There are many bloggers across the Interweb that are working very hard to try and stake their claim to a little fame and fortune through their blog.
The make money online blog genre has exploded and there are millions of people fighting for a slice of the pie. One mechanism of using your blog to earn an income is through advertisements.
Advertisements come in many different varieties, such as arranging private advertisement deals with one or more sponsors or using services such as TextLinkAds or LinkWorth to broker ads for your blog.
When your blog isn’t exactly a household name, it can be rather difficult to line up private advertisers on a consistent basis and that is where places like LinkWorth have been able to help the smaller blogger. Unfortunately, Google has taken it upon themselves to flex their muscles of hypocrisy by penalizing sites that are using services such as TextLinkAds.
Whether you are using a service to broker advertisement deals for your site or you are negotiating your own private advertisement deals, there is one question that you need to keep in mind.
How do you decide which deals to accept and which to reject?
One common approach to deciding if an advertisement should be rejected is whether or not you personally approve of the site buying the advertisement. This will vary from person to person obviously – but if something offends you then it is probably not the best choice to advertise for that on your blog.
In addition, many blogs will avoid advertisements that involve pornography, drugs, or a combination of both. The sites pitching the latest pill to grow your manhood or offering nude pictures of the hottest celebrities probably aren’t the best option for most blogs.
But what about online casinos?
Generally speaking, online casinos often get lumped into the category of spam sites and in some instances that is warranted.
Using the first criteria mentioned above, I cannot say that I disapprove of online casinos as I have played some online Texas Hold ‘Em from time to time. When I visit Las Vegas, I like to do a little gambling at the sports books or the tables.
However, just because I don’t mind a little gambling and have visited a few online casinos that doesn’t mean that the readers of this blog want to see these types of advertisements.
Ultimately, the decision on whether to accept or reject an advertisement for your blog comes down to what it will mean to your readers. There is no point in accepting an advertisement for a few dollars if it upsets your readers and turns people away.
How do you know what your readers think?
Ask them!
Rather than try to guess what your readers think, try to involve them in the decision making process. With this blog I really like to allow the readers to have a voice in what happens – from the type of content that is covered to the overall layout of the blog.
As you may have guessed, I have recently been approached about placing an advertisement for an online casino on this blog. Therefore, I would appreciate your feedback as it relates to your experience here.
Sex, Drugs, and Casinos :: Deciding To Accept Or Reject Advertisements On Your Blog
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{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Derek. As a new reader of your blog I would be interested to know if you have always had adverts on it? Do you think a new blogger should wait until they get an established readership?
Brewster, I’ve experimented with various ads on this blog but none of them have done very well. There are a few AdSense blocks on a few select posts but not much else outside of the sidebar.
As for when to add the ads to your site, I don’t think you necessarily need to wait for an established readership but I will say it depends on your integration. If the ads are all “in your face”, you might turn some people off to the new blog before they get a chance to get familiar with you. However, when you write solid content, most people will let the ads slide by. With a subtle and tasteful integration of ads, I think it is perfectly acceptable to start experimenting.
On my personal finance blog, I waited a short time before putting any ads on the site, about a month or two from what I recall. On this blog I began experimenting earlier.
Hope that helps.
Thanks for the response – I’ll start experimenting I think. Personally I tend to ignore banners on blogs – I think this is called banner blindness. If you put casino/drugs type banners on your blog it wouldn’t put me off, but it looks like others feel that it would “lower the tone”.
I am also wondering whether they would convert well for you – this blog doesnt strike me as the type of blog a person looking to visit casinos would visit.
I am the sort of person who thinks marijuana (not the harder narcotics) should be legalised the way it is in Holland etc. So running ads about casinos is fine in my book. I am totally for people (and not the government) making up thier minds for themselves.
can’t agree more, people should be the one to decide for themselves if their going to ignore those ads or get interested and go through it. As long as your not breaking any laws and earning money on an honest way then everything is fine. Everyone has the freedom of choice, its not you who should decide for them.
Doesn’t matter to me, but I could see how it would turn off some
Well…You’re obvisously free to do what you like, but personally speaking, I close a browser window if I see an ad or something even remotely associated with gambling or adult stuff. Be a pity if you decide to accept the ads. I kinda like your blog. 🙂
@FS :: Thanks for the feedback, pass it to the left!
@Dave :: Appreciate your input.
@Ling :: Just to clarify, it would be a text ad only and not a big banner – not sure if that makes a difference to you. Thanks for the feedback.
Derek, thanks for the clarification. And maybe I should add that it’s not my place to tell anyone what they can, or cannot, have on their property. In fact, when I look at it now, it looks like I was a righteous prig. My apologies. If you feel it helps you run your blog, please go right ahead.
No need to apologize, that is actually the type of feedback that I like to hear.
LMAO @ “depends” for Grandpa. I voted for it just for the joke!
My wife tells me the casinos online are legal and pay legit. Things that make me go hmmmmm I say.
Do they offer a sweet payout? I’m actually surprised you have to think about it. It seems like a no duh to me. Don’t take that offensively. My summative thought? Not your style. But if it makes you fundage, go for it brother, we will support you!
d
I am sure there are many bloggers out there as you say “looking for there piece of the pie” but some of us just want to air our views and the anominity of the net allows us not to worry what others think of us
Hi Derek, I am new here but I like your blog. I too like to blog and I think that Sex, Drugs or Casino advertising is not good for your blog. It can create a bad image for your blog.
Considering how difficult it is to monetize blogs, I think you should accept ads from casinos. Drugs and porn cross the line but casinos are somewhere on the line. Once the blog grows and has a lot more options you can take the high road and reject them.
I agree…I wouldn’t go for drugs or porn. But I see no harm in casino’s. I don’t mind them, and can enjoy them at times, but realize that for some, they are considered “bad.” But hey, the world isn’t made up of all good things!
And I really can’t see a small casino add really turning people away from a blog. Porn adds yes, but a casino…no.
Hi Derek. Good post and good survey. Well in my case I personally don’t like adult stuff. Me too as Ling has mentioned close the site when I see adult pictures on a site. But in case of casino’s I agree with you, I see no harm in having casino ads.
I voted a firm No. This is a community. I have known what casinos, online or off line, can do to people.
I vote NO!! Ever since I was a kid. I hate gambling. Cause My father was a Gambling addict. Thats why i hate casinos & other gambling places.
selling links these days are really bad since google penalizes every damn thing!
web advertising has been limited to selling ad spots or PPC
I never understood the bad name casino sites have. I rarely receive email spam from casino sites but I get a lot of spam from web design companies. That means web design=spam?
So I am not sure why casino websites are considered so “spammy”. Maybe is just a bad name they got on the internet somehow.
Dear derek
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The only industry I discriminate against is the pornos. I don’t mind online gaming ads because these webmasters are overwhelmed by the hardships of finding ad space. Any gaming related sites are welcome to post ads on my game sites. I know the online gaming webmasters are thankful for other non-gaming webmasters being cool with ads.
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I personally feel new blogs should wait until they have some age before you try to earn money using programs liek adsense. Google likes to see some sort of content and doesnt really like it when a ton of content is uploaded all in 1 or 2 days
It can be a tricky path to straddle sometimes when it comes to decide what advertisements to accept. I like the idea of involving the readers in the decision directly via polls. Any other way is risky and depending on judgement only.
-Jean
This is a good point. I think you should accept only the related ads.
I think adverts are fine , and as long as they don’t look cheap or smutty whats the problem , I think Europeans have a better view on adult life than Americans and we have no problem with gambling , adult escorts or sex so as i said earlier as long as the adverts are of a good quality and not rude whats the problem it will only offend the conservative narrow minded people and they will be offended what ever you advertise lol .
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