Choose The Right Way To Monetize A Blog

In an excellent video featuring Darren Rowse from ProBlogger, he talks about the reasons why he decided to remove AdSense from his website.

Darren was disappointed with the revenue being generated by AdSense on ProBlogger so he decided to experiment by completely removing all AdSense ads and trying some alternatives. Affiliate links and selling advertising space directly were the main options.

Removing all AdSense ads may sound absurd to many people who make most of their income through AdSense, but consider this; Darren’s audience is mostly bloggers and people who are interested in making money online.

These people know what AdSense is and will generally avoid clicking on AdSense ads. They will generally avoid clicking on ads altogether, unless the ad offers something special.

Maybe fellow bloggers just do not want to earn any money for the site publishing the ad? Maybe there is a subconscious worry about getting banned for clicking on an AdSense ad? Maybe there is some inert snobbery kicking in? Hard to say…but I do know Darren is absolutely correct.

I very rarely click on AdSense ads (although it has been known on SERPS) and I don’t really know why that should be so…it just is.

ProBlogger is a very high status blog and in the video it is pointed out that many advertisers who purchase advertising space do so to help build a company or website profile, not because of the directly generated sales. ProBlogger has been around for many years and has enough online credibility to pass some onto its advertisers. Most new blogs do not have this type of kudos, but it can be earned over a period of time.

Choosing the right method to monetize a website, blog or web page is crucial to it’s success. Get it wrong and you will not make any money, get it right and you could make a lot of money. The most important thing to do is to experiment and track results. This will tell you what works and what doesn’t. There are no hard and fast rules, what works for one blog may not work for another.

**The video was made in Otober 2007 and ProBlogger does still not carry AdSense ads.