And I’m not just talking to my British readers who have a general election tomorrow!! Coincidentally, this year marks the first year that I am no longer eligible to send in an absentee ballot as I have passed the 15 year mark of being a registered absentee voter. Just as well really because I was undecided on my vote, it was either going to be Labour, or, should I have felt that the Tories were likely to win the seat that I voted on then I would have cast a tactical vote and voted for the Liberals’.

No, the main reason for this post is to ask you to go and vote on a poll that I am interested in seeing the results of. Bonnie, over at MY BOTTOM SMARTS, has created a poll asking readers for their opinions on ‘Advertising on Blogs’. So please click the highlighted link and head on over there to cast your vote.

It is an interesting topic and it is one that I have discussed on this very site several times. My feelings on the subject are as follows.

When I first started this blog I was completely unaware of the fact that money could be made from doing such a venture, however I was soon to discover that you could indeed supplement your income by using advertisements on the site. Now there are different levels to how one goes about using advertising, however I don’t think there is a right or a wrong way. It can pretty much go four ways and here is my opinion on those four directions.

Firstly, you have the spanking blogs that have zero advertising on them and that could be for one of two reasons. They have either made a conscious decision that they wish to keep their website clear of any ads whatsoever, or, they just simply do not know how to make money from their website nor understand how the affiliate programs work.

Secondly, you have websites such as this one that utilizes static banners to paysites in the sidebar as a way of gaining a little extra income. This may include an occasional post that has a link in it as well.

Third, you have the bloggers who started out as a regular blogger, however, once they realized that money could be made from their sites they slowly but surely became spam blogs, splogs as I call them. Every post is created purposefully with the goal of including as many links to affiliate programs as is humanly possible within that one post. The posts are actually disguises to promote the affiliate programs contained within the post itself. Now I don’t want it to sound that I am knocking that practice because I am not, the bottom line is that the reader is getting something spanking related and I would guess that they are completely unaware of the affiliate links contained within the post.

And finally, you have the spanking bloggers who seized on the opportunity to become an entrepreneur and actually created a network of different blogs where all they do is promote spanking affiliate material. Again, I am not criticizing, indeed, I am in fact one of those people who does this practice myself. My Spanking Films, Spanking Galleries and to a lesser degree, my Spanking Pics sites all fall into this category, they are used as promotional tools. The purpose of having those sites (and ones to come in the future) are to try and keep this main site as free as possible from spam/advertising.

The question is though, does it serve a purpose? In my honest opinion, yes, it very much serves a purpose. There are a lot of people in the spanking community who go to blogs to read about the person writing the blog itself. They are involved from a voyeur’s standpoint and clearly enjoy the variety of topics presented to them, whether they be visual, written, or even an emotional attachment to the blog in question. These readers find the blogs that they can most relate to and they keep coming back on a daily basis to see what is new that they can catch up on.

Now on the other side of that coin, you have what I call the Doonstar’s of this world. The people who for whatever reason they choose, whether that be that they are envious and cannot live vicariously through someone else, or if they are just visual creatures who choose to get their gratification by simply looking at pics and choosing not to expand their minds by listening to someone else’s opinion. Or even simply someone who is looking for that quick fix and they want to jack off, and the easiest way to do that is to find spanking material regardless of where they find it. This latter group are the ones who are most likely to appreciate spanking advertising.

We, as individuals, can decide what it is that we seek when we go looking for spanking material in the online world. That includes the people out there who haven’t found that yet and are still looking for it. I would take a guess right now that 50% of my readers come here for what I present to them, and the other 50% come here to see if I have anything to offer or are just passing through. They are looking for something and they don’t mind whether they are finding that on a free blog or on the promotional part of a paysite. Indeed I will say that 50% of the people who visit this site will read what I just said, and the other 50% will do a quick browse, see that there is nothing to interest them and will then click one of my links to go elsewhere. I understand that an awful lot of my readers come through here to listen to what I have to say and to see what I have posted, but there are just as many who couldn’t give two shit’s what I have to say, they are only coming here to see the free pics and videos (even those who come here specifically to rip off my content :-)) and if I don’t have any they move on to the next place. So if I can send them somewhere where I might make $10 out of it, then hell yeah I’m going to do that 😉