Why Do You Have Ads on Little House Living?

Dear Little House Living Readers,

I feel the need to explain. I realize that not everyone in life is in the same place and we may not understand what someone else does or why they make the decisions they do. So today I’m here to share a little detail with you on why we allow ads on Little House Living.

It used to be that I never had a complaint about the ads on this page but as the site has grown, so have the complaints.

“Why is your page so overloaded with ads?”

“If you are so frugal, why are you posting shopping ads?”

“I don’t like ___ ad, why are you posting such a thing?”

“If you live such a simple life then why do you have ads on your website?”

“I like your content but I hate websites with ads so I’m never coming back.”

And other hurtful things that some days make me want to give up blogging completely and hide in my garden until the end of time.

As I mentioned, it’s hard to share the reasons behind why something is done, especially with a simple comment or in multiple emails a week so here I’m going to try and do my best.

Little House Living is a free website. I never have, and I never will require payment to view the articles on here. When I began the site in 2009, my mission was to share my frugal living adventures with anyone that was interested. I wanted to share how I was making the most with what I have, in the good times and in the hard times. Nothing about that statement has changed.

That being said, Little House Living is not free for me to run. Each month I have to pay bills such as site hosting, email service, tech fees, etc. The costs range from hundreds of dollars to thousands of dollars and each year I will pay tens of thousands of dollars in expenses, just to keep Little House Living running so that you can use it for free.

Blogging is not cheap or easy. There are difficult decisions to be made, and running ads on the website is just one of them.

I bring in income in several different ways on LHL but the biggest portion of that comes from ads. I rarely do sponsored posts since I prefer to keep things as real and genuine as possible.

Secondly, I have a family to feed, cloth, and house. I work at least 40-60 hours per week on Little House Living. I’m not ashamed to be able to take home a little bit of income each month after I pay the bills. As you may know, we live in South Dakota and the income levels are not high here, any extra money I can bring in helps my little family tremendously.

Why do we need so many ads though?

The average “click through rate” (CTR, or times that a reader clicks on an ad) varies by industry; however, the average is around 0.1%. Let’s say the average cost-per-click (how much you earn when somebody clicks an ad) is $0.50. That means you would need around 1,000 unique visitors each day to get even one ad click and earn $0.50 for the day.” – Smart Blogger

The more ads that are placed on a website, the better the chances are that someone will possibly click on an ad that interests them, earning us a few pennies. Some ads pay better than others and certain times of year can be better than others, however, ad income is still very low and one must have a large amount of blog traffic to make anything worthwhile.

I love my readership and think it’s amazing that some of you have followed my writing for years and years now. I’m glad you can put up with me! I wish that I could have a totally clean website, free of any distractions, maybe someday that will somehow be a reality. But for now, the ads are paying for Little House Living and they are providing groceries for my family. Please understand that there is no way we could keep Little House Living running if we didn’t have the ads on the page.

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How can you support Little House Living?

Just visiting Little House Living frequently is a wonderful way to support the site. I love knowing that my readers are getting something valuable out of my writing so when you return to read more, I know that I must be doing something right.

Tell your friends about Little House Living. Share the articles that you love on Facebook, through email, or any other social media site that you frequent.

Consider a purchase from the Little House Living store. We’ve got some exciting things coming to the store very soon. I can’t wait to show you! I also love it when you purchase my book, Little House Living: The Make Your Own Guide to a Frugal, Simple, and Self-Sufficient Life directly through the store on our website. Just an FYI: I do not make any income at all on books purchased through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or any other retailer. Which is not to say that you shouldn’t buy your book there, but it’s something to consider if you are hoping to purchase the book to support our family. (Plus I always sign the copies in our site store!) 🙂

If you are a blogger, feel free to link to articles within your own content. I’m happy to be a part of roundups or anything similar.

Email me with ideas, suggestions, positive thoughts, or constructive criticism. I happily welcome these emails and try to respond to all that I can. My email is [email protected]. Please do not email me if you want to tell me how stupid I am, how much you hate me, or that you wish I would die. (Yes, those are all real emails I’ve gotten.)

 

I’m determined to continue with my original mission statement from so many years ago. I love helping others live simply and make the most with what they have. I hope that if you believe in this mission as well that you will always be able to support LHL, ads or no ads.

Love,

Merissa

 

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