At what point do I monetize my blog? | Bloggers Lair | Yakezie Forums

There have been quite a few threads on this topic.  A quick search for "monetize" or "advertising" here in the bloggers forum should yield a slew of results.

Those links should help answer a lot.

I will say that I didnt earn a penny until about my 5th month of blogging…and it wasnt from Adsense.  Im in my 9th month right now, and I dont know that Adsense would yield me that much even if I had it up, which I dont.

Build up your content, backlinks, and traffic…then your moz and PR will come with that…and then your advertisers will come and find you.

From my own experience (I am a new old challenger): build relationships, work on your content, support others and don't worry about anything else. It all comes naturally when the time is right. :)

I am probably in a few of those links saying the same thing, but just because you put up an adsense block doesn't mean money is going to come flying in.  In fact if I had to guess I would say 50% of yakezie members and 94% of challengers don't earn enough to get a check every month. 

Write your blog because it is your hobby.  If you are doing it for any other reason you will quit it is inevitable. 

I read on your "About" page that you have read a lot of books on Personal Finance.

Why not write reviews for these books and include an Amazon affiliate link to buy that book?

I think that might be a better way to focus on monetizing.

Adsense does not do very well on Finance blogs. But affiliate products, like credit cards, do much better.

I read through many of the threads provided by FSYA.  Very good information.  Thanks to everyone else for their specific suggestions.

The general consensus confirms what I thought would be the case.  Concentrate on building content, backlinks and relationships.  The money will eventually take care of itself.

I do like the idea of throwing up a small Adsense somewhere on the sidebar just so readers are used to seeing some advertising and don't think I am "selling out," later when direct advertising takes place.  But then again, it seems that about half of responders are turned off by or really dislike Adsense.

Thanks again for all of your thoughts!

I wouldn't say that Adsense doesn't make money on finance sites.  I have a couple of finance sites that make decent money from Adsense but Tight Fisted Miser doesn't make much from it.  I'd experiment with Adsense and see how it works for you.

I also loved the advice about writing book reviews and including Amazon links.  My only issue with that is that it has been over a decade since I've read a few of my favorites.  I would need to re-read the books to get the information back fresh in my head in order to write a good review.

Doing un-sponsored product reviews is another great idea that I've actually considered and planned to do anyway.  It will all come with time.

I love the advice of placing some Adsense blocks on my secondary pages.  I will probably give that a shot, and maybe one small block on the sidebar of my homepage.

As for information oriented articles vs. personal posts – I try to include both in most of my posts.  I usually write something informational and then include "my story," or "what I do," at the end.