I sold my second spot at Text-Links-Ads last week.  I’m not really sure how I feel about it on two different fronts. 1) The ad is for a payday loan company.  While I respect the right for these types of companies to exist, and acknowledge there might be a time and place for their business, I’m not sure how much I want to be associated with them.  I have changed my settings and will no longer allow Text-Link-Ads pre-approve ads for publication.  The second front is my general feeling towards the ad revenue model for smaller blogs/websites such as AskDong.  I don’t blog for the money as I’ve to date been paid a total $15 for what is at this point hundreds of hours of “work”, but I’m not sure if I would blog if there was no money.  Getting paid somehow serves as affirmation of my work, and I still harbor day dreams of being a six figure blogger.  Realistically though, I have no expectations that I’ll ever be able to make blogging anything other than a hobby that pays for itself.

Even though, I don’t expect I will ever make much money by blogging, I do want to believe that blogging income is sustainable.  I like the idea of having different, albeit small income streams.  Selling ad space gives me what I feel might be a false sense of hope. I also wonder if the Advertising gravy train will continue uninterrupted.  The economy is likely to slow in the next year, and the advertising budget is often the first to be cut.  I also question how effective advertising actually is, and will blogs like mine continue to be able to pickup advertisers and generate revenue.  Personally, I don’t think I’ve ever purchased something via an ad.  I have definitely clicked on more than few ads, but I don’t think I’ve purchased anything, and don’t even remember what ads I’ve clicked.  If anything I feel image ads are more effective as they tend build brand recognition and lead to sales in the long run.  I’m much more likely to remember the name of a company or it’s logo in mage banner ads than to click on a text ad.

I hope this last ad sale isn’t my last. Though the truth is I don’t believe I have any more ad spaces to sell.  I don’t really have any revenue model for my blog.  All I know is I’d like to have few ads to generate some revenue, but definitely don’t want so much that I feel like corporate schill.  I imagine I’ve got space for a few more ads but not too much more than that.