Google AdSense
Well, as those who read my blog directly at sfwriter.com/blog.htm have doubtless noticed, I've been trying an experiment in having Google AdSense ads on my blog.
But I'm not sure I'm happy with the results: the ads seem to mostly be either from vanity publishers or authors of self-published books, or from fee-charging agents, and those aren't things I'd recommend to people. Most web users are savvy enough, I'm sure, to know that the mere presence of AdSense ads on a site doesn't constitute an endorsement of the goods or services offered by the advertisers by the owner of the site, but, still, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with them being here. Thoughts, anyone? (And, no, they're not generating much revenue.)
There's also an interesting twist to Google's license agreement: to avoid getting paid for clicks you yourself generate, you, as the site owner of a page displaying AdSense ads, have to agree to NOT click on them yourself -- so I'm not allowed to follow the ads to find out precisely what they're for; I'm having to guess about the actual products beings sold, in most cases. (Although the Science Fiction Book Club is one of the advertisers whose AdSense ad pops up in rotation here, and I fully support them, and am glad to have books published by them.)
Hmmm ....
Posted by Rob on Monday, September 04, 2006
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10 comments
10 Comments:
Can you not specify which advertising you'll accept? It seems to me one or the other of the advertising clearing houses allows its users to opt out of particular advertisers (I think it's blogads, although I'm not sure, and this is now floating into "helpiness" territory, in which I'm providing info which is not useful). But if there is an ad network that allows such an "opt-out" ability, it'd be more useful, I think.
Otherwise, I'd simply ask if the revenue you generate is worth the cognitive dissonance of having your site advertise stuff you wouldn't personally recommend.
Hi, John. I think you can individually bar advertisers, but not whole classes of advertisers (such as "vanity presses") since the ads aren't tagged as such. But, yeah, I'm spending more time thinking about this than the revenues could possibly justify ... :)
I noticed them too, but ignore them. Everywhere on the web actually.
Did you know that studies show that 92% of people who do a Google search don't know the difference between a 'search result' and 'sponsored ad'?
And as to your question? I think you should ditch them. To me it makes the site seem (slightly) commercial as opposed to a personal blog.
Maybe commercial isn't the right word. Amway-ish is better. It comes across as 'hey, pop by and lets chat over a coffee, spend some time with me one-on-one discussing interesting things, and while you're here, click on this so I can make a buck and maybe sell you something too'.
just my 2 cents
As long as they are not obtrusive.
After reading this, I clicked on one just to see where it went. The ad read "Science Fiction Publisher," and it took me right to Publish America...which scared me almost enough to close my browser.
I've been considering putting these on my blog as well, but having seen that, I think I'll pass.
May be I'm not "Most web users" and not "savvy enough" because I didn't know "that the mere presence of AdSense ads on a site doesn't constitute an endorsement of the goods or services offered by the advertisers by the owner of the site". I think it is a dangerous assumption if you expect Joe Public to understand how AdSense works. Just my $0.02.
From my reading Add Sense and other revenue schemas like Amazon pay out very little and payment is often haphazard at best.
My Blog isn't about making money. It never was or will be. I use Amazon image links in my side-bar only to let readers of my Blog know what I'm currently reading. Otherwise I refuse to participate in these complicated add schemes.
I've read where Bloger’s are making hoards of cash from their Blogs but I'm rather skeptical about these claims. And if they do, they are spending huge amounts of time at their Blog to do this. Time I'd rathre spend writing instead.
Hey, J..Me to :-)
Sure, Jim, I understand. But what's paying for Blogger, the Google-owned platform you use to produce your blog? What's paying for Google, which is the portal through which most people discover new things on the web, including blogs? What's paying for Gmail, the email service lots of people use? Google's advertising schemes -- AdSense, AdWords, sponsored results, etc. -- are the revenue base that make all that possible, not because they pay the site owners (that's a side effect), but because they make money for Google.
I'm not saying that anyone has an obligation to participate in Google's advertising schemes, but remember that they aren't just a money-maker for the person whose site happens to have Google ads. I felt an obligation to at least try out ways in which Google might benefit from allowing me a free blog here, providing a search engine that I rely on many times each day, hosting an email service that I use, and so on. Somewhere along the line, the infrastructure has to make money for those providing it, or all these free services we love will disappear.
I have no problem with them. And as someone who has a picture or two of herself wearing an Adbusters "Corporate States of America" flag (with corporate logos instead of stars), while handing out flyers at an anti-globalization protest, I would have thought I'd be the canary.
And I think that anyone who can't tell the difference needs to work on his or her critical thinking skills.
Rob..I hear what your saying.I'm not dissin Google for these recenue streams and they work for some people. Like you said if it wasn't for these revenues then the very Blog/Blogger we enjoy wouldn't be around.
I took a look at addsense, on the surface its fine and well. My website host here says he get's about $100/month from Google. Well,maybe one month he did. you know the old saying, build a better mousetrap.
"I'm not saying that anyone has an obligation to participate in Google's advertising schemes, but remember that they aren't just a money-maker for the person whose site happens to have Google ads. I felt an obligation to at least try out ways in which Google might benefit from allowing me a free blog here, providing a search engine that I rely on many times each day, hosting an email service that I use, and so on. Somewhere along the line, the infrastructure has to make money for those providing it, or all these free services we love will disappear."
Kind of like payback time? Thanks Google for the free blog? The above gives me something to think about. Since bassically Google the big player is fueling Nasdaq these days.
Thanks
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