Are you avoiding monetizing your blog using ads because of fear of cannibalizing sales of your own products and services?
This is the third part of a series about how Website Publishing is the Best Business or Side Gig to Start in 2023 and Why You Should Monetize With Ads.
One of the major objections to running ads is when someone sells their own products or services or is an affiliate marketer. The concern is, if people are clicking ads then won’t they click and buy my own stuff less?
I am here to tell you that monetizing with ads can coexist with selling your own products and services or with affiliate promotions.
- Eliminate Competitor Ads – You can select who can and can not advertise on your website. That means if they are in the market for what you do, and are on your site, an advert is not going to distract them too heavily away from you.
- Tactical Placement – Advertising slots will not have to appear everywhere, selectively choose where in your website template adverts appear, and even which topics, categories, tags, and so on.
- Observe – If you analyze the pathways customers take before they check out, you will realize that the majority come from, say, emails, certain search queries and landing pages, certain blog categories, and so on. The rest of your site certainly supports your mission, but probably does not directly influence getting to the transaction.
Why Monetize With Ads if You Sell Products
So we know we can place ads, selectively and carefully, and not impact our own sales, by why would we want to?
Diversification: Relying solely on one revenue source can be risky, as market fluctuations or changes in consumer behavior can impact your earnings. Adding ads to your monetization strategy reduces your reliance on a single source of income.
Goodwill: Displaying (highly relevant, non-intrusive) ads can be an effective way to monetize your content without overwhelming your audience with sales pitches. It allows you to maintain a balance between providing valuable, goodwill-building information and the necessity of generating income.
Cross-Promotion: If you select ads that align with your products or affiliate offerings you can generate additional revenue while your audience gets to see complementary solutions. But, the really cool thing is that those ad slots on more informational and less commercial topics can also promote your own products.
Customer Insights: Use your Ad network analytics tools to gain insights into your audience’s preferences and behaviors. This data can inform your product development, content creation, and affiliate marketing strategies, ultimately helping you sell more.
The 99%: Not all visitors are ready to make a purchase so ads provide a way to generate income from those who would not convert otherwise. Instead of avoiding non-converting topics, you can be confident that you will earn either way and over time, some of these visitors may become customers or affiliates themselves.
How to Decide the Right Monetization Strategy for You?
I am not trying to convince everyone to go with advertising as their monetization strategy, it is not right for every single situation out there.
What I do want to get across is a lot of the time people dismiss a monetization strategy due to a misunderstanding about how these approaches work today, in 2023.
There is a lot to think about, so how can you decide the correct monetization strategy for you?
The good news is you do not have to make a long-term commitment to any particular option. It’s about testing, and getting real-life feedback.
Do not consider it achieving or failure, rather every action you take gives you learning and gets you one step closer to your goal!
