I have been blogging for some time now and felt like it was time to cover some topics that are a bit of a grey area–paid advertising.
A lot of bloggers like to shy away from this conversation as they think by talking about it, there will be an impact to their income.
I merely wanted to bring attention to the not so glamorous side of paid advertisements. This post is meant to be an informational piece for those who are interested in paid advertising and for new bloggers.
Every blogger has their own intentions for paid advertisements on their site. For myself, I merely wanted to break even on my domain name.
Which after a couple months of paid advertisements seems like an unachievable goal.
What Is It?
I have Adwords on my site through WordPress, which is run by Google. A similar software would be Adsense ran by Google or Gmail depending on how you have it set up. These are the same thing.
How It Works
I have rented out space on my site at the bottom of one of my posts. I don’t get to pick which post will have the advertising on it. As well as I have no say in the ads.
Google targets my audiences based on their algorithms and searches history. In addition to mainstream ads like Wix, Bluehost, and Fiverr.
If my viewer is part of a limited target it will show them one of the mainstream ads.
The other downfall is you have to make $100 in ads before you even see a dollar with your name on it.
Which you will see is almost impossible.
The Not So Glamorous
Without my permission or even my knowledge, Adwords put pop-up ads on my sites with a mandatory play time before you could exit it. I personally dislike these ads and find them quite annoying. But once again I have no say.
The reality is in 3 months with over 5000 site views I have made a whopping 0.18 cents.
Out of those 5000 sites views, only 1326 visitors interacted with my ads.
Trying To Wrap My Head Around It
The thing that confuses me the most, is the breakdown of the ad payment.
PERIOD | EARNINGS | AD IMPRESSIONS | STATUS |
---|---|---|---|
05-2017 | $0.00 | 841 | Unpaid |
04-2017 | $0.11 | 178 | Unpaid |
03-2017 | $0.08 | 307 | Unpaid |
The month with the most ad interactions had no payout. Whereas the month with the fewest ad interactions had the highest payout.
Overall
As I stated in the beginning of this post, I am making this information public for educational and informative purposes.
I feel like there is A LOT of misinformation when it comes to monetizing blogs and the reality is it takes years to turn a profit. It is very unlikely that a new blogger will make a steady income in their first year.
Thus the focus of a first years blog should be having fun and enjoy the experience instead of stressing over dollar, cents, and statistics.
If you found this information helpful let me know in the comments and I will continue to make quarterly updates on my paid advertisement experience.
Remember you can also follow Lidsandtricks on Bloglovin’, Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram.
Not that I’m an expert, but I think you’ll have more luck making money from advertising if you sell ad space on your blog yourself. However, it’s very time consuming! Google does make it easier but I think the $100 is such a threshold. Think of all the free advertising they get because they never have to pay out! I believe there are other services that do the same thing…I actually need to do some research on this because I’d like to monetize my blog as well!
COLLEENWELSCH.COM
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Let me now what you find out. This is a topic I’m interested in just to be educated on.
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Thank you for being open and honest. I just started blogging and this is very useful information. Thanks again!
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You’re welcome! I’m delighted you found this helpful!
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Thanks for sharing. I feel you, this article is so true!
– thestayhungry.com
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I just started and this really answers a lot of questions I had. It seems ridiculous to earn nothing from it when it is your hard work that developed the following and that is ‘forced’ to see the pop ups and ad content. There really needs to be a better way I agree!
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Glad I could answer some of your questions!
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Great post thanks. I was considering signing up for Ad sense but it doesn’t sound like its worth the hassle 🙂
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I’m also also new to Blogging and I was wondering about this also. Right now I’ll definitely take the advice and avoided it for a long time and have fun with my revitalized blog. Thank you so much!
Willow https://whooshingthemetaverse.com/
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You’re welcome. Glad to help!
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Hmmm. Good to know, thanks!
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This was very useful! Monetizing using ads is next to impossible these days. I’m glad you shed light on this topic so I’ll definitely keep this in mind when I start monetizing my blog!
Pearl || https://thepearlylife.wordpress.com
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Great article! I just started using Ads on my site. I was going to ask the question about if I can get people who are interested in advertising on my site.
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tx for the generous post! wow – am thinking of running ad sense too – indeed, there are sites I might visit, but as soon as annoying ads pop up, I leave
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I enjoy online honesty. I’ll even date myself with a Jerry Maquire reference. Cheers
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Really helpful post!
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Thank you for such an interesting post! Having just started out myself I really appreciate this honesty, seems to be a taboo subject as you say. B x
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Thank you for writing this! I have wondered about Adsense and Adwords for quite a while now (knowing that my blog doesn’t have nearly enough traffic to make a penny). I’m not sure when it became so taboo to talk about, most people make their living elsewhere anyway. I’d love some updates in the future, this was super helpful!
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Thank you. I will definitely make this a quarterly thing.
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Very helpful! I was thinking of installing Google Adsense but it doesn’t seem so appealing anymore. Do you have tips on how to successfully monetize a blog?
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Hey 🙂 nice informative post, I kind of thought it would be like this, it’s all shiny on the outside but below the surface its often just not worth it. I also just started blogging and I agree it should definitely be about the fun in the beginning, also because it takes heart and soul to create content and beautiful articles and it shouldn’t put pressure on you… thanks for sharing I agree so much!
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Glad you enjoyed this! Thanks for commenting.
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Great info here!! If you have a sec I would love for you to drop by/ follow my new blog 🙂 XX
https://mackenziekateri.com/
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Thanks for the information, this was really useful to know!✨
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Certainly good information. I blog simply because I like to share information and that is so important especially when you’re first starting out.
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Couldn’t agree with you more!
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Well, I guess you’re at least 18 cents ahead of the game.
That’s more than most.
Seek peace,
Paz
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Never thought of it that way, Thanks!
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I just started blogging and I find this really helpful. Can you make an update when you learn more about this topic? Thank you.
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I will most definitely!
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Thank you . You’re right, no one talks about it.
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Thanks for writing this post as I’m fairly new to blogging & have been looking into this 😁
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Glad I could help. Best of luck with blogging!
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I am a new blogger, and I didn’t know that advertisers work like that. Thanks for the information!
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No problem, glad to have helped!
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Seems like youtube is the only place adsence really does “much” seems a good affiliate program is the better way to go, but like you said keep it fun and grow is the best start. Passion fist.
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Was gonna upgrade my blog to premium or business an then get all these features. Thanks for the info. I’ll still just go ahead with it though to have personal experience. Thanks for sharing
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I’m glad you found this helpful. Let me know how it goes in the future!
Happy Blogging!
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I will. Just followed, will help keep in touch about it, as much as I like your content too. All the best!
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Hi! Thank you for your post. We are new bloggers and didn’t know how advertisers worked. Thanks for the info!
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Thank you for your honest post. So much effort with little payback. Appreciate the insight.
New to this blogging world, also.
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Glad to be of assistance. If you need anything let me know.
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Fabulously informative blog!! I’m a former, and I use that description loosely, of cystic acne so we have a lot in common! Glad to have found you!
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Glad to have you as a subscriber! Love coming across people who have been in a similar situation.
Happy Blogging!
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An eye opener. I am blogging for just a month. Thank you for the heads up.
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Glad to be of assistance. If you need any help let me know!
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it was very useful in understanding ads on WP..
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Great info! Thanks for sharing! I would love to find out how it goes! Good luck!
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I had never considered the possibility that I would make any income from blogging. I write because I have to write, yielding to the imperative brings a sensual pleasure to the act and an immediacy to my day. I get up wondering what I will write about after the sun goes down, or the next day.
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Love this. I agree with you, I often find myself unable to sleep. I just lay in bed mentally planning content.
Happy blogging!
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Thank you for pointing this out. I’m not ready to monetize my blog yet, maybe not even at all. I’m such a newbie to this that I didn’t notice ads on my blog. It’s annoying for me to see them and I can imagine how people who read my posts feel when they see them. At first I thought about Adsense , but now that I see just what it’s about, no thank you.
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I just started blogging because I can show it to my students as an example in my digital marketing basics classes. I’m new to that too and has a lot of learning coming up. This post shares a unique perspective, a hard real one. Thanks a lot.
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Glad to bring a different perspective for those just learning how to blog and monetize it.
Happy Blogging!
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Thanks for this post. I have just started blogging and created my page to promote my personal cooking business and I joined Adwords. Let’s see how that goes.
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I wish you the best of luck!
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Great information.
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Thank you for sharing your experiences. I am a new blogger and my aim is not to make money, but that would be a nice side effect for when I do buy a domain, etc. Your post gives some welcome insight into the matter.
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Glad to help.
Happy Blogging!
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Thank you! Please keep us posted on your progress and any other tips. Very helpful!
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Will do! Next one will be mid-Sept when the information is available. Glad you found this helpful!
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Thanks for sharing! Very helpful for newbies like me
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Glad you found it helpful!
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Thank you for the information.
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I’m glad you found it helpful!
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Thank you for this post! I used to run (perhaps still as I haven’t closed it) a YouTube channel and monetised it through AdSense. I made a grand total of $0.37 before they took even that away as I didn’t reach $100 in the first three months…
You have to do something for the love of it as it is truly not worth the money!
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I agree 100%
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Wow I had no idea! I am absolutely brand new to blogging and I just plan for it to be a bit of a therapeutic hobby for myself, so I never intended to make any money off the website, but that almost makes me think what’s the point of monetizing my blog anyway if I only have a handful of readers? It could be off putting to put ads on such a small blog like mine which would then result in no one coming back Thanks for the insight!
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