Ads are still the most common way for bloggers to generate money online. Is it, however, the best option? Most likely not.

There appears to be a widespread belief (especially among newer bloggers) that the easiest method to generate money with a blog is to produce content and then place an advertisement in the sidebar or at the top of each article.

People frequently ask us how to acquire more AdSense clicks or where they can find advertisers willing to pay them for valuable website real estate.

This article will explain why advertising aren't the ideal approach to monetize your site, as well as what options you have in the short and long run.

Why You're Better Off Without Ads on Blogs

Let's get right to the point and examine why advertising and services like AdSense aren't the ideal match for blogs.

Lack of Quality Control

When you join up for a service that distributes advertisements to your blog, one of the first things you'll notice is that you frequently don't have much control over the ads that appear on your site. I'm always a little upset when I see a high-quality magazine, for example, exhibiting advertising for questionable things that they would never accept otherwise.

Longer Site Loading Time

You can practically ensure that any website that utilizes an advertising network will slow down if you perform a speed test on it. As we all know, a quick loading blog is critical for high Google results, therefore we should be cautious about putting anything that would slow it down.

Low Earnings Per Lost Reader

When you think about it, a service like AdSense is essentially directing visitors away from your site in exchange for a few pennies (or maybe a few dollars in a good niche). While this may quickly add up, it's still a pretty inexpensive approach to lose readers that are tough to gain through content production, SEO, networking, and other methods.

Display Choices That are Intrusive

From the perspective of an advertiser, they'll want to acquire as much publicity as possible on your site. However, from the perspective of your viewers, this is an annoyance or a significant pause in page flow. This can have a significant impact on bounce rates and conversion rates for subscribers.

Lack of Trust

Ads can, in some situations, lead viewers to lose faith in a website. For example, some blogs have so many advertisements and pop-ups that I no longer visit them (even with a pop-up blocker) since I don't like the scripts and cookies, as well as the potentially harmful things they may do to your computer.

We'll get to the other side of this in a minute, but these are the key reasons why I don't believe bloggers should rely on advertisements as their primary source of money in the long run.

So, what are your options?

You're probably asking what a decent option is at this point. That's when things become a little tough, and we have to start thinking in terms of the long term.

Create a plan for the future

The first step is to create a long-term blogging plan that takes into account all of your numerous aims and ideas for your site over the next five years or more. This can help you focus on the following steps and provide you suggestions about where to go next.

Look for short-term sources of revenue

Using your blog as an Internet business card to offer services to local companies, freelancing, and other options for short-term revenue that complement rather than distract from your blog are some possibilities. This is beneficial while you're getting started.

Create a mailing list around a certain niche

Throughout it all, we should be concentrating the majority of our efforts on establishing a mailing list that is highly targeted to the eventual monetization sector. For example, if your site is about Bonsai gardening, you might create a mailing list and send out a weekly Bonsai expert advice while also promoting affiliate items that you use in your own Bonsai garden.

Create a product that will appeal to the people on your email list

The majority of bloggers who have achieved some level of success have built a product that they subsequently marketed to a pre-qualified mailing list. ViperChill opened an SEO training school after months of writing about Google, Pat Flynn built a podcast player while also having the finest how-to podcast guide on the internet, and so on.

Reinforce these strategies with more traffic

Once you've put up a strong email list > affiliate products > original products system, your major task will be to bring relevant traffic to the posts and pages that promote the funnel. This might include increasing Google traffic and then looking at things like advertising, guest posting, instagram marketing, and other options to guarantee a consistent and reinforcing flow.

One of the main reasons why this method of monetization is so effective is that the entire process, if done correctly, can be of value to your readers – the content that attracted them in the first place, the email course, the products – all of it can solve problems and assist people in their daily lives.

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