So, I put an "Advertise Here" button on my blog

I've been blogging since somewhere around 2002. Of course, it wasn't "blogging" back then... it was putting thoughts and poems on a website. Then in November of 2003, I wrote my first "real" blog post. In 2011, most of my blogging time went to the Baptist Press and B&H Publishing Group.

This year, I'm making a more concentrated effort to put my thoughts here, in one place. I'll still be writing for other sites and what not, but I will be making sure that all my key writings show up here in some form or fashion.

I chose to put an ad spot on my site for the first time, primarilly as an experiment. In the publishing industry, we know that having ideas is important. Having a wide audience that connects to your platform (i.e. events, videos, blogs, self-published books, etc) is a great indicator of how you might perform on a bookshelf. And, if someone does come along and wants to give me a few bucks a month in order to have their wares advertised on my site... well, then it will reinforce in my mind the priority of putting words down for people to read.

Secondly, I found a company that has really impressed me: Beacon Ads. We have been using them at B&H for advertising MyStudyBible.com on a few small blogs here and there. I have literally been so impressed with them from a marketer's perspective, that I wanted to see how they worked on the other side. I was curious about the whole experience in working with them... so what better way to find out than to put one of their ad spots on my own, personal site?

So yeah. I put an "Advertise Here" button on my blog. Maybe someday, I'll be able to say I bought a comic book or two with this month's ad revenue.