I have been thinking about ways to supplement my meager grad student income and it occurred to me that I might benefit from placing google ads on this (currently ad-free) site. Joel at Crummy Church Signs seems to have had a bad experience with it, but then, I feel like I don't have much to lose by signing up. So here are my questions for you, dear internet:
1) is placing google ads likely to gain me anything?
2) will I lose credibility, self-respect, or anything else in the process?
in other words, is it worth it? I look forward to your collective input.
Go for it. I block 'em in firefox anyway. I have a friend who runs several sites and makes a decent pittance from google ads, I believe.
ReplyDeleteEither way, I'll come "back."
ReplyDeleteI'd love for you to make an assload of cash.... however consider:
ReplyDelete1) many readers subscribe through RSS and never see the site or ads. 47 of us use Bloglines.
2)Google ads are targeted to the content. Unlike "music" ot "movies", inappropriate punctuation/English usage doesn't really point to any massive revenue generating sponsors.
3) Every (seemingly) profitable blog I can think of does not use google or hasn't since 2005.
My suggestion is partner up with an affiliate who can provide inappropriate quotation
"merchandise" ... Grammar books via amazon couldn't hurt but comapre the profit margins with other retailers.
Or start up a cafe press (or whatever people use nowadays) shop and start producing your own ironic t shirts with "scare quotes".
If you need a "graphic designer" LMK.
I would also consider expanding the scope of the site to include abuse of apostaphe's.
ReplyDeleteGoogle Adsense really doesn't bring in that much money. I don't think many people actually bother clicking those ads.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe it's just that I have all of about three regular readers, and I never blog. :P
Still, it doesn't hurt to add them.
Even though I don't really like seeing those ads on any website, I also have no money to donate to all the blogs I love, so add the ads.
ReplyDeleteThanks to everyone who has responded. A few things to add:
ReplyDelete1) I should make it clear that running the blog doesn't cost me anything - blogger hosts it and the images for free. I spend about an hour a day on it. I consider it a hobby.
2) I'm under the impression that cafe press has startup/maintainence costs. Is that true? If nothing else I would end up buying myself the shirts all the time... If people have good ideas for quotation mark themed t-shirts, though, I'll hear 'em.
Cafe Press is great because there is no start-up or overhead. You create the designs, upload them, pick which merchandise to offer them on (t-shirts, panties, caps, mugs, you name it), and set the price. They have a set fee for every item, so your price must be equal to or above it. You get the difference between the price you set and the price they charge you, less (I think, it's been awhile since I read the fine print) a small percentage which they are charged by the credit card companies. There are no front-end costs at all.
ReplyDelete