We’ve all been there – the want/need/urge to make some extra money by monetizing our websites with ads. But before you do, here is my 2 cents (for what it is worth.)
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They just look tacky
There, I said it. If I see a site with ads I immediately leave. This might not go for everyone and some people make pretty good money by monetising their sites, but for me it just feels spammy. Also, unless they are done 100% correctly, they are going to look weird on different devices – especially on mobile. There is nothing worse than visiting a site where the bottom quarter of the screen is covered by an ad that has nothing to do with the website. -
They’re annoying
You’re watching a video on Facebook or Youtube and an ad comes on. Do you go – OH YAY! AN AD or do you want to get back to watching that funny cat video your mother in law shared? 9 times out of 10 you’re gonna skip that ad. -
Ads can be really random for your visitors.
So you have a teaching website – great! But the ads might have NOTHING to do with your site. Right now I am visiting a teaching website and seeing an ad for French doors. 1. I live in an apartment. 2 I came for the teaching content – not for French doors which I can’t even install in my rental. -
Ads can be dodgy
Yup – even though large networks says they check everything to make sure it is all 100% secure, billions of malicious ad impressions are served every year. Yikes.
Before hosting ads, it definitely is worth doing your research and considering if it is the best thing for your business and website. You really are giving away valuable real-estate for something you don’t have 100% control over.
And… Why on this green earth would you want to advertise for someone else when you can use that space to advertise your own products or services? Even if you only blog for fun, use those areas to advertise products you believe in with referral ads which you can create and choose where they link too. Not only can you custom create your own advertising & banners but then you have 100% control over how it looks and where those links end up. You can make sure the ads are mobile responsive and don’t annoy visitors when they browse around.