I wouldn’t consider your act of putting ads on your blog, selling out. The distinction is that you’d be placing ads for companies you support – that you feel make a difference in our community. The balance would be to ensure your blog does not become ad heavy or use ads that are obnoxious and flashy.

Personally, I don’t pay attention to ads. The more obnoxious an ad is, the more my brain filters it out. I know not everyone is like this, so that will be your challenge – to keep the ads relevant to the theme of your blog and to ensure you’re not overwhelming your readers.

It’s not a sellout, it’s life. You work hard here, there is nothing wrong with you trying to earn money from your time here.

I agree with Tris. So long as the ads are not too intrusive and they don’t take away from the core content, I think it’s perfectly fair for you to be compensated for your work.

Whether you choose to have ads or not, entirely your choice (obviously). That said, I would say that when I go to a ‘personal’ site that has ads (where I don’t know the person behind the site) I tend to get suspicious of any and all recommendations they have in posts and such. I have a few incredibly rich cousins who, back in the early days of Google ads, made a killing designing seemingly personal sites that were really ad platforms. Because of what I’ve learned from them, when I visit someone’s ‘personal’ site and see ads I start with the assumption that everything written is more highly suspect than a personal site without ads.

I’m probably part of a minority, in that I know some of the tricks that are used to pump ad revenue and thus am suspicious of things others aren’t, but it’s something you might want to consider.

I agree with Tris, that you spend hours here so you should get paid for yoru thinking. But I also agree with Chris, that trust is low right now and suspicious high. The best way to avoid that suspicion, however, is to just be up front with any post that might look suspect. Your blog doesn’t look like it’s primarily about recommendations, and you already have a ton of people who trust you.

I think this speaks to the core of the issue that so many in the social media community are having reconciling the “freelance isn’t free” issue – THERE IS NO SHAME IN EARNING A LIVING.

So get over it, run ads if an ad network will have you, and continue writing as you always do.

It becomes obvious when a blogger turns into nothing more than a paid shill for their ad network and other sponsors – and if you turn that way as well, obviously you’ll lose readers and trust.

But continuing on as you always do with the addition of ads is nothing to be ashamed about and does not need permission or apology.

@Jen: I don’t think that this is a case of ‘freelancing isn’t free’, given that a relatively small percentage of Raul’s posts could be classified as ‘freelancing’ anything. It seems much more like a personal blog. In monetizing your personal life, it opens questions (to a new visitor) of the authenticity of those personal thought.

If this were a blog with a highly particular purpose or focus that wasn’t predominantly oriented at covering Raul’s life, then I’d be in total agreement: market away. I think that in his case, however, it threatens the perceived credibility of the personal elements of the blog.

1. You could easily customize this theme to add in advertisements, so don’t think that you have to move away from the theme you’re most comforted with.

2. The act of ’selling out’ by placing ads, I think, went out the window as soon as the majority of professional bloggers, a large number of personal bloggers and social media sites became known advertisers. The fact that you would put such emphasis on only vendors you believe in, or with a cause you do, is an extra step, and if you’re really concerned about whether judgment will be cast on you for it, include an advertising/sponsor page that explains how and why advertisers make it onto hummingbird604.

The simple fact is: you put a lot of time and energy into this blog, both as a personal journal and as a promoter for important causes/events. There’s no reason that making some funds from advertising is immoral – it’s just another income stream (that you can use).

As you know, I’m new to the whole Blogging thing… and I see nothing wrong with Ads or Sponsoredd Links. I think all of us would like to get to a point where we can defray some of our costs !
I came across an article on Owen Greaves Blog recently, talking about the new US requirement for disclosure… I believe regarding ads, sponsorships and affiliate marketing… (I’m not there, yet… so I wasn’t paying that much attention) I’m not sure how much traffic comes to you from US sources, but maybe worth a look ?!?

http://blog.owengreaves.com/my-disclosure

Have an awesome day, Raul !
Cheers !

It wouldn’t bother me in the least.

It’s silly to even suggest placing ads on your site means selling out. You’re being compensated for your work. Doing it for free would be insanity. We’re not communists.

You sellout!!!

While you may not think so, I contend that your blog already has ads on it. That Ajax Comment Luv button, Urban Spoon button, Mybloglog widget and networkhub button can all be consider ads. Hell, even the Creative Common button is an ad.

The reason people don’t complain about them is because you don’t get paid for them. So the issue isn’t having ads on your blog, it’s being paid to have ads on your blog. When I first saw the networkhub button, I assumed they paid you for that.

My advice: Get paid for blogging because It doesn’t matter what other people think because you can control what other people think.