Sunday, April 07, 2013

To Add AdSense or Not to Add AdSense, That is The Question

I love to write, and since I've never been much of a hustler, I couldn't get myself paid positions as a writer.  A few years ago, I began sending articles via email, essays I'd written about life here in Shiloh to friends all over the world.  I called them "musings."  The response was fantastic and people kept telling me to get an internet site.  That's how I started blogging.

I consider my blogs to be my  very own magazines.  I can post whatever I want whenever I want. I can even have guest-writers post on my blogs.  It's much easier than trying to get my articles in as op-eds in various publications.  I started blogging long before internet versions of newspapers allowed writers to blog on their sites.  I've even gotten those sorts of positions, but it's a "volunteer job."  I don't get paid.  There was a time when I allowed an ad company to advertise on my blog and whatever money I got I gave to charity, but they stopped years ago.

The closest thing I've gotten as "payment" has been books to review.

I blog daily on both this blog and Shiloh Musings.  That means that I do spend a lot of my time writing, and I take my writing/blogging seriously.  Shouldn't I make some money from it?  A neighbor insists that we, my blogging husband and I are missing out on money we could and should get from advertising.  He says that we really ought to get a paypal account and sign up with Google's AdSense.

Nu?  What do you think?  Does it really pay? If you have experience with AdSense, please let me know in the comments, thanks.

9 comments:

Esser Agaroth said...

There's also Yidsense.com. AdSense sends to paypal now? I just got a check once I reached $100.

Leora said...

I haven't used AdSense, but I do use TextLinks for one blog.

I would investigate - if Esser Agaroth says Yidsense is a good route, try that one. Why not make a little money? Many of your posts on this blog might appeal to moms or to travelers. They might not read the whole blog, but one particular post may be well-trafficked and earn you a bit of cash in PayPal. I've paid for a good bit of my daughter's clothes via PayPal.

Anonymous said...

I added both Adsense and amazon affiliates to my blog. I think I got $10 one time in three years. But do it. If you happen to have a higher traffic rate than I do you can earn some extra money. The advertisers have no say on your content and have no control over your blog. Also Google places the adds so that they coincide with your blog content. (They have a cool algorithm like that) Since you tell the blog where the adds are to go in your layout section, if you end up not liking it you can also get rid of it.

Batya said...

EA, what's yidsense? I thought they did pay to paypal. Leora, what's textlinks? Never heard of that either.
Elise, so there's also an amazon deal?
Wow! I must do more research.

Rafi G. said...

in my opinion there is nothing wrong with it, but don't expect to earn more than pocket change

Leora said...

This is TextLinkAds: http://www.text-link-ads.com/.

I have earned up to $30/month at times (generally, I earn about $17/month now). When you forget that it's there, it adds up, and voila, there is a nice sum in your PayPal.

You need to generate good traffic already for your blog to be considered, but yours might do just that - you could sign up and find out.

Batya, once you do more research, if you report your findings, those posts will be quite valuable. People love that sort of thing.

Batya said...

Rafi, thanks
Leora, thanks so what's best paypal or Payoneer, or TLA voucher?

Leora said...

Haven't heard of the other two - doesn't mean they are not good. PayPal has been around for a long time, so people trust it. But it does take a chunk of the money if you use it for payments (our synagogue uses it for dues, and my husband prefers when people use checks so the shul gets more money).

Yocheved Golani said...

I have AdSense but no idea how to update the service about my present address (not the one I signed up with). If you figure that out, let me know. I want my profits ;^ D