Since I don't live under a rock (just a messy, messy excuse for a rock) I have noticed that BlogHer has opened up their advertising campaign for applications to join the network.
Most, make that almost all, of the bloggers I read have ads on their blogs. Why not? Why not get paid a few dollars AND write? I can't think of any reason. I applied- just for kicks, thinking I'd noodle it for a while and see if they even came back and invited me in. It took all of about 15 minutes to receive my confirmation email that I was in there like swim wear.
So now that it's a go, I'm finding myself wondering if I really want to do this?
I really try not to get hung up on stats and traffic and so-called blog popularity. I know I would feel differently if I were staying home while trying to hunt down opportunities; writing gigs, columns and web-based businesses. I like comments as much as the next blogger (love them, actually, hint hint) but I'm not hustling to be seen or read.
I have had to make a conscious choice not to care about my site meter. I have seen so many bloggers raise the bar with their level of skill and money making ventures. Could I try to keep up? Yeah. Do I want to? Sort of. Would that be a good idea? No. I'm driven, it's in my nature. If I see a brass ring I want to go for it. But when my life is out of balance, I am one unhappy mama. There is no place in my life, at this moment, to invest and spend more hours on line and strategize where to place snazzy comments (big traffic blogs) in hopes of getting a lot of hits back. I don't want to invest my time in cruising sites to see what traffic generating topics are out there or what controversial breastfeeding vs. formula stance I could take to get people engaged in a smack down. You know bloggers do it. For me and my blog, it's not worth taking away from my already chiseled life to do it. There are not enough hours in the day without giving up something and even though my work is rewarding, just in doing that alone, I think I already give up enough.
So I had to decide: Accept mediocrity, know I wasn't going to be a mommy-blogging superstar and stop caring what everyone else was doing, or give up because I didn't want to feel like I wasn't as good, talented, profitable, clever, etc. as so-and-so. I do still care, sometimes more than others, but obviously, I haven't shut down yet.
All leading up to the million dollar question: If I've decided I'm not in this for the money, why do I need ads?
Do I need ads? Does it even matter? Am I over-analyzing nothing?
I don't know. After all of this, I just don't want to do it because everybody else is doing it.
