Comments on: Why Wait – Blog For Dollars Now

By: CatherineL

CatherineL — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 00:47:15 +0000

Hi Deb – I mean this in the nicest possible way – but Google own your blog. They can do what they want with it – even close it down if they want to. And this is whether you add adsense or not.

You really do need to get your own domain and hosting – it is cheap and will pay for itself – then you own your own blog.

Honestly Deb – I had a free website about a decade ago. It was so easy then. I sold an information product and there were so few sites on the Internet that people used to mail me cheques from all over the world and wait for their info products to be delivered. But it couldn’t last. And I don’t recall the last time I visited a free site and I think free blogs will go the same way.

As for Adsense – whether it will work for you will depend on your content, but there’s no harm in trying it and if you don’t like it you can easily deleted. As Barbara said, there’s heaps more options too, including CJ and Linkshare. And I don’t remember if Linkshare is the same but I know for a fact that CJ won’t accept your application without an email addresses that is part of one of your domain names.

There’s other programs you can join – but it’s best to sign up for just a few at first and concentrate on promoting them.

It honestly is worth getting your own domain. Barbara and I both use Bluehost for hosting and they’re pretty reasonable. Also, you can pay quarterly. And domain names are under $10 for a year.

I don’t mean to sound bossy – but I wish someone had given me this advice 10 years ago.

CatherineL’s last blog post..How Radar Can Improve Your Business

By: Barbara

Barbara — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 22:25:33 +0000

Hi Deb,

With AdSense, I don’t know that they necessarily put “counters” on your blog, but they do place ads that match your content, so if you’re writing about Peanut, you may get ads for “peanuts”.

Food for thought: Sign up for Commission Junction or LinkShare and use specific ads from companies you trust. On my other blog, I use ads from WalMart and Overstock + a few others that I trust. You don’t make money unless a visitors goes through your link and buys, but as your traffic increases, the chances of making more will too. For your blog, (with it’s current design), I think a couple of 125×125 square ads would fit in and not take away from your content.

Barbara’s last blog post..Do You Walk Your Talk Or Are You Just Blowing Smoke

By: Deb

Deb — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 20:19:35 +0000

I'm a little late on this discussion, but I find it interesting. I am not opposed to advertising on my blog, but I don't want it to become overpowering as many of you have stated. I was going to wait till I got more traffic, but you raise a very good point on why not to wait. I looked into the application process for AdSense again yesterday and I have some concern that they want some control on my blog. What are they going to do? Are they going to stick a lot of counters on it? I really hate relinquishing any control on my "baby". Since I am working on redesigning my template I think this is a good time to make the advertising change as well. I'd love to hear what others who use AdSense have to say. Deb's last blog post..Potpourri

By: Do You Walk Your Talk or Are You Just Blowing Smoke | Blogging Without A Blog

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 08:29:10 +0000

[...] big name bloggers will say, don’t monetize. Visit their blog, and it’s filled with [...]

By: Barbara

Barbara — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 22:48:36 +0000

Hi Sterling,

Don’t you just love those sites that look like a cyberspace casino?

If your blog is written to attract clients to your business, ads could add a tacky kind of “flavor”.

That’s great to hear you’re already getting search engine traffic related to your business. I’m betting your patience will pay off big.

Barbara’s last blog post..Why Wait – Blog For Dollars Now