Small Business Resource

Should you carry advertising on your website?
It might be appropriate, it might not be. It depends what your business is.

Google has created AdSense, a program in which they find ads that relate to your web content: if viewers click on the ad, Google will send you some money–if you meet the minimum requirements.

Lots of bloggers use AdSense, but many feel it detracts from the purity of the blogger’s point of view. The bottom line is that in some cases, it is appropriate to include the AdSense ads. In fact, some of your blog followers might welcome them. For example, if you have a travel blog, then carrying AdSense ads that feature hotels, bed and breakfast, and sightseeing in the regions you write about might assist your readers. The call is up to you.

Internet Advertising comes in many forms. With AdSense, you are dealing with Pay-per-Click ads.

You can also get a sponsor for your website. If you are writing about golf, and can
show that your website is developing a nice following, then contact golf resorts, hotels, golf manufacturers to discuss a sponsorship. It can be by the week or by the month. Make their ad exclusive as a banner or carry several advertisers.

Consider the Swap and Exchange technique. You carry information on a company’s products/services on your site with a link to their website, and they’ll do the same.

Affiliate Marketing programs are revenue sharing vehicles between online advertisers/merchants and online publishers. If you write about a guitar company, for example, and include their website, and readers click on and go to their company, you get a fee for each Pay-per-Click; if that readers buys a guitar or cable, you get a % of their purchase as an added incentive. (This differs from AdSense because Google finds those ads–in Affiliate Marketing, you do the homework and find the sites willing to establish this type of relationship with your website.)

In a future posting, we’ll review Internet Maketing and Advertising Jargon.