Hello friends. Today we've got ads all over this website. It's part of our continuing quest to make a small profit. Since the ads may be a bit much today -- and I'm already thinking about whether to cut some of them back -- please bear with me and I'll give you a quick tour.
In the left and right columns are ads by Google and AdBrite. They're contextual ads, supposedly relevant to what's written here. Sometimes it works; sometimes it's a miss. On the website today I've seen a recurring ad for something or other in Cobb County. Given my last name of Cobb, we'll be seeing a lot of that ad, I think.
If you happen to enjoy your visit, and feel inspired to click one of these Google or AdBrite ads, the teensy, tiny revenue the website receives for running the ad may turn into a few cents. Woo hoo! So that's why clicking an ad is like leaving a tip, and tips are good -- but in fairness to our advertisers please don't just click ads if they hold no conceivable interest to you.
There's an ad from Amazon in right column, too, but that works differently. If you click that ad and end up buying ANYTHING at Amazon after starting from this website, the website receives a small commission (roughly 4%). So next time you plan to buy anything at Amazon or just want to browse, try entering Amazon from this website, won't you?
Next up for discussion is the "interstitial" ad. On your third visit to this website in a day, a full-page ad may pop up and you'll have to click a button to continue to this website. This is only supposed to happen once a day for each visitor . I know it's annoying, but try to bear with it. It pays better than the other ads. Not by much, but it may amount to actual dollars in a month rather than mere cents.
Finally, and most annoyingly, are the little green underlined words showing up today. Those are ads too. What bothers me about the green underlined links is that they seem to have absolutely nothing to do with the word that's underlined, or the overall subject matter. For example, on one of DemocracyRules' great posts on Russia, the word "start" is underlined in green -- and if you roll over the word "start" you see an ad for . . . wait for it . . . music downloads! Why, yes, when I think of Russia and the word "start," I always think "music downloads," don't you? (Update: I see that the green underlined word "starting" has migrated to this very post, and the link has changed to personal loans. Strange.)
Personally. I'm not a fan of a the concept of a pretend link, which is what these little green links seem to be. On the other hand, if visitors learn to ignore the green links unless their curiosity gets the better of them, and if the ad revenue is real -- who am I to argue with success? Let's leave the green links for a few days and see if they generate any ad revenue at all.
If you have feedback on any of these ads, please leave a comment here or send an e-mail to ginacobbfeedback "at" yahoo.com. (You know what to do with the "at"). Negative feedback is perfectly O.K. Rarely do people beg for more advertising. Thanks for visiting.
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