When I signed up for my first free Blogger.com account in 2010, I was eager to start monetizing. Since I was going to be online, I might as well make an extra buck or two to buy that curriculum I had been eying. That was my mindset back in the day. The first order of business was picking out my URL. The second order of business was organizing the settings. Did I want to have Google Ads popping up on my site? Did I want to have an extra source of passive income dropping into my account? Of course! I began placing the ads in my sidebar, at the end of each post, and even within posts. This was going to be great—or so I thought.
Even though there were some settings that I could fine tune—I did not understand the moral cost—which would become more evident over the years.
If you look at my sidebar currently, you will see ads, but they are not created by Google. These have been placed there intentionally by yours truly. (Even the Quick Spot ad. It says something about Google ads on it, but it is not. It comes directly from the provider of my blog template creator.)The problem was, when I let the algorithm do its thing, it can do whatever it wants—not what I want. I want to provide wholesome, family-friendly, conservative values on this blog—not woke content creatively crafted by Google. No matter how hard I tried, especially during election season, the ads would go to the highest paid content, regardless of their values. Now, I understand that most people knows that this happens, on websites everywhere, so I should have just let it go. I just couldn't.
Seeing an ad pop up on my blog for a political candidate that completely goes against my morals simply did not seem right—so I went a different direction.
Google ads are tricky. What shows up on my screen is completely different than what shows up on yours. We are all being tracked—and advertisers use this feature to target us daily. Yet regardless of your search history, or mine, I began to see ads pop up that had nothing to do with anything except a particular agenda. Meaning, whoever has the most money will get their message across—regardless of any setting you set on your end.
Therefore, I chose to take a different direction with advertising. Instead of enabling Google ads on my blog, I do the following:
✅ Sell Ads on Header and Sidebar
Selling ads on the header of my blog and along my sidebar gives me full control as to what I am promoting. No guesswork. No questions. No compromise. As part of the various Thrift Schooling sponsorship packages this feature allows me to know that the ads my readers see are products or organizations that I support.
✅Partner with Family-Friendly Companies
This gives me the opportunity to cross-promote and in some cases, to be promoted on other outlets. Some organizations that I work with provide gift cards or products for me to use in a giveaway for my readers. Others offer a link back to my site if I create content on their site. Partnering with other organizations that you align with can help you to grow your blog/company without compromising your values.
✅Promote Affiliate Partners for a Cut
This is one of my favorites. Since I use so many different types of homeschooling products across the board with my children, there are so many that I can promote. I see the value in so many products so why not make an extra dime for sharing? If you love a certain product, see if that company has an affiliate or referral program. You never know, it could mean an easy buck!
What are your thoughts about Google Ads?
This was interesting to read and I learned a lot.
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