Comments on: Monetize Your Blog Like an A-Lister

By: Alex Shalman

Alex Shalman — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 13:44:36 +0000

Wendy, you intrigue me with talk of banana’s. Not only do you succeed in first disgusting me, then making me hungry, you make me want to take another look at my blog design.

Granted my blog design is a template that I dug long and hard to find, I was not in the banana mindset when setting things up. I also have not monetized my blog as of yet. No, I’m not being lazy about it. I’m growing my readership before I lay on any adds, like a good little pre-problogger.

If you get a chance to look at my site, I’d like your opinion on where I could put my big banana. No pressure.

By: David Airey

David Airey — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 11:03:25 +0000

I have a banana. It was once much bigger than it is now but I didn’t want it to compete with my personal identity.

My readers told me they preferred a smaller banana so I had it chopped.

Yes, my RSS icon was once big and beautiful but now it’s a little’un. Still prominent though.

Nice post Wendy.

By: Ariane Benefit, Neat Living

Ariane Benefit, Neat Living — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 05:25:48 +0000

Hi Wendy! Thanks for sharing about my banana! : ) Everyone is welcome to a bite! tee hee

By: Leah Maclean

Leah Maclean — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 23:19:13 +0000

Wendy, I agree with Blog Bloke about the banana vs no-banana stuff. The main reason for the one banana approach was to minimise any confusion that the reader may have about what they could do next. The thing is people have become much more sophisticated users of the web over the past few years (since the 1 banana philosophy came out). People are also becoming more synical about obvious attempts to get their personal details for minimal return (“free” reports are a dime a dozen – pun intended).

With my site, and what I do professionally, the banana is ME! I believe that if I share value with readers, write well and authenically people will engage me to do work with them. The purpose of my site (eg the banana) is actually two-fold – developing relationships and sharing information. If the only action my readers ever do is learn something new then I will be happy. But I also know that this will translate into clients.

I’m looking forward to the new design – Sarah will do wonders for you!

By: Essential Keystrokes » Thirteen Things Every Website Needs

Essential Keystrokes » Thirteen Things Every Website Needs — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 17:37:02 +0000

[...] Call to Action – What is the purpose of your site? To sell a product? A service? To get more readers? Make it easy for your readers to figure out what your purpose is and to act on it. And don’t forget to put your ads above the fold. [...]

By: Wendy

Wendy — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 14:05:47 +0000

Liz suggested the two column layout – mostly for white space. But I talked with Sarah Lewis, my CSS designer about it, and I think I can get the same amount of white space by making the page wider, for the same reasons you did.

I don’t want a gazillion ads, but this is a revenue generator here, I don’t want to grow it only to find I don’t have the space to expand in the future.

The home page I love as well, but I might be getting rid of it – eh, maybe not – but I would change it a bit. I got it at one of those template stores online, like templatemonster or 4templates. It’s static html, though.

Martin – I’m with ya on that one.

By: Martin

Martin — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 09:49:02 +0000

Looking good Wendy.

Personally, I’d take marketing advice from Godin over Scoble any day – no disrespect to Scoble.

By: Blog Bloke

Blog Bloke — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 06:32:36 +0000

BTW, where did you get the design for your home page? I think it looks amazing.

By: Blog Bloke

Blog Bloke — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 06:31:31 +0000

I went from a 3 column to a 2 column layout because I wanted more room in my post area to place pics or ads there. But now that most users have larger screen resolutions I just made my entire blog wider which rendered my reasoning moot.

In my case I don’t put much ads on my main page because I don’t want it to look too commercial. So by putting a large ad only on my post page and in my post areas I can get around the need to have more than 1 sidebar.

I suppose the bottom line is if you want lots of ads then a 3 column might be appropriate. If not, then 1 sidebar is sufficient.

BTW, who suggested that you go with 2 columns and why?

By: Wendy

Wendy — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 21:26:46 +0000

Well put, Bloke, as usual!

There are a few other reasons for the site redesign, one is to reflect the fact that my male readership is increasing and I want to drive traffic specifically to my coaching and blogging content, which are the biggest revenue generators here.

On a side note, I have a question for you – it has been suggested that I go from a three column layout to a two column layout. I’m hesitant to lose that sidebar real estate.

What are your thoughts?

By: Blog Bloke

Blog Bloke — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 21:06:12 +0000

Honestly Wendy, I take all these opinions with a grain of salt. Godin says to pad it with a big banana, and Scoble says minimal is best. Sigh, you will drive yourself bonkers listening to all these self appointed gurus.

I think your design already looks great. Concentrate on writing good content and getting links.

As far as the banana is concerned, if you want to show it off – then do so prominently where everyone can see it. (Remember Ben Stiller on DodgeBall?)