To sell out or not to sell out. This is the question.
I got an e-mail yesterday from someone asking to place an advertisement on our website. They were offering $25 to display the ad for a not-yet-discussed length of time. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that either. I'm certainly not a professional blogger like Dooce, so I don't intend to make fat sacks full of cash money from churning out my opinions. On the other hand, I am fond of hard currency and this hobby has recently started costing $20/month with our move to real hosting. There were almost 11,000 pageviews last month and Google gives us a PankRank of 4/10 (one tick under Linkup, for those that know what that is), so I can understand why someone would want to drop an ad here.
How do you all feel on advertising on your website? Is it selling out and betraying the trust of readers to place ads on your personal website? Is it a pragmatic step towards defraying costs associated with said website?
Update: I added a poll to the site to see what everyone thinks of the advertising idea. So far, it seems like everyone wants us to go for it.
Jesse
Shauna
Sell Sell Sell! You have a great site and unless the ad is for a porn site or something really offensive I don't think it will detract. Congratulations on the potential for a little commercial success! (also…I like the new site design)
I wouldn't bug me at all, as long as it wasn't HUGE and flashy. Sometimes that can be distracting.
Do it! I would if people actually read my blog.
Las Hermanas should be your advertiser!! ha ha Thanks for sending us the link
Actually, we plug family for free. 😀
I echo Bobbie. As long as it isn't distracting, go for it.
My personal choice at present is to avoid ads. I don't want to spend time managing it. However, I have no problems with others that do advertise on their blog sites. Do a cost-benefit analysis and go ahead with it if it makes sense.
In the name of capitalism, do it. At the very least to cover the costs of this site. If you could arrange it to provide a little bit of extra income, all the better to help you with your budget.
P.S. LOVE the new masthead!
Hey, ya'll! Thanks for letting us know you're out here. I voted "depends on the advertiser" — even though I block ads! heeee