So, I was perusing my e-mails and there was a link in one of them about blogging (You know, a sortve "Blogging 101: For Dummies" type post) and I read it and... I'm doing it all wrong. And I read something the other day about intentionally posting content that will bring (artificial) traffic to your blog and I thought to myself "Well, crap.. I've been blogging since 2004 and I never would have thought of doing that..." and, well, if I am to believe the articles I am reading, my blog is way too small to ever get any recognition and the fact that I have any readers at all is, by their standards, quite the miracle.
Now, I have to tell you that I am only just starting to view blogging from more a business perspective than something I do because I like to write and having a forum where other people can read what I write appeals to me and if I can happen to enlighten someone or make their day better in some way, it strikes me as a winning proposition. But I'm getting tired of going to blogger gatherings and having people be absolutely SHOCKED that I wasn't "monetizing" my blog. So, I figured since everyone said Adsense was wonderful, I'd try that and ended up getting banned pretty much my first month into that and I understand that every blog I ever, ever, EVER have will be included in that ban and... well...there went that idea.
So, I found Adgetize... which, less than 2 weeks after I signed up with them they decided to call it quits and go out of business. I made three cents with Adgitize and will give them kudos for having paid out (unlike my buddies at Adsense who arbitrarily decided I was breaking some rule but wouldn't tell me which blog was breaking the rule or any specifics really and therefore the $30+ payout I was slated to get, I didn't). And now I am afraid to click on ads on any other blogs for fear of getting them banned (guilt by association, since I'm one of those nasty rulebreakers!)
On one of my other blogs, I am doing articles for EdenFantasys, which I really enjoy doing (and I need to do that this weekend) but I have to be careful what content I post where because it can keep you from being able to post other types of content.
All I can tell you is that monetizing your blog seems like a lot of work for a small ROI. I'm really happy that it works for some people and I'll continue to place ads on my blogs for things that I love/believe in (like DDP Yoga, which is a FABULOUS program which I DO use). I love EdenFantasys, too but this blog isn't the forum for their ads. I suppose I could use some of those "less than ethical" methods of getting tons of readers, but I'm not really wanting to skim content from other sites, which is how most of that stuff seems to work.
So, to potential advertisers... I may not be the biggest blog or have the most traffic but I'm ethical and if I like your product/service I'll talk about it. The flip side is that if I *DON'T* like your product/service, I'm probably going to talk about it, too. But at least it will be HONEST feedback. And, apparently, in a world of bigger, better, blingy-er blogs, that means I'm doing it wrong. And I'm fine with that.
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