Should you have ads on your site, and if so when should you put them there?

This is a fairly core question for most bloggers.  It is thought by some that there is a “tipping point” after which you will be able to attract advertisers to place ads on your blog.  Maybe a magic number that will be right for them.

Whilst this is true if you are thinking of perhaps trying to sign up a major brand (lets be serious here - you would need millions of views per day).  For the most part as a blogger before you get around to having specific advertisers you are probably going to go with one of the ad serving services like AdSense or one of the others that provide this service for blogs.

There are two things to consider when you decide this is a revenue source for you.  Firstly, do you put them on your blog from day one and run the risk of alienating certain types of users - for example those that use sites like digg, to promote your site.  Or do you wait until you have an established audience and then introduce them, but run the risk of losing some of your audience.

Both strategies have pro’s and con’s. If you have little or no traffic having ads wont earn you much money but if they are there from the beginning then people know to expect them. If you introduce them after you have an established audience you might lose a few readers (but that will most likely happen over time anyway) but at least you increase your likelihood of generating some revenue from the ads.

Think your strategy through carefully before you settle on which way to go with ads.

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