If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you know that I love sharing free crochet patterns, printables, tutorials, and freebies with you—especially during all of the fun seasonal blog hops!
But with the increase in fall blog hops, I’ve also received more comments and complaints about the ads that appear on my blog. So I thought I’d take a moment to explain why the ads are there and why they are important.
Free Doesn’t Mean It Costs Nothing
When I offer a free crochet pattern or printable, there is no charge to you for downloading it. But creating and maintaining that free content isn’t actually free for me.
There are costs involved in running a website, including hosting, domain fees, software, email services, website maintenance, photography, design tools, and all of the time that goes into designing, testing, writing, formatting, and promoting each pattern.
The ads help cover those expenses.
They allow me to continue offering free content without having to charge you for every pattern or tutorial.
For example, the website for my blog charges $308 per year plus $23 for the domain. Ad revenue from the blog was $473 for last year, leaving me a surplus of only $158 to cover the cost of yarn, photos, editing software, and all the other costs associated with running a business.
Those Freebies Take Time
A free pattern may take just as much work to create as a paid pattern.
There is designing, crocheting, testing, photographing, writing instructions, editing, creating the blog post, and maintaining the website. And when I’m participating in a blog hop with other designers, there is even more behind-the-scenes work involved.
The fact that you aren’t paying for the pattern doesn’t mean there wasn’t a significant investment of time and resources in creating it.
Why So Many Ads During Blog Hops?
You may notice more ads when you’re visiting my blog for a blog hop.
That’s because blog hops can bring a LOT more visitors to the website in a short period of time. More visitors mean more opportunities to generate the advertising revenue that helps support the website.
And honestly, that revenue helps make it possible for me to continue participating in these events and offering so many freebies.
You Don’t Have to Buy Anything
The wonderful thing about the ads is that you don’t have to purchase anything from them.
You can simply scroll past them, download your freebie, and enjoy your crochet project.
If an ad is particularly intrusive or makes the page difficult to use, I understand the frustration. I’m always working to provide a good experience while also keeping the website financially sustainable. Please also remember – I don’t personally choose the ads. Google selects them based on your browsing history.
A Little Support Goes a Long Way ❤️
If you’ve ever downloaded one of my free patterns, used one of my printables, participated in a blog hop, or found something useful on my website, the ads are one of the ways you’ve helped support my work—even if you never purchased anything.
So the next time you see an ad while grabbing a free crochet pattern, just remember:
That ad is helping keep the free stuff free. 🧶❤️
Thank you for being here, for crocheting my designs, for sharing your finished projects, and for supporting independent designers.
If you have downloaded a free pattern from my blog or from one of the blog hops, I totally understand why. I too am a bargain shopper! The great thing is you don’t have to purchase anything to support independent designers. When you finish a project from a free pattern, post it on your social media. Share a project on Ravelry or Ribblr. Forward social media posts to your friends who crochet. There are many ways to support indie designers without costing you a penny!
Also, follow your favorite designers on social media so you’ll always know about new patterns, blog hops, sales & discounts.
And most of all, thank you for understanding that there is a real person behind the website who is working hard to keep all of these free crochet goodies coming!
Happy crocheting!
September blog hops
Share your new creations in my Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1GcgVo8U6k/
ICYMI (In Case You Missed It)
Affiliate Links
This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something, we may earn a commission. Thanks for helping support my crochet blog.
