I’ve written about monetizing this blog before. The only ads that I’ve used up until a week or so ago were text ads from Text Link Ads and Google AdSense. For a few months, I was making around $120/month with Text Link Ads and around $30/month with Google AdSense. I realized about a week and a half ago that I wasn’t really making anything anymore with Google AdSense, and since I lost a few Text Link Ad sponsors, I thought I’d look into optimizing my ads with Google AdSense. By just adding a few different styles of Ads, experimenting with image ads, and changing the position of ads, I’ve been able to go from making nothing the past few months to making around $5/day with AdSense. This is a huge difference. I’ve been told by some that I really need to look into selling my own adspace (would love to follow a similar format as this). So I may look into that after awhile.
So, the ads are working out much better for me, but what about you?
In my opinion, there is a fine line between adding some tasteful ads that help cover my hosting expenses and give me some extra cash, and just plain old “selling out.” So, what do you think? Have I sold out? (I realize that one of the text ads that kept popping up was for Mark Driscoll – that made me feel like I may have sold out – but I think I filtered that ad now). Do you find the ads really annoying? Do they keep you from wanting to come to the site? Do you find them distracting? I would appreciate hearing how they’re working out for you.