I wrote a post very similar to this earlier, and had a lot of comments about it and how monetization can be bad. Similarly, I have been reading about, and seeing many blogs that are extremely over-monetized. I decided to revive much of this information to ignite thoughts and comments from my newer readers.

Almost all bloggers want it, and many of these bloggers will do anything they can to get it. Money. However, a large quantity of these people are unsure of what they are doing to their brand and readership when they plaster their blog with advertisements, both within, and around their content. First off, the majority of readers do not find your site because they heard it has a lot of advertisements. People are attracted because they are interested in reading the content you have to offer. Once that becomes diluted, the experience that one should receive from reading your blog becomes far less than it would be if you properly, or even under monetized your blog.

The Obvious Ways

Of course there are ways when advertising becomes extremely annoying. If you have browsed through a number of websites, I can personally guarantee you have seen a few of the following examples.

Overbearing AdSense

The first culprit is the overbearing AdSense ads. You have a layout which is easy on the eyes, but people think their advertisements will have a higher CTR if their advertisements stick out more. Unfortunately, some people actually have advertisements that look like this. It doesn’t take an expert to realize that this is extremely annoying and it makes your experience much more overbearing than it has to be. Personally, when I come across a website with advertisements like these, I wonder why they decided to do something that takes away from the readers experience. After all, isn’t blogging about the production and portrayal of knowledge for your readers? Of course you can still make money, just be smart about it.

Overbearing AdSense, Part 2

Another way which can be equally annoying at times, are those websites that put 2-3 large AdSense blocks within every post. We all understand you want to make money, but when you have to read through the advertisements because you aren’t sure if it is actually what they typed or an advertisement, there is a problem.

Overbearing AdSense, part 3

Similarly, another largely annoying factor is when somebody has their sidebar filled with advertising. Don’t these people understand that the CTR on the skyscraper ads is much lower than that of the others?

The Not So Obvious Ways

I realize with Kontera that you cannot control which words are picked for advertising. However, if your website is not receiving a substantial amount of traffic, there is a good chance this will be extremely annoying. Even if you are getting a lot of traffic, this method can be a large hassle to your readers.

Annoying Kontera

Again, I am sure you have seen blogs like this as well. Not only is it annoying when you hover over each of these words, but if you are trying to click on an outgoing link (making money online in the example to the left), it is definitely more of a hassle than it should be. Granted you may be getting a couple clicks here and there from genuine consumers, but many of the clicks will be accidental and will most likely anger your readership. I don’t know about you, but my goal in blogging is not to turn my readers against me. If you notice that Kontera is linking too many words, turn it off. You might even see your readership increase, and you will probably get a few nice comments from your current readers as well.

What You Should Learn

When you are monetizing your blog, make sure you do so in a moderate fashion. If you implement a new form of advertising and notice a decrease in revenue or readership, make changes. When monetizing, you will most likely be working at improving your CTR. However, try to improve your reader’s experience as well.

If you are having a hard time making money as is, turn off all advertising for awhile and see if your traffic increases. If that happens, then you can slowly re-implement advertising. As you have heard time and time again, do not put all your eggs in one basket.

Again, do not think that because you have 18 different advertisement companies and banner affiliate programs that you are going to make money. In the end it will actually hurt you more than help you.

Personally, I have found it best to slowly implement various advertising sources and see how your readers react. If there is no reaction or a positive one, and you continue to increase earnings, you are doing something correct. However, if you receive a negative reaction, or you start losing money, take a look at what you did and decide what caused these changes, and why.

Have a great week.

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