Are Advertising & Social Media A Good Fit?

In yesterday's post and at LinkedIn, I told my readers that I was in a quandary about whether or not to create and offer advertising space here at bizsolutionsplus. From the two locations, I received more than 25 responses. All were well-thought-out, providing top-notch thinking on the subject. Points of views varied, as is expected, but the value of the feedback was critical to my decision.

After reading each reply, I decided not to offer ad space to any of the businesses currently requesting it. My decision is formed by the values on which my business and my communications are based. In simple terms, the values call for me to always put people first and to make every effort to ensure that everything we say and do works toward making the world a better place to live and to work.

Will I ever accept advertising? Yes. But the ad must be for a business, non-profit, association, blog or website, products and services, etc. that put people ahead of all other things, including revenues and profits. (Anyone who has heard me speak or has read my most recent book knows that I believe that putting people first makes the world a better place to live and work and does no harm, and maybe great good, to our bottom lines.)

Because the feedback I received was so helpful, informative and smart, I have chosen some snippets to share with you. They are anonymous because I don't have permission to share the author's names and I never stated that I would share their ideas. But the value of sharing is too great to not do it at all. Keep in mind that the following are pieces of longer comments and are taken out of context. Here are some of those thoughts:

• I think you can keep the integrity of your blog and still offer up some banner advertisements to monetize your blog. Just keep the ads relevant to your industry and don't over do it.
• There are some controls with the traditional options...just make sure you have the control necessary to responsibly serve ads on your site.
• As long as the ads are not intrusive, are aesthetically 'ok,' are relevant to the content on your site, I don't see the issue.
• Only you can come to turns of the type of business model that will work best for you.
• Rather than risk an advertiser who may not work well with the values of your readers (or risk an ad without knowing who or what it will be) continue with your great content, writing about things that inspire you and that you know your readers will enjoy. Then look for joint ventures with Companies who are a good fit with the scope of what you write about regularly in your blog.
• I see deciding not to show ads as foolish as spitting into the wind. For gosh sakes you're in MARKETING and you don't want to have ADS? What's the matter with you?
• In my opinion (that and 50 cents will buy you coffee in a cheap diner) the best blogs are written solely for the purpose of adding value - not for promotion of any kind.
• As long as you are in complete control over the advertisers and products/services advertised, I lean towards yes as value added content.
• This is one of those questions for which there is no simple, right or wrong answer. On some blogs, it may be perfectly appropriate. On others, for whatever reason, it may seem intrusive or inappropriate, due to the subject matter of the blog or a seeming "mismatch" of advertising with the personality and approach of the blogger.
• If your blog offers your thought leadership in a particular field, and your blog retains a high amount of integrity, then it's clear why this is such an important decision for you. Consider offering advertising as a service to your readers. Make sure the advertising is in sync with the subject of your blog.
• Lewis: honestly, I don't think having a Google-served ad on your blog diminishes what you have to say in the slightest.
• I think advertising is just fine as long as it is relevant and not overly intrusive. it is on so many of the blogs that i read regularly that I have become accustomed to it. and sometimes i see something of interest.
• Lewis, if you've established yourself as an authority in the subject matter and earned the trust of your readers then offering targeted products/services via advertising will do you no harm and may even help your readers. The more value you give your readers the more they'll stick with you.

Feel free to add you 2 cents by commenting. More is better in this case.