Ads on your blog: yah or nah?

[Angie]

Do you have ads on your page or not?

Do you think it's better to not have ads if the goal is to eventually try to get what's on your blog published into a book (will publishers have a problem with a blog that has ads)?

Are you less likely to go back to a site if it does have ads (do you find them distracting, annoying, etc)?

I was just wondering, because I'm having problem with the ad company I'm using, and I'm starting to wonder if I should quit with the ads altogether - so I thought I would get some advice from those who have been blogging longer than I have.

[avisannschild]

In general, I really dislike ads although I use Mozilla so I can block out banners, etc. I don't mind Amazon book links too much, but I definitely won't go back to a site that has ads embedded in the text itself (links to ads).

[Angie]

I agree about the imbedded ads. I also don't like going back to sites that have pop up ads or so many ads on the page that the ads become a distraction. But I'm still on the fence about one or two unobtrusive ads vs. no ads at all.

[Rikki]

I don't like ads. I find them very distracting and they usually spoil the blog design, be it either in the sidebars or in the middle of a blog post.

I will continue to visit blogs with ads, if the content is interesting enough, but if there are no ads, it's an added bonus that I appreciate.

[pussreboots]

I don't currently have ads and don't have any immediate plans to run any. I think they would be more of a turn off then they'd be a money earner.

[Angie]

Thanks for the advice. I've been looking into the ad thing and have come across so many horror stories about people being scammed by them that I don't feel comfortable with the idea anymore. Thanks for the opinions.

[Dusty]

Nay for ads

[Maw Books]

I think it totally depends upon what types of ads you have, the network you use, the placement and the color. I think it can be done well without it being a distraction. I have ads that show to only my search engine traffic and not my normal readers. We all blog for different reasons. Personally, I spend way to much time blogging to not consider making a little bit of pocket money. That's not the purpose, but it allows me to do my giveaways by paying for postage.

[Insert Book Title]

No ads...

[pussreboots]

Entrecard is now going to allow paying ads in the network. I'm not sure how its going to work out. For the moment I'm in a wait and see mode. If the paid ads conflict with my content or bug my readers I'll drop Entrecard.

[Kaye]

I tend to find them annoying