely sold my soul a month ago. An online poker gaming site promoter contacted me, and usually I just respond with "Sorry, I do not offer advertising on my site. But I appreciate your offer" kind of thing and never hear back. But this time the person replied, and said "Well, I really enjoy reading your site, and if you'd be able to offer me a link in your blogroll, I'd be happy to put $400 USD in your Paypal account." I was curious, so I did it, and sure enough the guy sent me the $.

Although it felt a bit like taking a dip in a pool full of 18th century prostitutes, it did buy me a few books and games I've been dying to read/play for the last couple of years. :) It's the only link/ad on my site, and the guy hasn't bothered me since. Can't complain about that.