When talking advertisements, most website owners fall into a couple of groups. They either think that young websites should not have ads at all–lest it scare away potential early visitor. Or they assume that early ads are a good way to get people used to the idea that this page will, inevitably, have ads.

I fall into the latter category.

So when is the best time to add ads to your site? As soon as possible. But remember–if your website is young and fresh (like this one), you’ll find that your ads won’t get many (if any) clicks for some time to come. Programs like Google’s AdSense need tons of traffic in order to get popular while affiliate programs are luck of the draw. In other words, you need lots of views to make money through AdSense but quality, focused traffic to make money via affiliate programs–like the ones you see in the right column.

Start small when you add ads to your site. Don’t go hog wild with thousands of different products right from the get go. Tempting as it may be to try and get people to click your links, don’t overwhelm your visitors like some internet marketers tend to do. You want to get your viewers used to the idea of having ads on a website–not drive them away with sensory overload.

So slap a few AdSense blocks in your posts. Throw a handful of 125×125 pixel squares on your sidebar. And keep on posting to get your view and subscriber counts up. Then watch the money flow in.

When do you think is the best time to put ads up? Am I totally wrong in believing that the sooner you do it–the better?

I always get a kick seeing how much some people valuate their blogs at. Basing their estimates on data from some fly-by-night site that seems to calculate data by pulling it from a part of their body where the sun doesn’t shine, these people generally get their numbers wrong.

What was that? You have 50 subscribers, 300 posts, and an Alexa ranking of 400,000? And your blog’s worth $15,000 USD? Riiiiight.

Of course, correcting someone on how much their blog is worth is definitely bad form. I’m more than willing to let people live their fantasies and assume that their site could be sold for thousands at the tip of a hat. But I found a post the other day that I may just present to people who enjoy going around spouting out how much their blog is worth.

It’s right over here, at Pajama Professional. A fun little post that discusses the discrepancies between a number of the multitudes of blog valuation engines.

According to the post, Sara’s blog ranges from $331 to a whopping $16,074 and everything else in between. That’s a pretty wide span.

So what is the lesson we can all learn from this? That blog valuation calculators are utter garbage. They’re good for nothing more than a laugh. After all, the real amount your blog is worth is whatever someone is willing to pay for it when you decide to put it up for sale. For some people, it’s the cost of a domain name. For others, it’s well into the millions.

Oh, and if you’re wondering what these sites think my blog is worth? Have a look.

Website Outlook: $1306.70
CubeStat: $575.97
CyberWyre: $125
SmartPageRank: $103
dnScoop: $21

Just a quick post to let my growing audience know that I’ve lowered all of my advertisement rates.

Until Contented Niche reaches an average of 300 daily uniques, the two standard ad sizes cost no more than a dollar.

Only $1 per month for 125px square ads. Only $1 for every six months for a favicon ad in the first footer.

Even better, we’re finally offering more bang for your advertising buck. For just $5 per month, you can get an in-post ad measuring 300×250 pixels. Or, if you’d prefer the ultimate in advertising goodness, you can buy a review for as little as $10. We’ll review your program, website, blog, whatever you (reasonably) want.

You can see a full list of our advertising rates at our Advertise page.

We’re growing fast, so don’t expect these low prices to last.

Contact us and we’ll set something up.

Have all of the good ideas for blogs already been taken? Is it too late to start a successful blog? Is every blogging field too crowded by now?

No. No. No.

By no means is it too late to start a successful blog. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

I’m not going to be all sunshine and buttercups with you–a lot of the popular niches are tough to break into. Tech is easily the most difficult. There are some big guns in the business–and they’re not going away anytime soon. To make matters worse for the rookie tech blogger, most of the people reading blogs are into tech–and most of those who have even one shining desire to write are going to write about what they love. You guessed it. They’re writing about tech.

The niche is full–but by no means impossible to break into. For a tech blog to be successful these days, it has to come in at a different angle. Reviews and news? Completely overdone. Tips and techniques are great, as are top # lists–but at some point, those niches begin to dwindle.

What about other niches? The make money online (MMO) niche is another one with a lot of competition. But the good thing about a broad topic like MMO–you have access to just about anything you want to talk about. It’s not a walled in fortress of a niche like tech where you only have set few things to write before you have to resort to a review or two. MMO blogs have a much more expansive range and everyone has their own style for making a quick buck or two on the net.

And then there are the untapped niches. We’re talking book blogs. Fashion blogs. Photography blogs. Et cetera.

So can successful blogs still come to fruition? Of course they can. But you’ll need a unique idea or two to get you there. And if unique ideas aren’t oozing out of your ears, persistence is the way to go. No matter if the content is unique, dedication to the blog and an ever growing number of posts will always pay off in the end.