Should I add ads?

[Scribnia]

This is a question that I'm thinking about for my personal blog davidspinks.com

I've never had the intention to turn my blog into a business. Now I've been approached by a company that's interested in putting highly targeted ads on my site. It seems like a really great opportunity but I'm not sure how it will affect the focus of my blog: The community.

What do you guys think? When is the right time to put ads on your site? Will it take away from the value of the site? Even just in the vibe?

Appreciate your thoughts.

[SuperSwole]

I say go for it, the money needs to come from somewhere to pay for hosting and that. I doubt your readers will mind just make sure it's not jam packed with them.

[stephen todd]

Originally Posted by Scribnia

This is a question that I'm thinking about for my personal blog davidspinks.com

I've never had the intention to turn my blog into a business. Now I've been approached by a company that's interested in putting highly targeted ads on my site. It seems like a really great opportunity but I'm not sure how it will affect the focus of my blog: The community.

What do you guys think? When is the right time to put ads on your site? Will it take away from the value of the site? Even just in the vibe?

Appreciate your thoughts.

As long as they are real ads - not just paragraphs of text containing 3 keyword hyperlinks per paragraph, that are usually placed by many so-called "business promoters", then go for it

Real ads won't hurt you, but link harvesting ads will

[~kev~]

If your interested in putting adds on your site, then I recommend you sign up at adtoll and start selling ads. that way adtoll handles the ads, handles the payments and everything else. you just sign up, set a price, and put the code on your site.

[maccam87]

nice site mate if you go for it which i think you should then make sure the ads blend into your website and not too cramped you should be ok

[Scribnia]

The ads would be very targeted. Iw as approached by a specific company that wants to run PR job opening ads...so really, it shouldn't seem like ads at all, although I will disclose that they are sponsored if I do add them.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I think I'll try it out.

[rnningfool]

Depends if you want to sell out. Is it all about the money?

[Melody]

I vote "no" on ads! It's a bad idea on a new blog, and even questionable on some more established blogs.

Once you put ads on a blog, you send the message to your readers that your content is a little less important, and you're there to make money off of them.

I honestly believe that if you're blogging because you're really interesting in sharing about a topic with your readers, you won't add ads. Do you want to earn the trust of your readers first?

[ChickenFreak]

Originally Posted by Scribnia

Will it take away from the value of the site? Even just in the vibe?

I think that it would take away from the value of the site, yes. I'd sit down and figure out how much money you're likely to make, and see if that's worth seriously damaging your reputation and readership. I'm not saying that the ads _would_ seriously damage your reputation and readership, but they definitely could. So an evaluation of the risk, and the value of your site to you outside of money concerns, seems worth doing.

[rypher21]

as long as the essence of your blog is still there and not just for ads thingy then go for it..