Should You Monetize Your Blog?

Monetizing your blog is a topic that seems to be quite popular, and also perhaps somewhat controversial. There are bloggers that make a very good living from their blogging, such as Darren Rowse or Jeremy Schoemaker to name just two. Certainly there are many more that are doing okay through this medium.

This is NOT about how to make money through your blog, as I at this time do not make any money blogging (and in the short-term don't have any intentions of doing so on a large scale). If you are looking for ways to monetize your blog, the two links provided above are likely a very good starting point, no one better to get tips from then those who are already doing so successfully. (Disclaimer: While there is a great deal of content from the above mentioned individuals focused on monetization, there is also a lot about blogging in general that can be learned from their posts. If you are at all interested in blogging, there are some great tips to be found).

What I want to focus on here are several questions that you should think about before you go ahead and start plastering ads all over your site.

1. Are you looking for a get rich quick scheme?
2. What is your day job?
3. How will advertising on your blog affect your online reputation?


As I go into this topic, let me state up front that I don't have a problem with advertisements on blogs or websites in general (though it has been a very rare occasion when I've clicked through). At some point in the future, I may decide that it makes sense to post some ads on my site if it seems like the appropriate thing to do. I also want to state that there are ways to make money from a blog indirectly and also ways to advertise on a blog without generating revenue (i.e. promotion of things you believe in, it's still advertising at the end of the day). So, with that out of the way...

Are you looking for a get rich quick scheme?

I know you're out there, you've seen the signs on the side of the road - "Make $5,000 a week working from home..." - and thought, I should look into that. I'm not dismissing out of hand every opportunity, but most of the time, when something seems to good to be true, it is. Can you make $5,000 a week working from home? Probably! Will it be easy? No!

In a recent post on his blog, Alain Saffel discusses this point and provides some examples of the specific activities that are often touted as ways to make money online. As Alain says these "techniques are legitimate and legal, but hardly going to make you a millionaire".

When it comes down to it, you can make a lot of money online, the proof is the fact that there are people like Darren and Jeremy that are doing so. That said, while the big money might be coming in now, (they've got an established reader base and advertisers seek them out) I'm certain it wasn't always that way (if anyone has information to refute this hypothesis, I'd love to see it). There is a building period associated with any new venture, whether it is a blog, tech start-up, or a landscaping company that you started by mowing lawns as a kid, business develops over a period of time (sometimes shorter than others) and instantaneous wealth is found only through the lottery.

What is your day job?

This might seem like a question that doesn't really fit into this discussion, but it is actually quite pertinent. Take my situation for instance, I am an employee of a relatively large organization, working in the marketing department. The company has not yet defined how they are choosing to operate within the social media space and there is no policy in place on employee blogging. Further, there is a policy in place which asks that employees who choose to work part time at another job, review any such outside employment with management before going ahead (in case of conflict of interest).

Given this is my situation, I choose not to discuss company specific topics on my blog. However when it comes to the question of advertising, I see several things that must be examined more closely:

* Would advertising on my site be viewed as outside employment?
* Could there be a conflict of interest in my advertising on the site? (More likely an issue than the first)
* How does my blogging affect the reputation of the company?


Even when your blog is a personal blog (i.e. you own it, it was not set-up as a company blog) and your company is fully aware of it's existence, advertising (even if not a direct conflict of interest may not be the best idea). Take for instance another well known blogger, Chris Brogan. I don't know Chris personally, but trust him as an expert when it comes to Social Media topics. I'm not alone in that, Chris has thousands of people reading his blog on a regular basis because of what he knows. It is quite conceivable that Chris could sell ads on his site and make a pretty decent amount of money doing so (he's already done the work of building). Chris could select only ads that did not directly conflict with the terms of his employment, provide full disclosure around the advertising in some of that little print on the bottom of a page or through a link, etc. In other words, from a moral and legal standpoint, There would be no issue with advertising being present on the blog, but the question remains of whether it makes sense to go ahead and sell the space.

This leads to the third question.

How will advertising on your blog affect your online reputation?

I don't want to get into an in depth discussion here about personal branding. While there are some who will argue that a person is not a brand, no matter what, I disagree. I do feel that some people place to much time and effort trying to build their personal brand for the wrong reasons, but that is a topic for another post.

Whether you spend a significant amount of time thinking about it, when you blog, you are creating a brand and putting your reputation online. Over time, people (your readers, followers, friends) come to expect certain things from you. A trust develops, just as in face to face relationships and friendships, time strengthens the online bond and your place in the communities you are a part of. Before you begin to sell advertising space on your blog, consider what that might do to your online reputation? If you are newer to the space, think about what you want your reputation to be and whether advertising fits into that image.

Seth Godin is a man I have tremendous respect for as a marketing guru, but also as a humanitarian. On his blog, you will see that advertisements are not a revenue generating tool (I consider the links to books through SmartLinks to be advertising, even if they are not a revenue generator). In my view, Seth has chosen to not open his site to paid advertising, not because he is opposed to people making money through ads, but because it doesn't fit with his online reputation. If one day when I got to his blog there were advertisements all over it (while it wouldn't be wrong in the strict sense of the word) my perception of him would be changed and his reputation potentially damaged irreparably.

Not everyone might feel the same way that I do, but that's the point, to think about what effect advertising on your site might have. Clearly I don't have all the answers (or even all the questions), but for me, these are the big items to think about.

As I've stated, I don't have a problem with people making money through ads on their site. I'd appreciate your take on the questions above or any other factors you feel should be considered when making this decision.

Am I over thinking this?