Drawar

each to their own - personally nope, but depends very much on the content and target of the blog.

True, true. But if you see them in a post, would that turn you off of the site? For me there are certain sites I've visited who's ad placement has made me never, ever visit again. That's what I'm trying to avoid.

I expect to see ads and don't really care where they are provided the site is not trying to take control of myt browser window or spawn pop ups/unders. Test things out and use whatever brings you the best return. Your users will become used to whatever format you choose.

It wouldn't turn me off no - but I have never ever clicked on a ad either. I have used them on my blogs and taken them off except one which is really a commercial blog and it sort of make sense.

Relevant text ads in or around a post don't bother me. Though not those "textlink" ads, I hate those, they're purposely deceptive and less-savvy Internetters assume they're valid links.

But Google-style ads are a-okay in my book. If you've got quality content, why not make a $1 or $2 a year off of it? :)

Perhaps slightly off topic, or not, but I almost find relevant text ads, like those Adwords serves up or in Gmail, etc. - those can be a good thing. If I'm talking about surfing and you tell me about a great new place to surf, I'll appreciate it.

Just make sure the text flows around/near them smoothly. It is really irritating when you are reading a post, happily minding your own business , and suddenly the post just stops and leaves you staring at an ad and a BIG bold line that says the article is continued on the other side of the ads.

I won't consistently read a site that uses those sorts of ads in the posts.

I generally do not enjoy any ads right with the posts because it somewhat disturbs me quite a bit when I read it. I am perhaps of a minority that prefers to have the ads just at the sidebar, while the post should be essentially what it should be, the post. I do not want my post to be surrounded by ads, no matter whether they are related or not.

I want my opinion, which is why I read a blog, not for the ads.

I don't mind them at all as long as:

They don't take up the entire width of the content and thus break up the article/post I'm reading.

They don't talk or make noise.

If they do either of those things it is very unlikely I will ever come back to read your site.

I don't mind if they're before or after the content, but not inside the content.

yes before or after the content. i've been to sites that have like adsense links right in between paragraphs, which totally screws up the reading flow and i usually leave the site. and as for side ads, unless really appealing to me, i usually never click on them.

I also agree, any ad that takes up the entirety of the width of a post is boohoo.

Also, I think it would be very important that when viewed on a mobile device the ad doesn't appear to just be more text with the post, or really even if you were looking at a site with no CSS, does the ad flop in like just another paragraph?

Anyone have any thoughts on the markup validity of an ad within a post?

If relevant ads its ok i think.

Personally, I'd be turned off by posts that have ads in them, and I've come across a blogger who placed ads right in the middle of a post, which I thought was rude. And needless to say, I never went back to that blog.

But that doesn't mean that I'm anti-ads. I've got Google ads at the bottom of my post on my single post view but not IN my posts.

I think that unobtrusive ads are the best kind of ads for blogs. If there have to be ads in the content section, I prefer contextual ads.

It seems like you are removing all of the other ads from around your site - a concession that your readers will appreciate.

The most innocuous place for your ads is probably after your content, but before your comments section. At least that's how I do it.

Good luck!

I've thus far avoided putting adverts on my site, if only because they wouldn't make any money, and I don't foresee that changing in the future. The Text Link Ads I have on the Tarski site help to pay for things like software, hosting, domain names and so on. Since I'm providing a freely downloadable WordPress theme under the GPL, with a huge amount of free support for it, it doesn't seem too unreasonable that I put adverts up to ensure that all I'm giving is my time. All that being so, I keep the adverts at the end of each post or page, where hopefully they're not too obtrusive. As they're just text it's fairly easy to make them gel with the design of the rest of the site; I would definitely think twice about including adverts that stood out more, and any eyesore using Flash or animation would stand no chance (unless the money being offered was truly obscene; we all have our acquisitive instincts to assuage, after all).

Through Text Link Ads, I have Post Ads enabled, which lets advertisers place an ad in my posts. However, "in" my post is a bit misleading; it's actually just text at the very bottom of the post, saying Related link: (their ad). Most of them are okay, providing something that someone who found my post through a search might actually be interested in.