Blog Advertising: How Do You Know If You’ve Done Too Much and Gone Too Far?
Advertising is good. It offers information, gives you access to a product or service you otherwise won’t know about, it earns people money and fuels several different industries. But you know how anything excessive breeds discontent and greed and neither one is pretty. The wrong use of advertising on your blog could send your traffic south – not exactly the direction you want it to take. So when is blog advertising bad and when is it just right?
Is your blog succeeding? The key indicator that you’re probably doing something right with your blog advertising is when you’re actually succeeding. You get the traffic you want, you earn for a few simple efforts you made and keep your advertisers happy.
But don’t get carried away by your success. You might think that placing many ads on your blog can help you earn exponentially. What it will do is earn you a spot on your advertiser’s black list. Advertisers have guidelines about how many ads you can place on one web page. Generally, this can range from 3 to 5, depending on the sponsor.
If you don’t want to break the good will that exists between you and your affiliate or advertising program, learn what the policies are and respect them.
Is that a blog or a splog? One of the worst labels your blog can be slapped with is ’splog’. That’s a blog that contains spam. If your blog is nothing more than just pages upon pages of advertising and little content, you’d probably be better off publishing a fashion magazine.
Too many ads on a blog can bury your content, distract your visitors and even frustrate them. Some, such as the very wary ones, will leave your blog in a hurry. If your blog resembles an infomercial, forget it. It will look annoying and take away from the good reputation you’re trying to build.
Too many choices Another challenge you will be facing when it comes to blog advertising is persuading your visitors to pay attention to the ads long enough to actually do something with them. Otherwise, these ads will be useless.
The problem with a blog that has too many advertising units is that it can confuse the visitor. When they’re confused, they’re less likely to click on an ad, much less subscribe or buy anything. That leaves your advertisers – and you – empty-handed.
