Jim's Marketing Blog - Latest Comments in No advertising or sponsors!

Re: No advertising or sponsors!

Chris — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:09:48 -0000

I admire your integrity. I agree. My affiliate ads are products I use, I've bought, and feel comfortable recommending. I do use ads though, but I try to keep them down to a minimum. People aren't stupid. They know the money has to come from somewhere. Done tastefully and to the minimum, ads can work--where the setting is appropriate.

Re: No advertising or sponsors!

Marelisa — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:31:05 -0000

Hi Jim: I have a couple of affiliate products on my blog but they're products that I use and find tremendously helpful. I had adsense for awhile but I took it down about three months ago because I just didn't feel right about having those ads on my site. Every blog has a different purpose and it's important to take that purpose into account when deciding if and/or how to monetize.

Re: No advertising or sponsors!

Cindy Knight — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:30:14 -0000

Another fine post. Don't mind the advertising but sometimes it is way to much.

Re: No advertising or sponsors!

Jessica — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:22:55 -0000

I have a little owl on mine from http://www.adfreeblog.org/ that makes me happy whenever I see it. I don't put Ad's on mine for the same reason, and it reminds me of that.

Re: No advertising or sponsors!

Kerting Baldwin — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:20:14 -0000

I admire your point of view. You're one of the few individuals who are truly using blogs as a way to connect with clients and other talented people in cyberworld, rather than selling out. One of my mentors always said to me, "Do what you love and the money will follow." Go Jim!

Re: No advertising or sponsors!

Andy Calloway — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:15:58 -0000

A lot of this depends on the blog, surely? Many blogs thrive on adverts and many marketing 'gurus' will tell you that you need to have affiliate links and ads to make it big.

Personally, they make me cringe, but someone's obviously making a lot of money out of them.

Re: No advertising or sponsors!

Jake Landers — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 04:31:26 -0000

In the week where Chris Brogan sold his reputation and credibility to kmart for a five hundred bucks sponsorship, it's nice to see someone with standards. Props to you Jimbo!

Re: No advertising or sponsors!

TheTechNewsBlog — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 04:04:40 -0000

TO EVERYONE WITH A BLOG COVERED IN ADVERTISEMENTS / AFFILIATE CRAP:

People are not dumb! We not only think these blogs look cheap, we know we are being sold to and therefore we dont trust what you say.

Take a leaf outta Jims blog. No ads here yet hes making BANK and has more comments than most a-listers.

Re: No advertising or sponsors!

Marketing Specialist - Jim Con — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 03:45:13 -0000

Mitch and Simon make some interesting points here.

I think the irony is that many blogs that have a lot of advertising actually make very little money.

The problem is that unlike Mitch, very few blog owners seem to admit it. (Kudos Mitch!)

I think if a blogs primary aim is to generate advertising revenue, you need to start off with that in mind and then find the most elegant way to get those ads used.

This means driving targeted visitors to the blog and then making it as attractive and easy as possible for people to see relevant product links.

Easier said than done; which is why you can buy ads so cheap even on 'a-list' bloggers blogs.

Re: No advertising or sponsors!

Mitch — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 03:10:32 -0000

No, I don't make a lot of money from Adsense on the blog; very little, to tell you the truth. It's not really the point of it, though. I know people who have seen something they liked while reading one of my posts, and they go there.

Re: No advertising or sponsors!

Simon T Small — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 02:55:37 -0000

Mitch, do you earn much from adsense? Seems like the negative branding would outway the potential earnings

Re: No advertising or sponsors!

Mitch — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 02:43:40 -0000

This makes a lot of sense, based on its purpose. For the blog I'm linked to here, since it's my business blog, the only advertising I have on it is Adsense and my own products. I've thought about removing the Adsense, but truthfully most of the ads are things that I believe my readers might be interested in checking out, so I'm leaving it for now. Everyone has to define their purpose for their blogs. Now, my other blogs,... marketing myself silly! lol

Re: No advertising or sponsors!

Simon T Small — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 01:57:23 -0000

Kevin, I totally agree.

Traditional advertising logic would have this blog and many others covered in ads.

Traditional = trying to create more revenue out of less space for owners of the media

Non-traditional = trying to create more engagement and value for consumers of the media

Re: No advertising or sponsors!

Marketing Specialist - Jim Con — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 17:31:23 -0000

Kelly,

It's interesting how many people have mentioned that this blog looks clean or uncluttered - because of the lack of ads.

I think some blogs have so many different flashing banners and boxes and gizmos that it detracts from the actual content.

Re: No advertising or sponsors!

Kelly — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 17:24:34 -0000

I think this is great, Jim. I'm a new subscriber, but have been very impressed with your content and your 'policies' There's nothing better than a clean site with useful, easy to find info. Thanks!

Re: No advertising or sponsors!

Toma Bonciu — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 13:59:48 -0000

Hi there Jim,

I consider this decision to be a very important one because ads can play a big role on a blog and it can push readers away or make them come in higher numbers and thus making you money :).

But judging by the number of comments you get you don't have any problems with traffic and I'm sure that you have enough clients also.

Even I, who have few traffic, get at least one client at two weeks from my blog.

I support your decision on this and wish you all the best : by that I mean to create a really big and strong community and get some clients also from this.

Cheers. :-)

Re: No advertising or sponsors!

Marketing Specialist - Jim Con — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 12:18:23 -0000

On a more serious note:

You know they way YOU feel about people who place spammy comments in blogs? That's how everyone else feels too! It's also why they not only don't help you make sales, but hurt your reputation.
Kelli above was just kidding around by the way - She's great!

Re: No advertising or sponsors!

Marketing Specialist - Jim Con — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 12:16:28 -0000

Kelli,

It also means I can strip adverts out of comments!!

;)

Re: No advertising or sponsors!

Kelli — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 12:06:00 -0000

Oh good, so then I don't have to pay you for this mention of (***), Jim:-)

Shameless, I know.

You're the best!!!

Re: No advertising or sponsors!

Marketing Specialist - Jim Con — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 03:07:00 -0000

Matt,

I acquired two new clients last week via the blog.

Re: No advertising or sponsors!

matt mernagh — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 19:51:53 -0000

true. its a networking site amongst itself really. no monetizing traditionally. how many paid clients have you acquired via Twitter? and or your blog?

Re: No advertising or sponsors!

Marketing Specialist - Jim Con — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 18:59:21 -0000

Some great comments here - thanks!

Re: No advertising or sponsors!

Rufus Dogg — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 17:50:27 -0000

Noble of you, but some of us puppies don't mind selling out a bit. If you get any bites of the canine variety, send them along... we'll probably say anyway, but sure is nice to be asked! :-)

Re: No advertising or sponsors!

David (Marketing Integrity) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 17:33:42 -0000

Jim, you are an encouragement - thank you! I am a marketing guy and I understand the reasons for advertising. At the same time, we are so bombarded with ads that it quite refreshing to have a clean site with just pure content. Thanks for giving us a safe haven from all the clutter!

Re: No advertising or sponsors!

Vladimir Hrouda — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 16:46:44 -0000

Thanks Jim for key idea: to connect with more people, through my work... :)