I have a dayjob. Well, several – I’m a freelancer, mostly working as copy editor, but I also do Filemaker development, some photography, and a few other things beside.
I see a real conflict of interest once you add advertising to a blog. Suddenly you write with advertisers in mind, and readers – rather than people to engage with – become a potential source of income who must be wooed for the sake of the almighty dollar. (And for most bloggers, not a great number of those.)
Ads are visually intrusive, they distract from the content of a blog, and quite often they are counterproductive. I’ve seen companies running ads for their competitors, legitimate agents and publishers running google ads for the very scammers they warn against, and blogs that were so overloaded with ads that the content fell through the crack. Then there’s the pressure to add more content, the right content, draw in eyeballs, advertise the blog…
The blog becomes a microbusiness, and ceases to be a place where you share information. This would be somewhat countrary to the ‘Extelligent’ label.
I will – once everything else is up and running and functional – put up a PayPal tip jar, in case you find the content helpful. Heck, buy some of my photographs. (They do really nice blank cards over at fineartamerica.) If you want me to write a column or a book (a blogger can dream, right?) contact me and we’ll work something out… but other than that, this blog is about content, not income streams.