I’ve been contemplating my spankin’ fresh new design and how pretty and uncluttered it is (feel free to tell me you disagree, I like conflict). I’ve also been considering Chris Garrett’s thoughts on "adsense vs sticky" blogs.
As I said in my comment on Chris’s article, I don’t think it’s good to have a blog written simply for the adsense revenue. Adsense originally was a great idea because it could give people the opportunity to make money from their passion - writing. But, I think it’s been lost in the shuffle. Now, it’s “I can make money just by writing? Cool!”. That’s a bad idea.
I must refer back to the waterbook project and it’s trouble finding a revenue model that wasn’t advertising. I think as bloggers, we need to find the same thing (if we’re concerned with monetizing our efforts at all). There’s a part of me who doesn’t care to monetize this. And there’s another part of me that thinks “hey, if it can be done, it should be.”
So, here’s my dillema. I have about $50 in adsense money sitting in my account. If I don’t put adsense back on this site, I will lose that cash. If I do, I lose the prettiness of the new design. (The last option I’ve thought of is put it back on until I reach the amount it takes for them to send me a check, then remove it.)
What do you think I should do? I’d love your feedback.
Em
Andy
nate
Posted by Frank on Mar 23, 2006 at 10:19am
I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer here Nate. I’ve been able to fight the urge for monetizing my blog…just barely (I have a donation button which no one has ever used). I’ve thought about linking book recommendations to an Amazon associates account…but have not gotten around to it. Honestly, I just don’t like AdSense ads on any site. Not sure why. I recommend you toss the $50 and enjoy your new site ;).
Posted by nate on Mar 23, 2006 at 10:32am
Thanks for the comment Frank.
I’ve used Amazon associates accounts and they haven’t done squat for me yet. Feel free to go looking around my site and use them though. However, even though they haven’t done anything for me yet, I have this idealistic idea that if you give people the right content, they will want what you’re displaying as an associate.
Maybe that’s what we all need to become, rather than keeping our souls to ourselves, we should sell them to the highest associate and make our sites market products we believe in. The only problem with that is I can’t be random anymore. Dang it.
I’m so torn!
Anyone else want to chime in?
Posted by David Hardin on Mar 28, 2006 at 07:48am
Nate,
I got here via the Duh Gallery post via Weblog Tools Collection via Wordpress Dashboard. Personally I use Adsense but it does seem to ‘cheapen’ a sites look. (By the way, great theme.) I earn enough from my blog to cover my hosting costs and keep my wife at bay when I spend to much time online. My thoughts are that if you really value your site, use it a source of reference, not revenue. Being a freelance web developer, this is your unofficial resume. On the other hand, I am developing small online applications that not only rely on ad revenue, but are in fact built for that purpose. Choices, choices…
Posted by nate on Mar 28, 2006 at 08:21am
David,
I’m so happy you came here via that route (and that you told me that you did)!
What do you mean you are developing small online applications that are built for the purpose of ad revenue? Do you mean to say you’re building something that competes with Google and YPN? Or, that you’re building something that relies on them on purpose?
Care to share more?
Posted by David Hardin on Mar 28, 2006 at 09:36am
Nate,
Not exactly… My partner and I are about to launch a few single page sites that each have a small useful custom application. A similar site would be something like Zillow, or a mashup. Ajax, web 2.0, , etc… with contextual ads to pay the bills/profit. Nothing as grand as a new ad model, yet.
Posted by nate on Mar 28, 2006 at 09:42am
Well please come back here and let us know when you release those. I’d be happy to take a look at it and as long as it’s not obscene, I’d be happy to leave a link here to support you too.
Posted by David Hardin on Mar 28, 2006 at 12:53pm
I’ll be more than happy to. Don’t worry, it’s nothing obscene. Just numbers and data in a pretty package.
Posted by Richard Brown on Mar 28, 2006 at 11:11pm
Hi Nate
Toss the revenue. I couldn’t agree more with what is said. I have to admit to trying the adsense programme but only the once. Never again. It just doesn’t look right and I feel it would ruin your site.
Rich
Posted by nate on Mar 28, 2006 at 11:38pm
Thanks Rich. I think I agree. Although, after releasing the Duh Gallery plugin, I almost wanted to put the adsense back on. I’ve had such a huge response which has not been monetized. Alas, se la vie (no idea if that’s spelled right).
Posted by Richard Brown on Mar 28, 2006 at 11:49pm
Hi Nate
I think it is “c’est la vie” that is if you mean “that’s life”!
Rich