You\’ve probably noticed that some of my websites don\’t have any AdSense units at all. Some people certainly have. They find it surprising.
After all, I make a living teaching people how to use AdSense. I get fat checks from AdSense every month. I think that AdSense is the greatest money-dispersing invention since the automated telling machine.
And yet I still don\’t put AdSense on all my sites. Neither should you.
Users don\’t mind seeing AdSense units on Web pages. They understand that the publisher has to make money. They know that they\’re getting the content for free and besides, Google ads are interesting too. That\’s why they work.
But ads can affect the relationship between the publisher and the reader. Ads on a page tell the reader that this is a commercial venture. They say, \”I like talking to you, but you\’re what I\’m offering my advertisers. If I don\’t make money from you, I\’ll have to do something else — and you\’ll have to read something else.\”
There\’s nothing wrong with that situation. Everyone understands it and no one minds it.
But it is a very different message to one that just says, \”I like talking to you.\”
That\’s what I want my sites that aren\’t running AdSense ads to say.
I want my readers to understand that I\’m putting the content on those pages out there because I want to. There is a place for pro bono work in online publishing too.
But that doesn\’t mean I don\’t get anything out of it at all.
While it\’s true that I could be making a lot more money from those pages with AdSense ads, those pages do promote me as a person. That might not be my first intention but it is an effect and it\’s one I\’m happy to make the most of. So I might not show ads through Google but I might show some of my own products.
Yes, that\’s still advertising but it\’s much more personal… and much less effective. I don\’t expect high conversions on ads for my books on my personal site, for example. But I do expect a closer relationship with my readers.
And that\’s worth much more.
You can do the same thing by launching one blog that\’s just an avenue for you to talk directly to your readers… and build that same close relationship.