There are two general types of bloggers. The one that makes money with the site and the one that does it just for fun and money doesn't matter. In the past years I saw several people changing from the "just for fun" to the "money matters" type of bloggers. One thing people have to realize is that it is not bad to make money with your blog. In fact if you choose relevant advertising readers benefit from it.
The common mistake people make is that they start to care more about the money than their readers. They focus on picking the highest paying ads and don't care if they are in line with the topic of their blog. Have you ever seen dating ads on a gardening blog? This kind of behavior disappoints your loyal readers and scares new readers away.
Studies show that people evaluate the credibility of a site in the first 8 seconds. If your blog is covered with advertising people will think you are just here to sell them something and won't bother spending time on your site. It is no surprise that blending advertising with content is so successful. It increases the credibility of your site, readers are more likely to spend more time on your site and when they see an ad - they are more likely to click because they don't think you just do this to sell them something. A good idea is to start thinking about your readers as your friends. Would you try so hard to sell stuff to your friends? Probably not.
Good blogger...
- have the passion to write about their topic
- think about benefits for their readers
- don't sell their soul and just recommend things or place advertising that they believe is worth it
- have long term success because they have loyal readers
Bad blogger...
- have nothing but profit on their mind
- think about how to make their their readers click on ads or affiliate links
- recommend everything with a high pay-out
- have short term success because people are sent away for a couple of cents or because people realize this blog is just about selling them something
If you approach your topic from an unique angle and your blog offers real benefits for your readers you will have success. Not over night because like everywhere else it also takes time and dedication to built something online. Making money online is easier than you think and with more and more people online every day an investment in the future.
