Text Link Ads - Where to Draw the Line

Let’s face it, most bloggers write to produce some form of supplemental income.  To this effort, they need ways to derive this income and use many common forms of advertisements such as, affiliate links, Google AdSense, Commission Junction Ads, and contextual links ads like Kontera.  These can all be money makers for the publisher, but they are also in some ways intrusive to the blog reader, each in their own way.

Today I would like to discuss contextual ads and use the company Kontera as an example.  I just recently signed up for Kontera but have not yet added the ad code to my blog.  I was utterly amazed at the responses that I read while doing a search for contextual links.  Many viewers find them very intrusive to their viewing pleasure.  You may have noticed going to a website or blog and moving your cursor, whether intentionally or unintentionally, over a double-underline link and having an ad appear on the screen.  These are contextual ad links, of which, Kontera is one of many companies providing such services.

While I only did a small sampling of comments and articles from various websites, it got me thinking as to what is an effective balance between content and advertisement.  At what point do the multitude of ads turn off the reader enough that they just decide to leave the website?  And are they so discouraged from their experience that they decide not to return to the site again believing it is just an ad farm.

I think this type of question is best answered by the viewers and I hope that if any of you are reading this and have the time to express your feelings on this issue that you’ll do so.  I would be curious to see how many viewers are for or against those contextual ads.  Most people by now know what they are, but there are still some viewers who get confused and think they are actual links to other relevant information on the blog.  This is where they may feel deceived or tricked into doing something that they originally did not intend.

As my blog grows and matures, I would like to find and honest balance between income and quality content for my readers.  I know that products like Kontera are configurable, but before I just start dropping various types of ads onto my blog, I would like to know where to draw-the-line.