Should You Have Advertising on Your Site or Not?

By Charlie on June 23rd, 2008 | Filed in Good Business Practice | 8

There are two schools of thought when it comes to the on-site advertising issue. Luckily, one of the schools only goes up through kindergarten.

A lot of website owners struggle with the idea of monetizing their sites, especially when it comes to advertising. They want the income of ads, but not the clutter. And some fear that advertisements will make them appear greedy to their readers, elicit nasty feedback or even lose them subscribers.

But is having a few ads in your sidebar that big a deal? Are ads really going to draw the line between a hugely successful site and one that appeals only to the most ad-tolerant minority? Possibly, but only if your site sucked to begin with.

On-site Advertising. Debunking the Reasons Against.

1. Ads take people away from your site

This isn’t actually 100% true. I mean, ads do take people away from your site but there are so many solutions for this it’s not really much of a detriment.

First, there’s always the “Back” button and everyone knows how to use it.

Second, if you’re going to put ads on your site, make sure that when they’re clicked they open in a new window. This is done by simply adding: target=”_blank” to any link away from your site.

Third, modern browsers like IE and Firefox now offer “Open link in new tab” and “Open link in new window” features. So while it is true that visitors may temporarily leave your site, it’s also true that they’d have to be morons to not be able to find their way back.

IF THEY WANT TO, which brings us to the next point.

Your site should be good enough that your visitor bookmarks it. Your branding should be good enough that your visitor remembers it. If neither of those are true, it’s not the fault of your advertising, is it? If your site is forgotten the moment your visitor leaves, it’s certainly not because your site has an ad banner.

Besides, nowadays, with the proliferation of RSS readers and social bookmarking sites, it’s even easier for your visitors to leave themselves breadcrumbs to your site.

2. Ads are distracting

Are they? Maybe, but is that the fault of the advertisement or your site?

If the ads are more interesting than your site and therefore “too distracting,” you’re either picking awful ads OR your site is flawed and needs:

Better content
Copy that looks good and scans well
Better branding and design

If a couple 125×125 ad buttons spell destruction for your site, there must be something else amiss, no?

To be perfectly clear about this, I do realize there are some really truly obnoxious ads out there. Some are so bad they may very well be the offspring of Jack Palance and Jabba the Hut. I’m not promoting throwing up any ad that’ll make you a few bucks.

I am promoting using some discretion when choosing the ads to display because, ultimately, whatever finds its way onto your site is your call.

And the excuse of being stuck in an ad network that only offers such slime doesn’t really hold much water either. In fact, as obnoxious as the ads are, they don’t pull great numbers. Such ads do your site and ad revenue a disservice, and you’d be much better off hand picking some classy and highly targeted ads for your audience.

3. Ads make you look greedy

This is one of the more dangerous of the arguments, as it’s sort of oppressive at its foundation.

Why shouldn’t you make money with your site? You put a lot of work into it. You’re offering good content. You’re helping others. You’re compiling advice from dozens of sites perhaps and making it available in one place. You’re shortening the runway for people to achieve their own success. Why should you not be paid for that? Receiving some sort of gain, income or sense of well-being for your work is far less oppressive than working for free. Communism doesn’t work with countries and it doesn’t really work on the internet either.

4. Ads are bad for your site’s SEO

No they’re not. Unless you format them incorrectly.

Search engines assume that a link on your site to another site is a vote in that site’s favor. If the search engine then finds that your sites are not really a suitable pair, your site’s ranking may be penalized.

The way around this is to simply include rel=”nofollow” in the link to the advertiser’s site and you’re fine. Search engines may still follow the link and even index the advertiser’s site, but they don’t assume YOUR link is a vote and so will not penalize you.

Why you should have advertising on your site

First and foremost, it’s a just reward. If you’re providing content or services of value, you should be paid. Anyone who’s worked at a job where production was rewarded with higher pay or fat bonuses knows this to be true. If you know you’ll be rewarded, you’ll put in the time. On the other hand is the person who is expected to work his/her butt off all year, with the potential of getting a twenty-five cent raise at review time. Where’s the incentive in that?

Being paid well and being offered rewards can very well light a fire and inspire you to do an even better job, provide even better content and go a step beyond what others in your niche are doing.

I remember more than a few sites that I really liked that one day just disappeared. All they left behind was a message along the lines of, “Sorry, folks. Financial pressures and costs have made maintaining this site a nightmare. Gotta go.” Advertising may have solved those problems, and those sites may very well still be around today.

How to pick the right ads

Now here’s a teaser for you. By now, I’m sure you’ve decided to start advertising on your site and make a bundle of money, yes? Well, I’m going to offer some ideas on how to go about that. You don’t want to go picking any old ad you can get your hands on. Even if it LOOKS good and doesn’t annoy, the wrong ad will be a waste of your site’s ad space and potential revenue.

That’s all coming up in the next post, so be sure to subscribe now and you won’t miss it!

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Comments

8 comments

Dave Navarro - 06.23.08 at 10:37 am: “First and foremost, it’s a just reward. If you’re providing content or services of value, you should be paid. ”

Damn straight.

Personally, I don’t use ads per se; not because I don’t like them but because I’m promoting my own products on my site. So the ads are mine, all mine.
Charlie - 06.23.08 at 3:59 pm: Hey, Dave!

LOL. I can dig it. You’ll notice I don’t have any ads either…not even any of my own. That probably makes me look very contradictory given the post, but they’re coming! Ads will definitely make an appearance here sooner than later.

And like you, they’ll be mine, all mine Thanks for stopping by again! Was hoping to hear from you on this one…
Kelly - 06.23.08 at 8:39 pm: Charlie,

This was so well-written! I tell you, I have this debate with myself all the time.

Right now I don’t monetize at all. I doubt I could make enough $ to make up for my loss of complete visual control, ha ha. I am looking forward to your next post, though. It’s a great subject.

I suspect what I’ll do in the future will be as you and Dave say, mine all mine. I’d love to have time to put some more in-depth stuff together for readers. But when I’m looking at other blogs, I’m thinking about the clutter, the distraction factor, the greed aspect, etc. How do they make me feel? Will their target audience feel that way?

Your arguments for ads were great. Fence sitters might go for it after reading the article, and the folks who do the greedy, ad-consumed sites that readers are easily distracted from… they’re already doing it. No harm done.

Regards,

Kelly
Charlie - 06.24.08 at 8:06 am: Kelly -

Thanks for the kind words.

I read your comment and then reread the post and realized I’d forgotten something pretty major. And that’s:

I don’t think everyone should have ads on their site. That’ll have to be a future post, as I do honestly think that some sites would be just wrecked by even a single ad. So that’s upcoming.

But you’re right. The fence-sitters may hopefully find some arguments in their favor. And if this post helps you decide on some ads of your own, for your own products, then I’m a happy fella!

Right back atcha, girl!
James Chartrand - Men with Pens - 06.24.08 at 4:52 pm: Ah, Charles, my friend… linkbait. Linkbait indeed. And I’m so tired tonight that all I can do is acknowledge it and put up a sticky note to come back and say wise words tomorrow.

Because, I’d have to think.

One thought: GOOD ads can enhance your credibility as a resource. Choose them well; choose them wisely.
Charlie - 06.25.08 at 7:45 am: Sir James -

That’s a great point. Of course we’re all looking for ways to make ourselves look better. What better way to do it than to advertise something utterly brilliant?

I’m going to have to write a post about that, pretending I’d thought of it first of course.

PS. I thought you’d died.
James Chartrand - Men with Pens - 06.25.08 at 8:30 am: The problem is that it gets difficult when it’s paid advertising, because you don’t want to say no to a source of passive income.

On the other hand, as a blog owner, it’s our responsibility to know when it’s right to say no to money and when it’s right to say yes to the right type of ads.

You may steal my ideas.

PS. Close to dead. Medication resuscitated me. Then I got sick again. We’re working on resuscitation for the second time. Ear infections suck.
How to Choose Advertising for Your Site, Part 1: Quality Control : Ignite Living - Tips for Productive, Simple and Happy Living - 07.12.08 at 1:48 pm: [...] my last post, we covered whether or not we should even have advertising on our sites. And because I promised a follow-up post on how to go about selecting the right ads, here it [...]