Help with starting a blog that includes ads

Anyone have experience they can share in putting together a blog that includes paid advertising (like Ads by Google)? I have content and distribution and currently publish as a newsletter, but I think a blog format may make more sense.

Tags: advertising, blog

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Permalink Reply by Justin Lukasavige on June 25, 2009 at 10:06pm: It's really as simple as posting to your blog Jeanette. If you want to use google ads then go to http://adsense.google.com and sign up for an account. I would be sure to build a following before posting ads (if ever actually). Ads usually are a big turnoff.

If the site isn't done professionally it will look amateurish and you won't get return followers. All you have to do with adsense though is past the embed code on your blog and you're done.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jeanette Konicki on July 1, 2009 at 10:07pm: Many thanks for your advice!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Steve Hong, Web Designer on July 16, 2009 at 7:51am: Drop Adsense; try affiliate marketing

Jeanette, I agree with Justin that Adsense is a turnoff for most of your visitors and makes your website/blog seem like a fly-by-night operation looking to turn a buck. In most cases, it's just a bad idea. It's also not very profitable. I haven't used Adsense myself, though I advertise many thousands of dollars every month with Adwords, but I hear from others that Adsense just doesn't bring in the kind of money that people hope for. Even on well-trafficked sites, it may only amount to $50/month. You should instead try to become an affiliate of a retailer that sells products that are highly targeted to your demographic. That last bit is the tricky part, unless there are products that specifically relate to your blog topics, you won't see much return. But if you do find a good match, you'll earn 5-10% of customers' purchases when they buy through your site.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jeanette Konicki on July 16, 2009 at 3:22pm: That is great advice- thanks so much. May be hard for me to find an affiliate because I have a B2B type of service business, but if I give it some thought I may be able to put it together.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Rob Laughter, Social Media Coach on July 30, 2009 at 6:13pm: You can find affiliates through services like Affiliate Fuel and Direct Response. I've used both of these with some success when I was a senior in high school. I'm sure things have changed, but that's a start :); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by David Williams on June 28, 2009 at 6:14pm: Jeanette,

One word of advice when starting a blog is make sure it is put on regular hosting. Wordpress is great but you don't want to end up with a jeanette.wordpress.com domain. As for the adsense, after signing up as Justin suggested, it's pretty easy to ad it in wordpress.

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Permalink Reply by Jeanette Konicki on July 1, 2009 at 10:06pm: Thanks so much for taking the time to give me some words of advice!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Rob Laughter, Social Media Coach on July 30, 2009 at 6:10pm: Hi, Jeanette.

See my tech blog, Gadget Grounds, for an example. I have so few visitors that my earnings are next to none (I don't do it for the money), but I can get you set up and advise you on blog ad placement, relevance, and formatting.

Regards,
Rob; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jeanette Konicki on August 3, 2009 at 8:19pm: Many thanks- and I like the look/feel of your blog! Maybe when I have less than a hundred things going on at once, I'll get a chance to get a blog set up like yours! Thanks for the offer to help out.; ▶ Reply to This