To Ad or not to Ad. THAT is the question...

I started this blog as a way to scrapbook my life without having to, well, scrapbook. I can picture a very crafty end to a project, but don't know how to "get" there, and it all overwhelms me. Plus, I don't have the time or the money to spend in a craft store buying funky looking scissors.

And the mess would send my OCD into overdrive.

Hence, the blog was born. While I have only had this blog for about 6 or 7 months, I am no stranger to blogging. Or the interwebs, for that matter. So when I set this blog up and it asked me if I wanted to "monetize", or add ad's to my blog and get paid by the advertisers.

I had to stop and think about it. Sure, it would be great to all of a sudden have my blog take off and be a star on the Internet writing little family antidotes on a daily basis all while getting a check in the mail. However, what are the chances of that happening? I have my days when I can elicit a smile or even a giggle, but lets face it, most of my stuff is only interesting to me. If you, one of my two readers, find it mildly entertaining, they so much the better. However, if no one read my blog, ever, It wouldn't stop me from my daily or every-other-day postings. I do it for me, so then, why bother with the ads?

I decided to not place any ads for the time being. I didn't really have the feel for this blog yet and didn't want to disappoint advertisers or scare off anyone who would want to read my blog, because let's face it, flashing ad's, and pop-ups are annoying as hell.

I have  surfed through a few blogs and the common theme to most of the "popular" blogs is to make your presence known in the blog community. Read, comment, and share other blogs. Another way to increase traffic is to get your blog out there. One way to do that is to allow advertising. Companies start to place ad's, your traffic increases, they allow you to do give-a-ways, which increases MORE traffic, and pretty soon, you have yourself a somewhat popular blog. Well, if you are at least entertaining anyway ;)

Not to mention, increased traffic would mean increased ad viewing, which means more money in your pocket. I'm not looking to retire on my blog earnings or anything, but extra money is always welcome in our house. Even if it is only $10 or $15.

But the question still remains, is it selling out? Blogging for the wrong reasons? Are the ad's really annoying?
Hmmmm.....