To make money from ads you either need to have massive amounts of traffic or be ultra niche targetted. Banner ads are pretty much invisible to your average use

To make money from ads you either need to have massive amounts of traffic or be ultra niche targetted. Banner ads are pretty much invisible to your average use these days too, so are really just a waste of time and space. The most effective and ethical way of monetizing a personal blog is to use it as a promotion tool for some other business, ideally your own.