I mentioned Seth Godin’s blog during the class for our course on Business Blogging tonight. (Seth is always a great example.)

Then I noticed his post about how sometimes people like to see ads. Of course, this is what I’ve always said about search marketing. If people are actually searching for what you sell, you must learn to be there when they’re searching.

But how about when people come to your blog?

Are they bothered by ads? Do they think less of you as a result?

I think not. As Seth points out, the #1 blog in the world has 25 ads. #2 only has 1. #1 makes more money from ads, wich is good for them and doesn’t hurt their readers a bit.

Blogs are cool because anyone can publish, with few constraints.

Not because they’re ad free.

Email spam, which everyone hates, is bad because it’s horrible. It’s irrelevant, completely bogus, stupid, and often offensive.

People I barely know often send me email jokes — sometimes they’re actually hilarious and I forward them to a few people. Really, it’s the same as spam.

Both interrupt me, I asked for neither. But one is somehow ok and the other is the bane of the internet.

It’s not that email is a “tool,” it’s that spam has no editorial filter.

Like the quality of the ads in Vogue, and the booths at a trade show, bloggers maintain standards for the blogs on their sites. (Of course just the cost to advertise necessitates a certain standard.)

Evil email spam has none of that.

Perhaps it’s not the idea of ads on his blog that seem to bother Seth, but more the “self promotion.” For such a great marketer, he hates to say, “Buy my book; it’s great.” [Note: they are.]

I think the academic author and high-minded thinker, Seth, thinks self promotion is a little too crass. And if he can’t push his own stuff on his blog, then no one else should either.

My hunch is that none of his blog readers would be bummed if he had some sponsors on the site. In fact many people might want to support the sponsors that think Seth’s cool, too. No doubt many interesting people would love to advertise there. I know I’d check them out.

What are your thoughts about ads on blogs? [Note the irony of the question asked by the guy with the first (as far as I know) totally gaudy blog pixel ad at the very top.]

Personally, I think the pixel ads are more fun and interesting than the boring AdSense ads that used to be at the top. But I’m biased; pixel ads brought in more the first day than AdSense did all year, especially since Patrick Gavin has hijacked all SEO sites everywhere with his AdSense ads

And while we’re proting things, don’t miss our Seminar in China.