OK. Confession time 
I am suddenly reminded of my roommate who was very afraid of confession. My other roommate and I had to practically drag her to church for it.
Now, I used to be a traffic hound because I was influenced by “influential bloggers” when they blogged about how simple it was generating income through their blogs, though I forgot the utmost important point that they were popular and hence had a lot of unique visitors on a daily basis, so that would inevitably mean that the probability of somebody clicking on those ads were higher than I could ever imagine. But that was during a time when everybody was talking (or rather, blogging) about getting paid while blogging and surfing and making money from their blogs, you get my drift..
So I went with the flow. I registered for a couple of paid-to-blog companies and I plastered a number of Google Adsense and Amazon ads on my blog, naively thinking that I could also earn a decent income if those ads were placed strategically.
Boy, was I horribly wrong!
Blogging opportunities from some paid-to-blog companies were either horrible (with due respect to those who write for them) or had nothing to do with me. It need not take a genius to realize that people would eventually stop visiting my blog if I wrote about gold coins or Belisi fashion (whatever was that?!) or some other form of loans I had never heard of. And I realized, the hard way, that incorporating sponsored content on my blog significantly reduced the conversation on my blog in the form of comments. It also need not take an Einstein to realize that people (generally) do not read sponsored content, however personal you made it sound.
Similarly, months passed and my Google Adsense revenue was pretty much stagnant at USD 12.51. Despite the fluctuation in the number of visitors who visited my blog per day, my Adsense revenue did not increase significantly at all.
So that was when I took a turn to how I looked at my blog
I deleted my accounts with most of the paid-to-blog companies, especially those who provide nothing more than paid assignments on “gold coins” and “bust-size increment”. I stopped writing sponsored content for about three weeks, and I removed all affiliates ads but retained the Adsense ads because I thought they weren’t obtrusive (or are they?), and unsurprisingly, people resumed commenting. I realized that people started paying more attention to what I was saying. And a beautiful relationship between my readers (and visitors) and I was born.
So, am I happy now?
Definitely! I have finally gotten back to my blogging feet though I’m still writing paid content and I ensure that whatever I write about benefits my readers in one way or another. And this “little detour” doesn’t mean that it is not worthwhile trying to generate your own income from your blog. It only means that I am not a good businesswoman, and I’m better off writing about charities instead of how to make money 
So, in case you’ve just stepped into the beautiful world of blogging (and then stumbled upon my humble blog), there’s this little advice I’d like to put into your pocket:
If you place an advertisement on your blog, it is considered a business, and like all businesses, it should be treated professionally.
- Lorelle vanFossen, in her book Blogging Tips: What bloggers won’t tell you about blogging
This is written in response to Lorelle’s question: Are you a traffic hound or a blog authority? Does it show? How?
