(This is a guest author article.)

After seeing a variety of advertising on numerous blogs, I have to conclude that ads don't really make a lot of money for the average blogger. I'm not talking about the really popular bloggers or those who get extremely targeted traffic from search engines, but about you and me. Why can't we make a lot of money with ads (of any kind) on blogs?

Here are some of my reasons/analysis on why individual bloggers should be careful about using ad networks online:

  • A majority of bloggers are satisfied with surprisingly low amounts. This is a fact. If you look at the number of people who think that AdSense will make them rich, it's surprising. AdSense does not make individuals rich - it makes Google richer. The same goes for any popular ad network. In other words, you're providing them with additional revenue by using their service and making them more popular at the same time.
  • Advertising networks usually talk about how much money their clients make. They will usually only show off their most successful publishers. Do not use this as a benchmark. The successful publisher might actually be getting 1000 times the number of hits on his website than your blog does on a single day.
  • Every ad network has a "minimum payout" period. Some of them hold on to your legitimate earnings for until it reaches $100. If your site is not earning quickly enough, imagine how much interest they would earn on your money (and others) over that period of time.
  • Ad networks can afford to undersell your value. This is because they make money on volume, not on higher margins. They can make a very small profit and still earn lots of money. Additionally, think about the commission they make on every ad they place on your site. That eats further into your revenue.
  • Ad networks make all the rules. You have no option but to accept them if you want to do business with them.
  • Individual publishers cannot afford to fight the big ad networks in court when it comes to a dispute. True, theoretically you could take them to court. But how many can do it? Think about it this way. If an ad network decides that you've violated their ToS and unilaterally decides to cut your payment, how on earth can you fight them, particularly if you're on the other side of the world?

I think every individual blogger must be aware of all this before deciding to sign up with an ad network. Have you ever thought of it this way - why would you want to help a mega-corporation make more money while getting peanuts in the process? Sure, many bloggers feel that something is better than nothing, in which case, I would suggest that you handle your own advertising selling on your blog. Not only will you get a better deal, you can actually negotiate prices with the ad sellers and have a lot more control over what kind of ads get displayed on your site.

Think about it. It involves a little more hard work to market your own website, but I think the end result would be worth a lot more. Don't sell your web space cheap.