In 2008, a blogger I followed named Garry Conn made a bold move. He pulled every single advertisement off his blog after survey feedback suggested his readers would prefer an ad-free experience. A few days later, he reversed course and put the ads back. He was worried about what he called “whoring out his blog.”
His site was getting over fifty thousand unique visitors a month with seventy-five percent first-time readers. Pulling ads from a site with that kind of traffic was leaving serious money on the table. But the internal conflict he felt is something every content creator deals with eventually.
The Authenticity Question Every Creator Faces
At some point, every blogger, podcaster, and content creator asks themselves the same question: does monetizing my content make me a sellout?
The answer is no. But the way you monetize absolutely matters.
What made Garry different was his approach to screening advertisers. He had actually returned money to advertisers whose products he thought would be harmful to his readers. He had a simple rule: my blog, my rules. He would not promote something he did not believe in, regardless of how much someone was willing to pay.
That is the right framework. The question is not whether you should monetize. The question is whether your monetization serves your audience or exploits them.
Principles for Authentic Monetization
After nearly two decades of building an online business, here is what I have learned about balancing revenue with reader trust:
- Only recommend what you actually use or believe in. This sounds obvious, but the temptation to promote high-commission products you have never tried is real. Resist it. Your audience can tell when you are being genuine and when you are chasing a payout.
- Be transparent about the business relationship. If you are earning a commission, say so. If an advertiser is paying for placement, disclose it. Transparency does not reduce trust. It builds it.
- Keep the ratio right. If every piece of content you publish is a sales pitch, people will stop paying attention. The classic advice is to give value eighty percent of the time and promote twenty percent of the time. I think even that is too much promotion for most creators.
- Set boundaries and enforce them. Decide in advance what you will and will not promote. Some categories should be off limits regardless of the payout. Having these boundaries in place before the money shows up makes the decision easy when it does.
- Let your audience vote with their feet. If your monetization is driving people away, that is data. If your audience is growing despite the ads, that is also data. Pay attention to what people actually do, not what they say in surveys.
Monetization Is Not the Enemy
Your audience does not begrudge you making a living. What they object to is feeling manipulated. If your content is genuinely helpful and your recommendations are honestly made, the advertising is just part of the deal. You create value, you capture some of that value, and your audience gets content they could not find anywhere else.
Garry had it right the first time. He screened his advertisers carefully, he only promoted things he believed in, and he was upfront about the business side of his blog. The moment of doubt that made him pull the ads was understandable. But putting them back was the right call. You can monetize with integrity. In fact, if you want to keep creating content for the long haul, you have to.
I think we need to clear something up here….. Garry is the pimp not the whore!! Sending these poor little ad slots out onto the rough streets of the blosphere at all hours of the day exposed to all those dangerous crawlers. Taking money for them to be filled by up to 4 people at a time!!! This is scandalous and you would think that this would not be acceptable in out modern AMERICA!! But the price is cheap…. it’s tempting to take a turn….
So like Pepperjam Network hooked a deal with PlayBoy… can I put some PlayBoy ads on my blog???? Huh Huh… can I? Will you click them… and buy PlayBoy magazines…
OOOOOHHHHH I got it… AdultFriendFinder.com they got a killer AFF program….. Whhhahahahhaaaa….
Ok…. stop me… I been reading John Chow too much this last week because of Top Affiliate Challenge.
Thanks for the plug Mark… now everyone reading this, drop me an email to [email protected] and I’ll get you whored up with a 50% discount. No joke… send me an email now and I’ll lock in on 50% off my ad price. 🙂
How do you know about stuff like that???
My ads wear a condom… they are NOFOLLOW. 🙂
I only expose the ads to the diseases that are quarantined within the GCDC sector. 🙂
Oh he definitely is!!! Just the other day I saw him on the corner of Google Drive and Yahoo Road wearing this super short mini skirt!
He was yelling at all the cars, flashing his #@)! and all that. I almost called the cops on him, but I figured hey, he is just trying to make some money.
Haha, just kidding! I think he can do whatever the hell he wants on his blog. I never minded the ads in the first place so his decision to put them back on didn’t affect me.
They actually add some “bling” to his blog 😉 lol
I’m okay with Garry whoring his blog out as long as he stays clear of the “show-my-cheeks” jean shorts and hiking boots. I don’t think I could stomach that.
LOL
Gentlemen, this is a family show.
Shane told me about that stuff. 😉
Yikes. I’ve seen some pictures of Shaners that will burn your eyes.
Garry, theirs a playboy affiliate program at playboywebmasters.com!
you should get an adult site and call it “nudeconn.com”
=]
id check it out!!! haha
My two cents – ads are fine, but man, you have morphed them off the dial this time Garry – ;-).
I feel like I’m trying to read in a library between two people arguing. But, hey, that’s just me.