Logging on to my blog this morning I was surprised (and not entirely disappointed) to find a prominent picture of a large-busted blond woman gracing the left-hand side, just below the somewhat less alluring picture of myself.
It turns out this is an advert for a game called Evony (beware more of the same), which seems to be a kind of medieval online adventure. Feel free to sign up, if your off-line life is insufficiently appealing.
Like many bloggers, I use Google Adsense to generate a bit of interest and (very modest) income. (You click, I earn. Terms and conditions prohibit "I click, I earn.") Technically, Adsense is supposed to match the adverts to the subject-matter of the blog, but sometimes (like some comments) it goes a bit 'off topic' - hence I am occasionally flooded with adverts for debt counselling, investment, and so on. Today seems to have been just one of those days.
The technology does allow you to exclude 'competitors' ads from your site, so there are some organizations and topics that I've been able gradually to eliminate, but it requires a bit of fiddling around with URLs, etc.
Quite why a sword-and-sorcery adventure should turn up on the Ugley Vicar blog, I can't really fathom. In the interests of good taste, however, I will have to make sure it doesn't happen again. (Sigh!)
Revd John Richardson
2 October 2009
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I see an ad for a large cheese pizza. Is that a good match for you?
ReplyDelete"Like many bloggers, I use Google Adsense to generate a bit of interest and (very modest) income."
ReplyDeleteI must confess that having ads on my blog doesn't appeal to me, but I've always been curious to know how much money bloggers with adsense actually earn.
I've read things like this, but it is pretty vague.
I'm assuming you get some money simply for hosting the ad, and a little more if someone actually clicks on it?
John, there's no money for hosting the ads - only for clicks (hence the blog owner is not allowed to click the ads!).
ReplyDeleteSome of the ads are of genuine potential interest to readers, so I don't have a problem about carrying them.
I see that Firefox Adblock works, John.
ReplyDeleteNever laid eyes on a single busty woman.