Banner ads are one of the most common ways bloggers try to make money off their blogs. One of the most common, and also one of the most lethal things you can do to your blog.
You see, it’s the blogs today that do not have banner ads that are the unique blogs, because everyone is starting to put them on your blog. Newbies, intermediate and pros of all kinds do it.
But, banner ads actually do a lot of harm to your community. A few effects of banner ads on a new community:
- It makes your blog look bad to new readers
- Gives off the appearance you will do whatever it takes to make money from your blog
- They clog up the sidebar/content area of your blog and push down useful content
- Add load time to your blog
- Much more…
So, if you have a blog that is still new (as in, doesn’t get much traffic, comments, low RSS count, etc.) banner ads will not help you build your community. Not only that, but you won’t make money from banner ads off of a weak blog!
You can read the full argument over at Blogussion in a post from personal experiences: “How I Realized Banner Ads are Harmful to my Community
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
One of the inherent problems with adsense is it takes your reader away from your site to a site that you have almost no say about. That means the Ad provided more value to the reader than you did.
I think having adsense all over also hurts the trust your blog can build. Having one or two subtle ads is okay, but having ads between every other line and all over the place is just not profitable and can cost you readers.
.-= Blake @ Props Blog Reviews´s last blog ..Animators and Icons At War =-.
I think having ads may not be a great money maker either, depending on what type of content you have on your blog. If you write a lot about personal finance, or another well paying niche – you may do excellent with adsense. If you’re writing about design or photography, it might not do as well. You have to take into account what type of blog you have, whether it will make adsense and cpm monetization worthwhile, and whether you have other ways that you’ll be attempting to make money (membership sites, subscriptions, e-books or info products, etc).
.-= Bible Money Matters´s last blog ..The Great Big List Of 75 Budgeting Tools, Finance Softwares And Iphone Money Apps =-.