PureBlogging

Not long ago the blogosphere was seeing a lot of posts about how Page Ranks were going down, apparently as a result of blogs using monetization techniques that conflicted with Google AdSense. Within a few days, there was an adjustment, and many of the blogs recovered their previous page ranking, it does make you wonder why it happened in the first place. It also makes me wonder, does Google reward blogs that use AdSense and/or punish blogs that don’t?

In many ways, and for a lot of reasons, Google rules the internet world. While it is possible to not do well on Google and still make money, it is a hard way to go, and I don’t recommend it. Ranking well on Google can send hundreds of paying customers to your blog on a regular basis. It’s hard to ignore that amount of trafic.

That being said, it raises the dilemma of how to monetize your blog. While AdSense is very easy to use, it certainly isn’t the only option that is available. It is a great place to start, and some bloggers claim to have seen a lot of income from AdSense, but most bloggers will agree that it isn’t good business sense to put all of your eggs in one basket. Just like investing, diversity is the smart way to go. Chitika and Text Link Ads are two very good options that you can use to compliment your AdSense campaign. There are also other options like Amazon, or one of hundreds of affiliate programs you could sign up for. You could also make money off of your blog by selling your services as a consultant or by doing paid reviews. There are many different possibilities.

If you are using one of the different as choices, remember to keep a log of the changes you make to your advertising. Experiment not only with the types of programs you are using, but also with location on the page, color schemes, and size of the ad. When you make a change, log it and then track the results. Don’t just track your click through rate; also track what it does to your Page Rank and your position on the search engines. If your position begins to slip, you need to ask your self if the change is worth making. You may have a higher click through rate, but losing your position will result in less traffic, and lower profits.

For those of you that have already experimented with your advertising, I’d love to hear your opinion. Does the type of advertising you use affect your position on Google? What has worked for you? We could all benefit from your experience.

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