At What Point Should You Monetize a Blog?

[John Wesley]

I started my blog a couple months ago and have been trying to build traffic. I've been making progress, but haven't really hit it big anywhere, except for one day on Stumbleupon. At this point I'm usually in between 150 - 300 uniques a day. I'm following Steve's example of not monetizing for at least 6-8 months and focusing only on traffic.

What I'd like to know is what is the optimal point to monetize? I've heard 1000 uniques a day is a good bench mark, but I'm curious for some other opinions. If any of you have experience with this I'd love to know what you did and how it worked out.

[gberardi]

I have about 100 visitors a day on my blog, and I was able to get some ad clicks, enough to show me that I should have put ads up sooner. I don't get a paycheck every month or anything, but I put up ads and expect my first check to be sent out next month from what I earned last year, if that can tell you anything.

[and]

John, run a test, run ads for 3 days and see what you get as a result. Then make a decision.

[John Wesley]

Thanks for the advice. I think I'm gonna wait until my traffic grows a bit more. I don't want to distract myself with monetization and take away from content and marketing. Its not worth it to me if the ads will only bring in a few dollars a day.

Doing a test is a great idea though. I'll certainly try that later on.

[gberardi]

Ooh, yeah, a test would be very good. I spent a month or so trying to decide if putting up ads would be worth it, and the whole time I could have just put up ads and learn what ACTUALLY happens.

[icesar]

First of all, great job so far John! Several thousand uniques a month is quite an audience and you're definitely on the right track.

You're right not to jump right into monetization, in my opinion. What little you give up in income up front you more than make up for in goodwill from your audience. Give yourself a few more months, and then look into it. Of course, there's nothing wrong with running some tests.

For a less obstrusive and more reliable source of income (especially at the start up stages of your blog) check out Text Link Ads - Smart Link Marketing You give up only a little space, they're less intrusive than Google Ads, and you basically get a healthy "rent" for the space.

You can see them on my blog under "Sponsors." Basically, depending on the authority of your blog, you can get paid between $10 and 100s of dollars a month by each of your advertisers.

[John Wesley]

Cesar,

Thanks for the advice. I've been considering TLA and like the low impact aspect. Also, I checked out 'Flee the Cube' and love the idea. It is certainly one of my life goals. I subscribed the feed and will be visiting in the future.

[Kristoffer]

It is a lot to learn when you start monetizing. And yes, it takes time from your writing in the beginning. I suggest that you start with some affiliate program before slapping on adsense. It will be a way for you to learn about how ads work and where to place them and not make you a slave to "must get clicks on my ads"

I think most people start with amazon. Then you can have something more specific to your topic. I have muaythaistuff.com on my martial arts blog and http://www.jbox.com/ on my blogs on Japan. There are so many affiliate programs, I am sure you can find suitable ones.