On Placing Ads.

Neil Patel had a quick post over at ShoeMoney.com where he talked about an established blog that starts placing ads in their layout. He ended his post with this question: “So the question I have for you isn’t whether you should be placing ads on your blog, but instead when should you start placing ads on your blog and how many ads should you place?” This had me thinking because as you can see, this is a new blog and there are ads placed here. In fact, one of the deciding factors in choosing this theme was the integrated ad systems already in place. Should everyone follow this path?

Experience? Yea, you need some.

The first thing I want to take a look at is experience. What type of experience do you have with running a blog? Do you understand the concept of ad blending and space optimization? Are you comfortable manually editing your blog’s code without ruining the theme? If you’re new to blogging and have difficulty answering the previous questions, my answer would be to avoid starting off a blog with placed ads. However, this most likely doesn’t have to be said, but if you’re a seasoned blogger, you already know the ins and outs of monetization and should definitely place ads from the start of your blog.

It’s also important to note the types of ads that will be placed. There are three main ad types: PPC ads, affiliate ads, and direct sales of ad spaces. Most new blogs won’t be able to directly sell ad space, so scratch that off the list. Next, we have affiliate ads. You will get paid per commission if a reader follows this ad type and makes a sale. My only worries here are that a new blog might not have that much influential power over affiliate sales. More established blogs will be able to make any type of recommendation and they will see a return. Just look at JohnChow for example. He can make a recommendation on ANYTHING and he will make money off of it. Five minutes of John’s time will earn him thousands of dollars in the years to come. Scratch off affiliate sales. Finally we’re left with Pay-Per-Click or PPC ads, which I fully recommend for every new blog. These ads will net you a few cents each time a reader clicks on them.

Why PPC?

PPC ads are simply the easiest way for new bloggers to start making some money. Even if you aren’t comfortable placing code within your blog’s template, you can still place ads within each individual post. The only downfall with PPC ads is the return. It’s unlikely that you’ll earn more than $.15-.20 per click. Regardless of cost-per-click, you’ll still be making money just for running your blog.

PPC ads should be placed in your template or within posts right from your blog’s launch. Only until you feel comfortable moving to affiliate ads or direct ad sales should they ever be removed. Of course, you’ll need the popularity and the traffic too.