Seth Godin started a thread (see: Thanks) and Rob Safuto of Awakened Voice picked up on it (see: Losing Your Users). In summary, Seth points out that blog [and podcast] followers give their creators the gift of attention, and Rob follows that up with a thought that ad services are a specific and directed invitation for the audience to go away.
Basically, if you want to attract a following and you respect the people that give you their time, why would you push them out the door?
Two very interesting reads on this issue, and one I’m trying to make my mind up on myself.
To argue the flipside if links to ads are to be viewed as inviting your readers to leave, then cannot the same be said for ‘any’ link that invites the reader to leave?
And what about the links to the author’s Book collection feed that invite readers to go and purchase books from another site. Yes the books in question are by the very author you are reading, but is this not an advertisement by another name, and another invitation to leave the site?
I’m not sure I can agree with Rob’s suggestion about inviting readers to leave. One look at his Reading List, Podroll, Link List, etc sure seems like a lot of invitations to leave.
I think what the argument trying to be made is should Bloggers/Podcasters seek to gain a financial reimbursement from their readers/listeners, and to what level?
Granted I think the vast majority do this out of love and not in an attempt to seek financial gain, but there is a cost in time, resources, equipment, domains, etc that is incurred and if all that is covered is the cost of having our webspace paid for is that so wrong?
I know I for one would not want to see blogs/podcasts turn into the equivalent of having commercial television or worse those annoying magazine subscription inserts that I have to rip out first before I can read what I’ve paid for.
I don’t have much of an issue if what I’m reading/listening to has a short and sweet plug saying ‘brought to you in part by’ if that means the creator of the content is free to focus on the content and not the cost of getting it out there.
Comment by Keith B — November 23, 2007 @ 2:02 pm
I believe that linking to resources outside of your site other blogs, websites, etc…) is done to connect the ideas, places and people that are relevant to your post or site. Basically, you’re offering the links in service to your community and as credit for inspiration, etc… The link is for the benefit of your audience.
Linking out to an ad or affiliate store implies that you *want* or *expect* your audience to follow the link away from your site so that *you* can benefit from the click-through. The link is in service to you (and the business, I suppose).
Comment by Mark — November 23, 2007 @ 3:25 pm
Ideally, a proper ad would be useful to both you and your visitors, which is the promise (if not always the reality) of AdSense. Same with affiliate links. Now, you need ot plaster your site with ads galore, or do as so many Big Media sites do and split your articles into six or ten pages of two paragraphs each, just so you can surround them with more ads. If you’re using AdSense or having other advertising, you need to do it in a way that respects your visitors’ attention and time — and if they’re not interested, stays out of their way.
In the mid-’90s the mainstream Web, such as it was, was all about “no no, don’t send people away EVER” and you ended up with mega-lame “sticky” portals that only linked within themselves. They sucked, and they lost.
I’ve always looked at these sort of arguments this way: what’s the most successful website in the world? Google, probably. What does it do? Send people away! Over and over and over and over again. That’s pretty much *all* it does. The more outbound links (including ads and affiliate links, where appropriate) I add to my blog — and especially when I make it clear which ones are which — the more visitors I seem to get.
It’s also true that if I were dedicated and more mercenary, I could certainly make quite a bit more money from my blog, but partly out of laziness, and partly out of respect for my readers, I don’t try the things I’d need to do to make that happen.
Comment by Derek K. Miller — November 24, 2007 @ 1:50 am
That should be “need not” rather than “need ot”. :)
Comment by Derek K. Miller — November 24, 2007 @ 2:03 pm
I think the key word in this case is respect, our audience have chosen to listen to what we have to say.
We as content providers must be respectful of the time and effort the audience out to acquire and take in our content.
We must respect that our audience is looking to us for something that will educate, inform, entertain, etc them.
If a commercial ad is relevant and can offer a real benefit fine, but as Derek said plastering a site with ads all around what I’m trying to read is only going to drive me away.
I recently joined mybloglog and it’s amazing the number of folks who have contacted me to join their community, and all their blogs are built around are ads. Either plastered all over the site, or disguising their content as an ad link.
About the only type of ad I do not have an issue for is a PSA, and that’s why I have one at the bottom of my sites pages for something I feel is relevant and worthwhile.
I had hoped to use Adsense as a way to cover the minuscule cost of running the site on my provider, and have been test driving it on a few side pages that minimal traffic just to see what is being offered, and have to say I’m scratching my head at what fitness music and the Ford motor company have in common?
Comment by Keith B — November 25, 2007 @ 9:23 am