Google Adsense and this Blog

// April 6th, 2007 // Site News

Google AdSenseYou may have noticed a string of Google ads at the top of the page. After much deliberation, and research, I’ve decided to go ahead and include some ads here to help cover the cost of running this site. I will do my best to keep the ads unobtrusive and not annoying. I plan on placing the ads in two places: at the top of the front page and, in longer articles, within the content (tastefully).

Like this one:

Google ads are contextual Pay Per Click ads. This simply means that Google displays ads based on the content of the page and keeps track of how many times one of the ads gets clicked. I get paid according to that count. In other words, the user doesn’t have to actually purchase anything, or even browse the website at the other end. Just click.

Adding ads to a blog can be controversial. Some people are turned off by it. Others look at it as a way to “thank” the blog owner for their time (you can imagine which outlook I prefer…). I’m not married to the idea of keeping ads here, so I would LOVE for you to give me some feedback on what you think of the changes. Let me know in the comments…

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7 Responses to “Google Adsense and this Blog”. Gravatars are enabled.

  1. Sarah P says:
    April 8, 2007 at 5:30 pm

    You blood-sucking capitalist pig, you!!

    Just kidding, I hope it’s successful!

    Reply
  2. Ben Cotten says:
    April 9, 2007 at 12:17 am

    Ha! Yeah, that’s me! Always looking for a way to make an easy buck! I figure that if companies are making millions selling water in bottles (and don’t get me started on having to pay for air to put in my tires), then I should be able to make $2.50 a year on my blog.

    Maybe I could sell water AND bottled air on my blog…

    Reply
  3. Cristin Cotten says:
    April 9, 2007 at 8:15 pm

    Well, bottled air will be cheaper to ship….We will all click away regularly so you can earn your keep or at least fill those tires and buy a cheesburger.

    Reply
  4. Littlebirdie says:
    April 11, 2007 at 11:01 am

    Sell out!!

    Actually, I’ve always looked at ads on sites as a sign of success. A popularity indicator, if you will. I say go for it!

    Reply
  5. Nathan says:
    April 12, 2007 at 11:59 pm

    Just make sure they ARE contextual. This is one of the problems when I monetized my blog a while back. The ads were completely off the wall. Make sure and do your research on how to keep the ads on topic. Not only will they be less offensive, but you’ll earn more that way.

    Reply
  6. Ben Cotten says:
    April 13, 2007 at 9:18 am

    Thanks for the tip, Nathan. I’m using “section targeting” tags to help focus the ads and that seems to help a lot.

    Thanks for stopping by!

    Reply
  7. Bill Gates says:
    April 14, 2007 at 6:12 pm

    You are a complete money-sucking, greedy, sorry rascal for doing that, Ben. In between making millions of dollars due to other companies, I love reading your blog. But – I can’t do that anymore. Because you are the one person on the planet greedier than I am. You should be ashamed of yourself. You’ve prostituted yourself to THE MAN.

    Reply

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