Louis Gray has
an excellent post about paid advertising links on blogs. He believes that the returns are not worth the effort for most bloggers, as paid links will make a blog look like a "get rich quick" scheme.
Marketing and SEO experts have already challenged his post in the article's comments. Check them out.
I think Gray has a good point, however. Blogging is not a good business model for most bloggers, and I've said as much in several posts on my own blog in the last month.
I've tried and dumped Google ads in a sidebar. Right now, my sidebar has one paid advertising link and two PSAs.
I do insert Amazon links when I mention books and other items on
billso.com
I'm planning to set up ad-free blogs this fall for my courses, so that each course has a private blog with is own content and design. I started blogging 5 years ago to vent my rants, but my blog has become my main knowledge base for my classes. Fewer rants, more content!
So I do have an opportunity to develop better advertisign links on the main blog... if it's worth the effort.
Any thoughts?