Hello fellow foodies and bloggers! We wanted to get some ideas and feed back from you on a number of issues, in order to help form the next steps for our blog.
The first question we have is, should we allow advertising on the blog? We realise that there are pros and cons to this, there are tons of articles to read (all very pros and cons). However, we also understand that as the blog grows in our content, the advertising can pay for expansion and development, for example, extra memory storage, the ability to post videos, better design and the rest.
Let’s face it we didn’t start this to make money, but neither can we afford for it to cost us anything, other than time. Even though we’re not at that point yet, it doesn’t hurt to plan and seek opinion and help. We are just novices and aren’t sure where to go next…maybe we’re getting ahead of ourselves?
Who better to ask than you, the people who look at and read the blog?
We are relatively new to this kind of thing so would be really interested to hear what people think about this issue. I understand it’s big in the USA, but here in blighty it seems much less developed. Should we or shouldn’t we and will it generate enough income so the blog pays for itself?
We had also thought of developing an “Ask the Blokes” section, where you could submit questions and challenges for us to try and answer or complete. Would this be interesting/worthwhile or pointless?
We have also recently set up a Facebook page and any tips you could give us on how to develop that alongside the blog would be greatly appreciated – also please “like” if you haven’t done so already!
You may also have noticed that we are now on Foodie Blog Roll, hence our original question re advertising, because they ask for us to become publishers and we are not sure yet…
So many questions…perhaps too many?
Please let us know what you think about these or any other issues…we have some serious discussions and decision making ahead and would like you to be a part of that. Because you folks are more important to us than we ever realized you could be – sloppy huh!?
Hoping that you will participate by writing in the comments section and thanking you in advance for doing so,
BBC1 & BBC2
😃👍👎👌😄
British Blokes Cooking 
I’m just a novice at blogging. But I believe that through advertising, you will be able to enhance the quality of your posts( by adding videos etc) And of course you will exceed the given storage limit sooner or later, and you will need revenue to expand it. Don’t make something fun like blogging into a burden. Advertising I believe is there for bloggers to continue blogging and giving quality posts. I’d say go for it!
Thank you for taking the time to respond. We think it’s so hard for us ‘new’ and novice bloggers and we should stick together! We had discussed the whole idea of making the blog pay for its self because, as we said previously, time is the only thing we can afford to spend on it. Once again thank you for your time, support and comments! 😘
Interesting discussion. Let’s face it, nobody (unless they work in advertising) wants to see adverts. But everyone is so used to seeing and ignoring them that I really don’t think that they stop people reading blogs. On the other hand, I admit that sponsored posts, or worse still, ghost-written sponsored posts that don’t admit to being sponsored have stopped me reading some blogs. I don’t have a Facebook account, so I probably shouldn’t comment on it but I don’t understand how people find the time to keep Facebook and a blog up to date while also tweeting and pinning things. Maybe I’m just getting slow in my old age. I like the idea of an Ask The Blokes feature a lot – some challenges especially could be a bit of a laugh if you’re up for them – but I think you’d need to have a fair bit of time to spare to make it work. Sorry, that sounds a bit negative and I didn’t mean it that way. I wish you the best and why not go for it?
What brilliant observations…we can’t see how we can do the blog and a very different Facebook page at the moment, and there is two of us! We’re not tweeters really, as not quite got the point of it, being the old codgers or farts that we are! Totally agree about ignoring adds on pages…but not sure about ghost written stuff? We understand what it means, but so new to blogging and reading blogs that haven’t recognized this yet. As you may have read in a previous conversation, on this post, we want to be ‘us’ and think this needs to be our voice. Otherwise what’s the point? We thought ‘Ask the Blokes’ could be fun, so thanks for agreeing. And no, you don’t sound negative at all! Is all constructive and helpful – thank you! 😘
Like others I’ve been thinking about this too so I was really curious to see what people said. From the research I’ve done you will have to self host which means you lose a lot of the benefits of wordpress which is something I’ve thought a lot about. One is that I’m not sure you can take your followers with you unless they’ve given you their email address. For me it’s about keeping the integrity of my blog and why I am writing and sharing what I am. I think if your advertising complements this then its not a bad thing. I’ve been looking into sponsorship and sample sharing as another idea to save money. Particularly for small food and produce brands looking to grow their business tapping into your audience may be a good avenue and you’ll save money on ingredients that may go towards your other costs if you need it to. I think ultimately you have to decide what you want your blog to be and stick true to that. It’s the tone of your writing and your style that attracts your readers and followers. I for one have a little giggle at your posts and love the personal stories intertwined with your recipes and the fact that you have 2 people writing so we get different voices sharing. It makes me feel like I get a glimpse into your kitchen and your food conversations. Good luck what ever you decide to do.
Thank you so much. These are the very discussions we are having. We want to be ‘us’ and not lose ourselves. You have made some very constructive which we had not even considered at this point and we really appreciate that. Your comments on the blog are kind and your feeling echoes what we were aiming for in the first place! Once again thank you so much, you’ve made our day! 😘
Your welcome. Keep up the amazing work and the right opportunity will arrive. 🙂
I like the “ask the blokes” idea! (I’ve already asked for a recipe and I’m sure many others would, too.) I don’t know enough about how advertising works to have an opinion on that.
Thank-you. It was you asking and our friend Tracey asking about gluten free that prompted the idea! Appreciate your honesty on the advertising as we think we really don’t know enough about it either! 😘
I say go for it! However I’m in the process of sitting all of this up on my blogs too and wordpress does not allow javascript to be placed on their blog formats. So now I’m in the process of deciding rather or not to move my blog that I have with wordpress. It seems to be complicated (at least to me) to change hosting companies. I have a blog on blogger too and already have a few ads on that blog and am in the process of sitting up the foodie blogroll ads now.
I think it is a great idea to do the advertising though.
Facebook pages are a good way to build followers. But you will need to invest a little money to pay for likes. Otherwise it is very hard to get likes and build your Facebook page. I spend small amounts at a time to generate a few hundred new followers then I pause the ad for awhile.
Good luck to you.
Thank-you. Wouldn’t know where to start changing hosting companies or anything about java script type ads. We’ve obviously got a lot of reading and research to do! We have managed to set up a Facebook page for this blog after much mucking about and bickering…lol… Out of interest, do you post the same stuff on both your blogs or do you do different content for each? Once again thanks for your encouragement and support! 😘
I post different content. You will find that your Facebook followers will like different content than your blog followers. Sometimes I do share the same item if it is something really awesome. Honestly sometimes I get caught up too much sometimes in trying to make my followers happy and then I have to remember why I started a blog/Facebook page it was to share things I enjoy so then I have to get back to the basics.
Is your Facebook page the same “British Blokes Cooking”?
Yes it’s the same, wasn’t sure what to do so we just linked them…but of course only has friends at the moment. Think penny just dropped about dif’ content, coz if already following blog what’s point of going to Facebook page if is just a repetition…doh!
Yes definitely break the content up between the both for your followers. I found your Facebook page.
Is yours foodandeverything else?
Yes that is me.
Got ya! Liked😄
🙂
Glad you asked these questions because they are issues that I too consider from time to time. Re the advertising question and needing income to cover costs. I’ve been at this now for close to 2 years 300+ posts and have yet to outlay a brass razoo. At the beginning I was uploading loads of photos and quickly ran out of storage, so I deleted what wasn’t posted and went back and made collages with many more which basically made my upload facility empty. I use a 99c iPad app called “collage” , can make 3-4 photos the size of one. Having said all that though, wordpress storage is pretty cheap! I still use a free layout design and found on a rainy Sunday afternoon when I had loads of time that there was a lot I could do to personalize the site. I think you can to decide what your blog is for, making money or to share your cooking ideas with the wider world. As for the “ask the blokes” give it a try, if it works, run with it, if not close it down! Now, do I join Facebook to grow my following?I have resisted having FB in my life, mainly to respect my privacy, but am I just a petty old dame? As for FBR, it’s not made one iota of difference to my stats or my blog!
😄Thank you for taking the time to reply. Is just the sort of response and opinion we were looking for, not that others aren’t welcome or valid, it’s real! As far as Facebook is concerned you can set up your own account, make it totally private (until they change the rules again) and then set up an independent page to link to your blog. But as we said we are such novices and still learning. Thank you so much for your feedback, we really appreciate your time! 😘