I’ve just written this long and fantastic post (if I do say so myself) about how chasing quick, short term revenue through ugly, crappy PPC ads reduces your credibility in the long term.

And then I accidentally deleted it. Bah.

I still believe it, though. In a year or two’s time, when there are more opportunities for pro-bloggers to sell training, coaching, support, hosting, writing, promotion, etc, etc, etc to businesses, which blogger do you think will get the business?

Will it be the blogger who’s been running 10 different types of flashing banners on each page of each of his/her blogs, and making less than $50 a year from it?

Or will it be the blogger who runs a cleanly designed, ad-free portfolio of blogs where the focus is purely on the content, rather than blatant attempts to make people look at your ads instead.

Providing the actual content is of a similar standard, I know which I’d choose.

Think about it. The harsh reality of pro-blogging is that not everyone is going to make 6 figures a year from ads on their blogs. Shit, most of us probably won’t even make 3 figures a year. So isn’t it about time that most people who want to call themselves probloggers dropped the PPC revenue model in favour of taking a longer term, more credible, and more secure view of our blogging futures?

You’re not a pro-blogger if all you’re making is $50 a year.