I’m a big fan of monetizing your websites and blogs, even personal ones.  I started posting ads on my blogs well over a year ago.  Although it took me a year to get up to $100 so that I could get my first check, ever since then it’s been more frequent.  Right now I get a check for $100 every three to four months.

So when my dad bought a domain name and web hosting, and started a website on German travel, I really tried to convince him to put ads on his site.  He has quite a loyal little following, and I really think he could benefit from posting even just a few ads on his website.

He claims that he is not posting ads because he doesn’t need or want money, even though he frequently gives people advice on planning their trips to Germany.  However, he also has been reluctant to start a Blogger blog where he could blog about his trips to Germany.  Instead he is updating his website manually every day.

I wonder sometimes if it’s just that my dad isn’t sure how to get the ads on his site, or doesn’t want to learn the blogging platform.  Since it overwhelms him, he avoids it and makes up excuses why, so that he doesn’t have to put himself in that position.  If he had a bigger site, he’d probably be a candidate for managed hosting, just so that he wouldn’t have to deal with much of the technical side himself.

I’m sorry to say, though, that he’s likely never to grow his website that much.  In order to do that he’d have to break free of some of the things that are holding him back, and he’s just not likely to do so.  It’s too bad, because I really think his website could be an excellent source of side income for him if he only would use it to his advantage.

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