A lot of people don’t like monetize their blogs. I don’t have any qualms about doing so as long as its text-based. Most people become blind to text based ads anyway. Its only the flash and images that are a nuisance. [I use Mozilla ad-block plugin to shut them out anyway].
I’m already monetizing this blog to a certain extent. In the left hand corner under “Sponsors” are websites that pay to be linked on my site. If you click on “Get your own Blog Sponsors” you’ll see I’m using LinkWorth. They’re pretty good. Easier to set up than Adsense. Its not click-based so there’s no issue of click-fraud and Google trying to weasel out of paying you.
The only downside is that you do have to wait for someone to sponsor your site. But if you have good content, that shouldn’t be an issue. I’ve also being trying Adbrite, but that doesn’t seem to attracted any advertisers. So far LinkWorth‘s been the best. I tried Adsense for several months, but finally when I was at the point of making $30/month they shut me down without any reason. But it seems to be working well for some people.
I’m not making a lot of money of the blog yet, just enough to fill a tank of gas each month. Luckily I have other income streams!