Blogging for Money
Inspired by John Chow, there are a number of people starting blogs with the intention of making money doing it and documenting it as they do it.
Nothing wrong with any of that.
Unfortunately, some of these blogs seem to be the equivalent of MFA (Made for Adsense) sites, in terms of appearance if not content too.
Take a look at John Chow’s blog. There are a number of ads that you’ll see, as well as a number of ads that aren’t immediately apparent.
But, if you look at the overall presentation of the site, it is not unattractive. The ads are not too obtrusive.
Now, compare that with One Man’s Blog. I have been following his blog, so I have nothing against him, but look at how the ads dominate the page. It puts the emphasis on the ads rather than what he is writing. As such, I think it may turn some readers away. It looks like a big ad, rather than a blog.
A blog can have ads, but it also needs to have a friendly, approachable look to it.
Now, have a look at Michael Kwan’s blog. This is more in line with John Chow’s site. It has ads, but they are not too obtrusive that they dominate the page.
Now, I’m not the blogmaster that John Chow is, but from a reader perspective, what I am looking for is content. The content is what the blog is all about and it is the reason I visit the blog. If the content gets lost in the ads, if the ads are too obtrusive to my reading experience, that’s not a blog I am going to spend a lot of time visiting, if I return at all.
One Man’s Blog is not alone in having a blog dominated by the ads. Examples are plentiful. Just click on the links of the commentators on John Chow’s blog, and you’ll find a good number of them.
I will have more ads on this site than there are now, namely TLA once I figure out how to get the plugin to work. But, I intend that the ads will not dominate the appearance of the site, nor will they overrun the content. And, I’m sure readers will point it out if I do!
Thanks for the link!
Thanks for the comment!
I see you posted about the blended iPhone today too!
I bet you also learned about it on Exoclick’s blog!
Thanks for reviewing my site. I’m glad you noticed all the monetization strategies I’ve used, however I assure you that content is king on my blog. Tommorow there will be a post extolling the virtues of Full Feed RSS.
But today I’m announcing the beta launch of a new plugin I’ve developed.
It’ll let you (or your readers) get a prime placement text link on my blog for just $1.
Check it out: http://www.oneyeargoal.com
I certainly never meant to imply that you don’t have good content, only that that content is dominated by ads. I think you would do well to distribute the ads better, more like John Chow and Michael Kwan do. I would just have a two column layout. One large column for the content and a second thinner column for the ads and links. Then, spread the AdSense ads between or within posts. Right now, about 40% of your above-the-fold page is dominated by ads. My opinion is that that is too much.
By comparison, Michael Kwan has about 30% ad coverage and John Chow has about the same. The extra 10% may not seem like much, but I think it does make a big difference in the visual appearance.
Just moving the AdSense out of a column and in with the article content, as MK and JC both do, gives a better overall feel. A long title will extend past the ad block and bring the ad (visually) into the post rather than standing on its own off to the side. On th one hand, it is a bit more obtrusive that way, but, on the other hand, it is also more visually appealing when you take into consideration the overall look of the page.
Beyond that, when you scroll down and those two ad columns are empty, you have a lot of what looks like wasted space. Some white space is good, but too much is somewhat distracting.
Nice post on Full Feed RSS though!
I have to agree that site has too many ads.
[...] Dan Blogs is a blog about…well…whatever Dan Blogs about. Fortunately he decided to blog about One Year Goal.com and made a great observation about my blog: the ads are a little intrusive. At first I was a little offended because I thought he was implying this is an ad-centric blog. But after reviewing other sites on the net I understand why he felt that the ads appear to be excessive. So I’m removing the vertical Adsense pillar in the sidebar, as it seems to create the most clutter, in order to improve everyone’s reading experience. Thanks for helping me focus on content Dan. [...]
[...] In an earlier post, I wrote “Unfortunately, some of these blogs seem to be the equivalent of MFA (Made for Adsense) sites, in ter…” [...]
[...] My point of mentioning this blog is that I think that One Man has done a better job of designing this blog than he did with his One Year Goal blog, which I semi-reviewed in my earlier post, “Blogging for Money.” [...]