Try And Make Money from Day One

Ed of the excellent The Pisstakers website raised an interesting subject about at what stage a blog should be monetized.

Should you start trying to make money from day 1 or wait until the blog or website is established with a regular readership?

Ed took the view that it's important to build traffic first and this is generally the view that the 'experts' take. But, as yc of Internet Marketing Mind has mentioned, "If you get only 10 visitors a day and only 1 of them generates revenue of some sort, that is still revenue." And that is very true. I have always been of the opinion that: Any profit is good profit.

If I was asked for an opinion it would be that you might as well monetize as soon as the blog is set up as long as ...

(1) You don't over do things and plaster the blog full of flashing banners so that it detracts from what you are writing - the content is the important bit of the blog. I can't see that putting something like, say, AdSense on your blog is going to do any harm.

To me having a few ads gives a little substance to the blog. It doesn't appear so empty and uninviting when the visitors arrive.

(2) And, of course you mustn't get disappointed when you don't get many clicks. They will come as the traffic increases - providing you do the proper things.

When I got my first few cents shown on AdSense you would have thought I'd have made a million. It was a great feeling and when I hit a full dollar sheer ecstasy! Okay, perhaps a bit exaggerated but even a few cents show that you can make money and encourages you to keep going.

What happens if you take the other viewpoint and build your traffic first and then nobody clicks on your banners, or whatever you are promoting? Disappointment? A feeling that it's all been a waste of time?

Monetize straight away, be realistic with your expectations and remember that thing about oaks and acorns ... or perhaps you disagree. Whatever ...

Good luck,
Mike.

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