Blogging Q&A: Advertising

Here’s another edition of my Blogging Q&A where I tackle all your questions. I try to put a lot of thought into these posts. But please remember, these are only my OPINIONS. I do not have all the answers, but this my 2 cents…..
 
Part 3 ADVERTISING
Q: “How can you make money through blogging? My little one will start school in September and I am wondering if I can work on my shop and blog full-time and survive?” -Nellie
A:  Great question, Nellie! It definitely is possible to make money through blogging. Some people make a decent living by blogging. I am not one of those. I make a little money, but I mainly blog for fun. {in reality, it basically just funds my crafting addiction. lol} BUT there are different ways to make money with your blog. Here’s a few:
Google Ads
Google Ads are really easy to set up and then all you have to do is watch Google deposit money into your bank account every once in awhile. YAY! It’s really simple and painless to do. If I remember right, all you need is a blog, a checking account, and a Google account to get started.

With Google Ads, you get paid per ad click as well as per page impression. It’s not much for each, but it does add up. Once you are signed up, you can add the AdSence gadget to your sidebar (in blogger). You can add as many AdSense gadgets on your sidebar as you want…. but I wouldn’t do too many.{see my caution below}
Sidebar Advertising
You can offer businesses/shops ad space on your sidebar. The most common size seems to be 125×125 pixel linked ads. But you can offer different sizes, it’s up to you. 

When can I offer Sidebar Advertising?  Whenever you want to.There’s no rules as to how many followers you have to get before you can offer sidebar advertising. I think I started offering it around 500 follower, if that helps at all. But there’s no golden rule. Offer it whenever you feel comfortable.


How much do I charge? That’s the Million Dollar question! There’s no right answer for that. There are many thoughts and ideas on this. Some people come up with a “magic formula” based on views and followers. Others say “charge what you think you’re worth”. 

Me personally, I try to charge what I would be willing to pay someone else with that many followers. But I know that doesn’t help much.

How do I start offering Sidebar Advertising? Most bloggers create a button on their sidebar that says “Your Ad Here” or something like that. And then link it to their advertising page. Or have a tab on your menu for Advertising. Or do both! haha The only way viewers know that you offer advertising is to tell them. You could even consider posting about it, but that’s up to you.


Giveaways
You can charge to host giveaways on your blog. Giveaways are known to be a good way to promote businesses as well as fun for readers. Lost on how to get your first giveaway? check out my previous Q&A post here.

Business Spotlights
You can write a post for businesses to spotlight their products and services. As for what to charge for this, think about how much time it takes you to write such a post and how much value you think the post will be worth to the business.


Other Vendor Promotion
You can offer to promote businesses through other ways. Some blogs offer to put a vendor’s logo at the bottom of their posts or put a “sponsored by” at the bottom of each post with a link to the vendor. There’s all kinds of different ways to offer advertising, it’s just up to you what you want to offer.



Word of Caution
*Don’t make your blog too commercial!* There is a fine line that you walk here when you offer advertising on your blog. Readers get turned off easily if they feel your blog is too commercially based. That said, most readers understand that to make blogging worth your time {and it takes TON of time!!}, advertising is necessary. But just be careful to not get carried away. 

That’s my 2 cents on advertising.

post signature

Linda
Hi! I'm Linda, the craft addict behind Craftaholics Anonymous®, a craft blog. Crafting is cheaper than therapy, right? When I'm not DIYing something, I can be found taxiing around our 4 crazy kids or working out. Or shoe shopping... because you can never have too many shoes! Happy crafting! ♥
Linda
Linda

Latest posts by Linda (see all)