How do you monetize your blog?

Are you an AdSense maniac or an affiliate fanatic? Do you direct-sell ad space to advertisers like I do on Webmaster-Source?

Or are you part of a marketplace like BuySellAds, or a network like Casale Media or Doubleclick?

Or is your blog an ad-free zone?

Take a minute to vote in this poll (no registration, no hassles, just two clicks), and maybe elaborate upon your choice a little in a comment. We’d like to know.

I’ll start. I direct-sell 125×125 ads on Webmaster-Source mainly, and I voted that since it’s my largest source of blog income. I do have a single AdSense block that I haven’t been able to bring myself to delete (I’m halfway to another check again ), and I put the occasional affiliate link in, but mainly I try to keep to the 125×125s, which are noticeable enough, yet unobtrusive enough not to be a bother.

Okay, now it’s your turn. Vote in the poll below, and share what your solution is. (If you’re reading this in an RSS reader, you’ll need to click through to the permalink to vote in the poll.)

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Around mid-July, I asked you what you used for your browser’s homepage. Unlike most of my polls, I this time allowed the selection of multiple options, seeing as most modern browsers allow you to have multiple tabs open on startup.

We ended up with some interesting results, and, predictably, Google is the #1 choice.

An interesting strategy, though quite different from mine, which is to have a custom page with links to my Google Apps email page, and the like.

The numbers are as follows: 40% of the 50 votes have Google.com, 20% use Netvibes, iGoogle, or similar; 20% use “other,” 16% about:blank, 6% a custom HTML file, 2% use Yahoo or AOL, and another 2% have their blog set as their homepage.

Google is leading by a large margin, which I kind of expected. Really, it makes a good homepage. It’s quick to load and fairly empty, sort of like about:blank, but it provides some useful function as well.

Michael Martin of Pro Blog Design uses this strategy:

My blog, Todoist, Google Reader and Digg.I read Digg first, then Google Reader. Once I close each of those tabs, I try not to open them again until the next day. It usually works.

On virtually all web browsers (modern browsers, anyway), you can set a particular page (or pages if you have a tab-equipped browser) to automatically open when you launch the browser.

What page you choose is obviously up to you, and it’s generally a choice made depending on browsing habits.

That brings us to the question: What site do you use for your browser start page? Take a moment to vote in the poll (you’ll have to click through if you’re reading this in an RSS aggregator).

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Are you a Googlemaniac or do you prefer About:Blank? Or do you prefer to load up Netvibes or Pageflakes with RSS feeds and Twitter streams?

Twitter… It seems that either you really like the service, or you totally refuse to use it. I fell into the latter category, until a few months ago, when I looked at it closer, and read some posts by some bloggers I read.

A lot of bloggers are using Twitter, and many are extolling in their posts the benefits of using Twitter in conjunction with your blog. It’s a venerable pandemic. Twitter has invaded the blogosphere, and it shows no sign of leaving any time soon.

Daniel Scocco (who is a Twitter user, I might add) has an appropriate reminder for those of you who have become addicted to Twitter: Twitter Less, Blog More!

Now, I’d like to know what your take on Twitter is. Vote in the poll below, it only takes a minute. (If you’re reading this in an RSS reader, you’ll have to click through to the blog to vote).

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When you add images to your blog posts, where do you upload them? Do you store them on an image host like TinyPic.com, or do you prefer to keep them on your own server somewhere?

There are advantages to both methods, and of course, disadvantages.

As of this writing, I put most of my images on TinyPic, though I’ve lately been a little worried about that. What if TinyPic decides to delete them? What if something happens and they lose a bunch of data? I happens. It would be lot of work to re-upload images and edit all of my posts, but it would be “safer.” Though on the other hand, I’d be storing more files on my server, and transferring more bytes as well…

I’m still undecided, but what’s your preferred method?

Earlier this month, I asked whether it was a good idea to start a weekly column on Webmaster-Source for newcomers to blogging.

It looks like it will be happening. 92% of the voters said they were for the new column, and only 8% were against it. Again, not many people voted, but that could still possibly be attributed to the poll’s not showing in the RSS feed. (I think the Democracy Polls plugin can do that, so I’ll try it next…)

I think the addition of the new column would benefit everyone, so I’m going to go ahead with it in the near future. It would benefit new bloggers, obviously, but it would also help-out more experienced webmaster in a few ways too. I plan to accept guest posts for the column, so you’ll have a chance to promote your blog, and, you never know, it can be helpful to review the basics once in awhile.

I’m not going to launch this quite yet, but I will be in the near future.

I’ve been considering starting a weekly column here at Webmaster-Source, and accepting guest posts for it, as well as long-term guest writers. Generally, I tend to write for intermediate to advanced bloggers, and newcomers to the field are neglected a little.

My idea is to, pretty much every Tuesday, have a post targeted at beginning bloggers. Is this a good idea? Let’s put it to a vote.

I would like to keep WSC’s reader base fairly broad, which means publishing some more posts for beginners, but I don’t want to make any decisions you may not like. I don’t want to become another blog trying to teach beginners from the ground-u (I very much prefer writing at my current level), but I do think a weekly tutorial/tip/etc for newbies is a good idea.

Please let me know what you think.

Last month, I asked what type of domain you have. Only twelve people voted, which seems rather small compared to some previous polls. Thinking about this, I realized a bit of a problem with the polling service I’ve been using: RSS readers generally don’t display JavaScript. I should probably use WP-Polls, or something of the sort, so the poll will show-up in the feed.

Now, moving-on to the poll results.

17% (2 votes) say they have a keyword-filled domain with a .com TLD (like Webmaster-Source.com).

17% (2 votes) say they have a short, brandable name like Yahoo.com.

17% (2 votes) say they have a Del.icio.us-style domain, making use of country-level TLDs and subdomains to end-up with an easy to remember domain.

17% (2 votes) say they have a misspelled domain, like Flickr.com.

25% (3 votes) say that they have a domain with an alternate TLD, like .net, .org, or .biz.

Your domains are arguably the most important part of your website. Without domains, well, let’s just say that search engines would be even more essential then they already are (you’d have to type IP addresses otherwise).

What type of domain do you have? Do you have a descriptive, keyword-laden domain? A misspelled domain like “Flickr.com”? Do you use a .com TLD, or do you use an alternate one? Answer the poll.

Don’t have a domain? Get one. They’re only $6/year. Before you go out and register a domain, be sure to read about naming your site and picking a domain.

Back in January, I asked how you like your RSS feeds. We ended up with some interesting results.

48% (10 votes) said they preferred full feeds. This is something that most of you would expect. People tend to demand full feeds quite often.

10% (2 votes) said they like summarized feeds. Out of the total 21 votes, I was quite surprised that even that many like summarized feeds. You don’t often hear people saying that. Also, when I used FeedDemon for a week, I really did prefer the full feeds.

29% (6 votes) voted for “I don’t care, I use Firefox Live Bookmarks or MyNT.” It’s nice to see that plenty of people like to read RSS feeds the way I prefer. It really is an efficient way to check your feeds. My experiment with FeedDemon did, however, show that the MyNT experience (which is similar to Live Bookmarks) could do with some improvement. And improvement it shall get.

Three of those who voted (14%) are real wise-guys. “Lightly toasted”?