Since ramping up my presence in the social media arena, I’ve noticed something. There are a lot of people who use social media to sell something. Ok, we all need to make a living and getting customers can be difficult and frustrating sometimes. But isn’t social media about being social?
Then again, perhaps I’m just being naive. You can buy promotion on all of the biggest social media platforms. They are businesses and they exist to make money, so why should you not use it to make money also?
And is this a really a bad thing? There seems to be two sides of the coin when it comes to making money through blogging or social media. Some people believe that blogs should be ad free and that there is something wrong with using them to make money. Obviously these people derive their income some other way or they have some nice mother or significant other who takes care of them.
On the other hand, there are many people who use their blog or social media accounts to supplement income or even use it as a full-time business. It’s becoming more popular and that makes sense because so many of our jobs are increasingly being taken away by technology and many more jobs are shifting to being online rather than in an office somewhere. If the means is there should it not be used in that way? We all gotta eat and pay bills? The landlord doesn’t give a f**k where you get your rent money from as long as you get it and don’t mess up the property doing it, right?
The only thing is that it can get old having so many people trying to sell you stuff and not be social. I love instagram, don’t get me wrong, but it seems to be the worst (or the best?) place for people trying to sell stuff.
For me, blogging is “just” a pastime, as I earn a living elsewhere, though I don’t begrudge others their attempts to make it lucrative, even when, strictly speaking, they don’t “need” the money.
Then there are others like my friend, who derives her income from her blogs. I’m a bit astounded, still, people can do this, but my friend and others prove it’s possible.
That’s the market’s hidden hand – rewarding those who couch their appeals for money in the most pleasing, creative manner. And so it is with many aspects of life, not just blogging.
Creativity and discretion, vying for influence. Thus the minuet unfolds…
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Such a way with words you have. Love it! I think my biggest problem is that I grew up with the notion that money is evil. But gee whiz, if you don’t have money you have to live under a bridge or something and that’s no fun. 😕
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So true, and money is one of the most objective means our species has of expressing regard. Some do pursue it in preference to all else, but such exclusivity isn’t sustainable. Best to make it just one of many delights attainable in this sphere. A good berry salad is another…
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Well said! 🙂💐
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We are definitely not selling anything on our website just enjoying traveling and posting for others to see mostly our family keep track of us when we’re out doing whatever but the number one reason I started the blog was so that I wouldn’t get bored in retirement, of us kind of worry about that a lot.
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Oh that’s nice. Hopefully one of these days I will be able to do something like that 🙂🌴
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But you are – just like us, posting on what is important to you and spreading the word.
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Yes, I meant traveling around though. Sounds fun. 🙂
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It is fun, it is also exhausting but I would love to do it full time.
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[…] July 5, 2019 JoAnn […]
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Thanks for the reblog.
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Thoughtful article🌹🌹🌹.
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Thank you 🙂
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Welcome,dear☺
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Reblogged this on Vijayagiri views.
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I’ve got ads running on my blog. The thought behind them was to recoup charges for the service provided by WordPress. Unfortunately, in six months the return has been around $10 – I’m now contemplating disabling them, as they do get quite annoying.
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They can be annoying and there has been one or two that I keep flagging as the ads are too gross looking. I think they finally got rid of one of them. And of course money is all about building traffic which takes a LOT of time. 🌺
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I’ve disabled my ads having read your post and the subsequent thread ☺
Hopefully it’ll encourage more views – I do hate them myself lol
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Yes. I do wish the quality of the ads was better. Sorry to hear that you’ve had to pull them completely.
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I decided to remove the in-article ads. Those are the most annoying. I left one at the top and the one way over to the side (not sidebar). Those aren’t in the readers face nearly as much.
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The one at the top is probably the best placed, as Wordads pay out by views and not clicks. Good luck!
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I’ve noticed the growing number, too. I can choose to read their blogs or see their Instagrams or not. I can pay attention to the ads or not. My choice!
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True true. Thanks for stopping by. 🌺
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On wordpress I think one of my blogs has wordpress ads, to be honest I have no clue how it works.
I think making money depends. If it’s your business good for you, I hate blogs that pretend to be just blogging but really are all about advertising different products, but that’s just me….
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I agree, it has to be subtle and not the main objective.
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Personally I hate Ads. And some websites are so full of Ads that it’s kind of unbearable to stay on the site. Honestly I don’t hang about on sites full of ads or go back as my purpose when going online is to read stuff and not to see Ads. Ads are the main thing that make me stop visiting a site. It’s like going on a site and being hit by different sales people from all angles. Ad Free sites are bliss.
I recently upgraded from a free WordPress site to a paid one with a domain name to disable ads. I haven’t a clue how anyone makes money online. I’ve spent money to have a site and I am terrible at making money. Ha. I started my blog to be creative, challenge myself and teach myself web skills and try to connect with other people into travel and creativity and spirituality and nature. Maybe in the future I will magically be able to generate income from the things I love doing or writing about. But Ads are a no go for me. Good Blog post. 🙂
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I agree, which is why I decided to take down the majority of my ads. Too much of a nuisance and I don’t feel like the ads pay enough anyway to make it worth it.
I’m terrible at making money too. I wish we didn’t even have to worry about such a thing at all but unfortunately we do 😕
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Yeah it’s so hard to have any money nowadays yet it seems to be the currency of freedom. And the world nowadays is just all about money. I think lack of it is what stops most people living their dream life.
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I most definitely agree. It’s unfortunate. 😕
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Thank you for sharing this beautiful post and talking about this topic. Also if you have the time please check out my blog and if you like follow back
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Definitely will. Thanks for visiting 🙂
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You’re welcome cutie
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