3 Reasons Your Ads Aren’t Making You Money

Readers + Ads = Money….right? Not always.

This is the position many of us are in. We have blogs, we have readers, we have ads…so why aren’t we making money?

Some think that making money on the internet is as simple as quickly logging into AdSense, copying and pasting the code into WordPress, and then sitting at home just to stare in amazement as the money comes in.  When your blog becomes popular and you have a strong following then, Insha’Allah, this might work. In the meantime, for those of you who don’t fall into that category still want to know what you can do to pull in some revenue.

Today I want to give you 3 reasons your ads might not be doing exactly what you want them to do.

1) Placement – Where you place your ads is perhaps the single most important factor when it comes to advertisement. It doesn’t matter whether you are using AdSense, Chitika, or have cut individual deals with certain businesses. Whatever you decide to do, do not make the grave mistake of overcrowding your blog with advertisements. Your visitors are smarter than you think and can quickly tell the difference between a sincere author and greedy one.

My Recommendation: Limit ads to a few spots in one of the sidebars. If you want you can use the top banner area for a slim advertisement. Do not overcrowd. Do not overcrowd. Do not overcrowd.

2) Timing – This point is more dependent on how new your blog is. If you just started out and people see that your ads overshadow the content then you might lose some credibility.  Remember that your credibility is what will bring the readers back to your site.

My Recommendation: Unless you’re sure your readers won’t mind advertisements in their face from day one, I recommend holding off a little bit. This gives you the opportunity to build a reputation as a blogger and not a person who’s out there for the money.

3) Types of Ads – One thing you should look closely at is the type of ads that are being rotated on your blog. In many cases, having random advertisements being displayed will get you no where.  As a matter of fact, it may do just the opposite.  Too many irrelevant ads leads to readers avoiding your ads all together.  If your blog is one that is trying to cover a wide variety of topics (a.k.a. lack of focus) then you should expect that your ads will also cover a “variety of topics”.

My Recommendation: Pay special attention to the types of ads are being displayed on your site. If those ads don’t reflect the demographic you are trying to reach then you need to consider refining the ads you allow on your blog or even start looking for other advertisers.  This would also be a good time to ask yourself what your blog is all about and whether or not it is focused.

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You can make money blogging – many have and many will in the future. The question is whether or not you will be one of them. Insha’Allah, with the help of Allah (swt) and hard work, you will being to pull in a decent cash-flow.

Do you guys have experience using AdSense? If so, has it been a good experience so far? Is there anyone that has tried anything other than AdSense? Let us know what has worked for you in the past (and what hasn’t).