That’s my take from 40 days of WordAds. I didn’t expect to make much, but $5.85?
I don’t even get paid until I reach $100. At this rate, I’ll see my first check in time for holiday shopping—Christmas 2013!
The ads were charming, but distracting. I couldn’t approve them in advance or negotiate fees, yet they commandeered some of the best space on my page.
As my friend Janice of A Colorful Adventure said about her experience with ads on her blog, “I wanted the prime real estate for myself!”
Me too, Janice. So I’m ending my WordAds Beta.
The quest for ways to generate income doing what I like to do continues. I have a few ideas up my sleeve. Or maybe a more traditional approach is in order.
You never know until you try.
I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:13-14 NIV
This calls for bluegrass. I Ain’t Gonna Lay My Hammer Down by Blue Highway.
When do you call it quits? When do you persevere?
I love your scripture reading, Aimee. Be patient and enjoy writing for what it is and the happiness that it brings you—The rest will work itself out.
Anne
Amen, Anne. Thanks for the encouragement!
I have heard that the IRS had/has begun going after some bloggers. Why? Income, specifically via ad revenue. Now, a site like yours might not be worth it, but some bloggers out there evidently make more than a hundred bucks a year or so on ad revenue alone… and the IRS noticed.
I think you’re right. Bloggers wouldn’t accept ads if they didn’t make money off them. I wonder if the bloggers in trouble with the IRS were selling space on their own. With WordAds through WordPress, I had to submit a tax ID number to participate I assume for tax purposes.
I dunno. At present I see no reason for ads on my site, especially ones I have zero control over, but also if the revenue stream is negligible and only good for a hassle for myself.
Me neither, hence the ads are gone…
Interesting…. I wasn’t sure how much the ads would bring in but knew I had some I wasn’t sold on pop up and that was enough for me to disable them! LOL. Thanks for being a guinea pig for us.
No problem. Thanks for your perspective. I don’t like the pop ups either. May have to follow your lead and disable them, too. Though the Word Ads weren’t pop ups, they did move. I found that distracting, so I’m sure at least some readers did as well.
There must be ways to make money with ads on a blog, otherwise you wouldn’t see ads on anyone’s page. I suspect selling and managing ad space for yourself is the most profitable. Or entering some sort of sponsorship agreement. Right now, I’m not sure I have the numbers or desire to support either of those. For now, I’ll keep chugging along with the writing. That’s the most fun for me anyway.
Aimee, thank you for this beta! I have been considering giving WordAds a shot myself, but I was a little reluctant to commercialize what I consider an extension of my kitchen… So I was pretty jazzed (if slightly interrupted in commenting because of the whole moving/finals/ISP change charade) when you announced the ads launch. I hoped to see where it goes, and whether or not, by your experiences, it would possibly work for me or not.
I guess the money-making still has to stick to a possible future job in a law office; or to what I have been wanting to do, catering appetizer-type foods for small events like bridal/baby showers, family reunions, parties and whatnots that are hosted at someone’s home. (As a last ad, not sponsored by WordPress: if anyone else from the Fresno, CA area reads this, and is interested, please hit me up! :D )
But what I am the most glad about is that the fall of advertising doesn’t mean the fall of Everyday Epistle – in the almost-year I’ve been reading you, I really grew attached to my regular doses of wisdom, humor, and your amazing stories.
Thanks, Nusy. No worries. I’m having too much fun to stop doing this now. And I so appreciate your readership and comments. You have quite an amazing story yourself!
Darin’s comment above encourages me, too, and offers some perspective about the possibilities. To use a somewhat culinary illustration, it’s like throwing spaghetti on the wall. You have to try it to see what sticks :)
Really liked the transparency you provided on this experiment. To me, it seems the best way to generate income from a blog is indirectly. I have a couple of friends who have been passionate “farm bloggers” for some time, who are now getting paid to write a column for a major ag publication. I am certain they got the job from their blogging work. Book authors use blogs for personal communication.. Speakers are another good example. And the mommy blogger crowd has all kinds of ways of making/saving money from their blogs. Bottom line, its probably easier to use your blog as a way to keep your name in front of folks that ultimately generates other business than making money directly from it.
Whatever path you choose, I’m sure we will all learn a lot!
Thank you, Darin. You summarized what I’ve been thinking (and learning).
This blog is like my house and I’m the hostess. It’s about comfort and curb appeal. A place for people to get to know me and vice versa. And it’s a relatively safe place to try out things, fail, succeed, and learn. Now that the ad trial is complete, I’m free to explore other ideas. Onward and upward!