I'd like to m
ake money from my blogs as much as any one else. I certainly applaud bloggers who manage to derive some income from their efforts. However, I draw the line in the sand at some advertising activities. Just where that line is, what it looks like, and how much sand it disperses, is still somewhat unclear to me, but it's coming more into focus. I'd like to hear what you think.
ake money from my blogs as much as any one else. I certainly applaud bloggers who manage to derive some income from their efforts. However, I draw the line in the sand at some advertising activities. Just where that line is, what it looks like, and how much sand it disperses, is still somewhat unclear to me, but it's coming more into focus. I'd like to hear what you think.A recent article entitled Top 10 AdSense Tricks to Boost Your Commission posted by The Admaster (a great site for blog advertising advice), got me thinking about how advertising works on blogs--and how it should work. There were several suggestions in this article (which offers tricks to make Google's AdSense advertising program work more effectively, but the concepts discussed apply to all blog ads, I think) that drew my attention. For instance: "Color code your ads to match your web site palette exactly" and "Incorporate the AdSense code into your page so that the ads look like a regular part of your site."
"Wait a minute," I said to myself. These suggestions seem to be advocating that bloggers make their ads fade away, not stand out, to appear to be just part of the regular content of the blog. Could that be right? Surely not. As a firm believer in the American capitalist system, I'm all for advertising. Yes, at times it drives me nuts, but I'd rather have commercials on television than state-run programming. I'd rather see ads in magazines and newspapers than not have magazines and newspapers at all--or than have to pay exorbitant prices for them.
I expect to see ads. Good ads should stand out. They should call attention to themselves, and vi
ewers or readers should say, "That's a great ad, maybe I should check out that product." Or, contrarily, "That's a terrible ad; I'll never buy that product." They shouldn't find themselves being unable to tell where the ad begins and the TV program or magazine or newspaper article ends. Oh, I can hear some of you saying, "But what about product placement in movies?" The main character eats Cheerios for breakfast and then drives a Honda to work. Isn't that advertising? Well, maybe so, but it's not nearly as egregious as what this article is suggesting bloggers do with their Adsense ads.
I expect to see ads. Good ads should stand out. They should call attention to themselves, and vi
ewers or readers should say, "That's a great ad, maybe I should check out that product." Or, contrarily, "That's a terrible ad; I'll never buy that product." They shouldn't find themselves being unable to tell where the ad begins and the TV program or magazine or newspaper article ends. Oh, I can hear some of you saying, "But what about product placement in movies?" The main character eats Cheerios for breakfast and then drives a Honda to work. Isn't that advertising? Well, maybe so, but it's not nearly as egregious as what this article is suggesting bloggers do with their Adsense ads.When ads on our blogs look EXACTLY like our blog's content--I call that deception. I don't want to deceive my readers into clicking on my ads, thinking they are a post, so I can make a penny or two. I want my readers to click on the ads on my site because they are intrigued by the ads themselves and wish to investigate them further. If that doesn't happen--so be it. What do you think?
(graphics from http://blog.ictforhealth.com and http://advertisingandart.wordpress.com)











