Monetizing Each Other
I’m not sure I’d call it blogging etiquette but when visiting a fellow bloggers site wouldn’t it be helpful to them if we checked out an ad or offer? I don’t mean you have to buy something from every blog you visit. I’m just wondering how many bloggers make it a point to avoid advertisements on other blogs. I found myself doing just that, avoiding eye contact with ads, unconsciously.
Most of us are here to turn a profit doing what we love so I was a little concerned when I realized I was ignoring fellow blogger’s ads. I appreciate the fact that bloggers are monetizing blogs so why not respect that effort by checking out an ad or two. I’m in no way suggesting we go around clicking on each others PPC ads. That could cause trouble with the blogger’s account and watering down the system with fake clicks hurts the entire industry. I’m only suggesting we ‘see‘ those ads just like the rest of the site and if something looks interesting don’t be afraid to click.
I’ve made a conscious decision to respect fellow bloggers by actually looking at the ads. It’s funny, I consider myself a marketer and love advertising yet I found myself avoiding being subjected to the ads. It’s working out nicely too. I’ve actually found two new income sources since I ‘changed my ways‘ 
and now I even take an extra step…
A Recent Example
We just upgraded to a dedicated server through HostGator. Once I knew I was going to use HostGator I remembered seeing an ad on one of the blogs I recently visited. I figure that may have triggered something in the back of my mind to look at this particular company so I hit the history tab and began looking. Within minutes I was at the ad I had noticed earlier. I clicked that ad to make the purchase. That’s going to help someone nicely because the server we picked is $174 a month.
That’s just an example of how we can help each other. It doesn’t always have to be ‘you help me and I’ll help you‘. We can help each other without holding our hands out for re-payment, especially when it doesn’t cost us anything or take up a lot of our time. This isn’t a lecture, just something I noticed and wanted to bring up.
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September 2nd, 2008 at 7:33 am
I agree, as bloggers, we need to help each other. Everyone wants to have a successful and profitable website. On the other hand, not everyone is willing to do a little to help others, like following the ads on the site they are reading.. or even leaving a comment of encouragement. I for one would love to see more bloggers making our network of sites more of a community focused on the success of everyone as opposed to self-focused promotion.
September 2nd, 2008 at 7:42 am
[...] Hawkins of brianhawkins.com makes a good point on his blog. He states in his post how easy it is to ignore or even unconsciously avoid the ads on blogs that we read. All of us are [...]
September 2nd, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Hi Mike, I think most of us have the right idea we just get so rapped up in the day to day things we forget to network.
September 6th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
I agree. It’s easy to become accustomed to tuning the ads of our fellow bloggers out, but I try to look at them, and if something catches my eye, check it out.
September 6th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Yep, That’s all I’m saying What About Blog. Thanks for commenting
September 28th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
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