While I was away, I made a little behind the scenes change and added advertisements to A Room of Mama's Own. I know, it does seem a little crass to paper my walls with marketing materials, but you know I did agonize over it. Let me tell you what tipped the scales (other than the creditors calling): Stephen Colbert. Yes, Stephen Colbert with his addict-like charm talked me into it.
I watched this video (thank you, Dirty Bitch Society for sharing):
And I thought: Well, duh. How do entertainers get paid? Advertising. How was The San Diego Reader able to pay me to publish some of my pieces? Um, advertising. Maybe advertising is not inherently evil. It allows me to maybe get a little money for doing what I enjoy, while continuing to bring you all writing you (seem to!) enjoy for free, the advertisers get a new market, and you may even (one hopes) find something interesting or useful.
I am still working on integrating them gracefully into the site, so bear with me. I haven't figured the positioning out yet, so they clutter things up just a little, I think. And I'm finding them a little distracting myself right now, but I suppose that's partially the point. I'm not allowed to click on them, but because they are related to my content, I find that I'm terribly curious about some of them and am very tempted to just click over and see what they're selling. I'm a terrible sucker for marketing. I do things like end up with an extra Men in Black DVD after walking into a store with a big TV playing Will's Smith's music video. Mmm, potential addict sexiness sells.
Well I just asked this question on my blog today. Should I shouldn't I Adsense? I just do not feel I have the reader numbers, like some of you, to have it be anymore than a "distraction". Let me know if there is a pay off at all.
Yeah, I kind of decided that rejecting Adsense as "wrong" was kind of like trying to reject the grocery store as immoral. Yes, it is possibly immoral. However, I'm not planning on starting an organic garden. So Adsense.
And even if there isn't a huge payoff, it doesn't hurt anything. I like your Migraine ads. They tell you to use nosedrops for Migraines.
Hmmmm. Now you've got me thinking. I'm already a whore, so maybe I should be an even bigger one?! ;-0
Let us all know how it goes.
I am addicted to Stephen Colbert. Yes, he's funny. But he's not so funny that I should stay up until 11:30 every night to watch him. And yet I do. What is up that THAT?
Let us know how the ads do, I've considered them on my blog but wasn't sure if it was worth the effort (I have issues with doing anything that takes more than 2 steps to complete, so unless there's a big positive reinforcer at the end, it probably won't happen, ha ha...
Welcome back. I'm looking forward to thoughts on living with uncertainty.
I don't see the problem with ads on any site... as long as they don't pop up or drift in the way of what I am reading!
I thought Mr. Keen suffered a bit from sour grapes but had he not been able to view the Web as he does he would not have been able top write a book... for money. And professional journalists have not served us well late, either. What with the selling out of the fourth estate the issue of corporate sponsorship is the moral conundrum and not the issue of getting paid via advertising. Bloggers are about as close to the truth as one can get these days. granted, it's a personal truth. But then what better truth is there?
ads dont bug me any -- and sometimes I even click on them.
Yea, let us know how it works out w/the Adsense. I was wondering myself. I'd started to do it but then it messed up my template. It kept going to the top of the page ruining the effect. But I am curious. BTW, thanks for the link madame!
PS, I don't see any adsense. Am i lost or what?
I think I would put ads on my blog too, especially because I'm out of work right now and my husband and I are in constant financial need.
But I probably don't have enough readers/traffic to do so.
bring on the ads!
Hmmm, I wonder why my comment didn't go through. You trying to tell me something M? I said something about believing that I would find myself having to click if I were told that I was "not allowed."
Good luck ... I think bigger is better with adsense, for what it's worth. I've had mine up for ages and don't even know how to check if I've earned a cent! Personally, I think finding companies that I really like as advertisers would be a better fit. But, whatever ... I'm not making anything on it. I hope you do, and then can share some secrets.