Should you sell ads on your personal blog?

My Z Trek blog is a “business blog,” because it’s (sometimes) involved with what I do for a living, and because I (sometimes) do my blogging during working hours.

However, many of my favorite bloggers do so on their own time, to talk about their non-commercial interests. Let’s say that their blogs generate a fair amount of traffic. Should they attempt to monetize that through advertising?

According to Eugene Volokh, you might not want to commercialize a personal-interest blog.

In his post, “Don’t sell ads on your blog,” Eugene writes that, “Many homeowner’s insurance policies cover you for libel, invasion of privacy, and the like, including for the costs of defending the lawsuits. But they generally expressly exempt liability that’s based on your “business pursuits,” which may include even those pursuits on which you make a pittance.”

Interesting topic, and one I’d never thought about.