Blogging

Internet - Blogging

In the spirit of listening to my audience, I spent quite a bit of time thinking about alternative economic models for generating web revenue. Given my vastly unpopular stand on internet advertising, I gave my detractors an open ear and an open mind, and those that had something more useful to say than "ur a douch bag" had their own opinions on ads and web monetization.

As a brief experiment I switched this site to an ad-free, voluntary donation site. Now one, I know that at three months old no one is reading my personal blog except my friends and a few strays sent by Google. Two, the type of content necessary for a voluntary donation site is rather unique. Think about it, how many web sites have you encountered whose content you enjoyed so much that showing your appreciation for the content with your wallet felt like a good idea? Precious, precious few.

In fact, it isn't a valid means of making income, period. If you look at the sites that encourage voluntary donation they fall into two categories: blogs that are already monetized with advertising, and sites with specific content that is so good they offer physical product based on their content, ala theoatmeal.com and 27/6. Hell, I even bought something off 27/6 the second time I went there. theoatmeal.com has a donation banner, but I guarantee you that posters and comics are what make the site owner money.

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Internet - Blogging

pseudoexpert.com now has no advertising. I am trying this as an experiment, and hopefully it will work out. It shouldn't be too much of a stretch for this site, as it is my personal blog and not making wheelbarrows full of cash in the first place. Ideally, I would like it to work to the point that I can implement it on my other web sites.

While I personally have no problems with internet advertising, recognizing it as the price I have to pay for the content I enjoy, I appreciate that people HATE ads, to the point where they run ad blocking extensions for their web browsers and will flame you into oblivion should you suggest there is something wrong with doing so. This is all a different argument, and we've discussed it to death already. This is me seeing if there is a way for me to generate a little bit of revenue without shoving ads that may not be wanted down my readers' throats.

I have implemented the above tip jar half banner that appears after the comments section of each content piece and on category pages. It is not on the front page, nor does it appear on the section pages. This is the least intrusive way I can think of to ask people who find my content of value to leave a tip via PayPal. I am taking the advice of those who disagreed with my position on internet advertising and trying to find an alternative means to monetize this site. Whether you use the tip jar or not, I would welcome your comments on the subject. Tell me what you think.

Updated 17Dec2009:

MONETIZATION FAIL

I'm willing to give anything a go, but frankly not monetizing your site with ads is dumb.  All you ad blockers didn't utilize the tip jar, so now you can all go back to blocking my Adsense units. Merry Christmas.

Internet - Blogging

A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article for Connected Internet. This particular article used a provocative title and opening paragraph, because I wanted people to read it. The article asked if it was time to start blocking Firefox users due to ad blocking extensions, and equated ad blocking to theft. Actually, if you read the article it's pretty clear that's not the message, which is actually a discussion of ad blocking from a web publisher's perspective.

However, people being people, within a short time there was quite a negative backlash against the article. This included a pretty lopsided bashing in the comments section of the article. I also received a mention from the Electronic Freedom Foundation, a Washington lobby of lawyers who defend criminal activity on the internet digital freedom. This was followed by a condescending article on Tech Dirt. Finally the bow was tied with CNN's SciTech Blog quoting me directly.

While some people would have been happy to get their 15 minutes of fame, I wasn't. I found it a little embarassing actually. It was not my intention to create such a violent reaction, I just wanted people to consider that all of the internet content they enjoy comes with a price. To my mind the people who were not willing to support the content they enjoyed by enduring the ads that made that content possible either didn't understand that those ads are what makes the whole endeavor of web publishing possible, or they are bunch of selfish individuals who value their comfort more than they value their social conscience. I guess they are entitled to that disposition; they certainly appear to feel that they're entitled to everything else.

I feel the same way now about the topic as I did when I wrote the article. I am not above being wrong, and when proven to be so I will quickly fall on my sword. In this instance I am merely disappointed that so many people lack both social conscience and the ability to reasonably discuss a topic they disagree with your position on. I thought we had risen above the old days of the usenet flamewars, but I guess people still use their anonymity on the web to act as badly as they ever have.