Of Oddness and Adsense
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I recently began posting my blog on Writing Up with the thought that, while I'm certainly not going to make the kind of cash the site suggests I might, I could receive a nice $100 check five years from now and unexpected money is always a good thing. (The site claims that daily bloggers could earn as much as $1000 a month. Though they don't technically specify in what reality.) The basic premise of the site is this: You go and get yourself a Google Adsense account, start up a Write Up account that includes your Adsense publisher ID, and then post your blog. Google ads happily appear at the top of your blog article and along the right hand side. Advertisers pay Google for ad space, Google pays you for click throughs, Write Up gets half. You could, of course, just direct line it - skip Write Up and have Google pay you for a privately owned site, but chances are good you wouldn't get near the traffic.
So - blogging is good, but most likely not incredibly profitable. I started posting on Write Up this morning and I've earned a whopping 66 cents. Mind you, it's only been a couple of hours, and that's 66 cents I didn't have when I woke up, so I'm not complaining. In fact, I'm going to go ahead and recommend the site to other bloggers - you're doing it any way, might as well make some pocket change. But I digress...
What I'm loving are the ads that pop up. At one point my article on Bush's recent recess appointments brought up an add for brain disorders. An article on post partum depression featured an ad selling discount pulse oximeters, and a favorable review of V8 Splash drinks brought up an ad for short fiction stories. Most of the ads are spot on, of course, though opinion writers are likely to suffer ads from those with differing agendas; but some of them are out in left field which leaves one wondering exactly how profitable these ads are for the advertisers. Sure, I suppose it's possible that an individual reading through a daily blog on technical issues might suddenly get a craving to research phobia cures, but that can't happen all that often.
I have to admit a near overwhelming urge to play with the ads. Just think of what a writer like Will Durst, who uses phrases like "Because of him, this country is more polarized than a pawn in a poorly manufactured magnetic chess set", could do to the engine. It'd be brilliant: "Buy Your GOP Merch Here!", "Sick? Magnetic Bracelets at Low Prices!", "Low Cost Loans!", "Free Chess Tutor!".
Capitalism. Gotta' love it.
So - blogging is good, but most likely not incredibly profitable. I started posting on Write Up this morning and I've earned a whopping 66 cents. Mind you, it's only been a couple of hours, and that's 66 cents I didn't have when I woke up, so I'm not complaining. In fact, I'm going to go ahead and recommend the site to other bloggers - you're doing it any way, might as well make some pocket change. But I digress...
What I'm loving are the ads that pop up. At one point my article on Bush's recent recess appointments brought up an add for brain disorders. An article on post partum depression featured an ad selling discount pulse oximeters, and a favorable review of V8 Splash drinks brought up an ad for short fiction stories. Most of the ads are spot on, of course, though opinion writers are likely to suffer ads from those with differing agendas; but some of them are out in left field which leaves one wondering exactly how profitable these ads are for the advertisers. Sure, I suppose it's possible that an individual reading through a daily blog on technical issues might suddenly get a craving to research phobia cures, but that can't happen all that often.
I have to admit a near overwhelming urge to play with the ads. Just think of what a writer like Will Durst, who uses phrases like "Because of him, this country is more polarized than a pawn in a poorly manufactured magnetic chess set", could do to the engine. It'd be brilliant: "Buy Your GOP Merch Here!", "Sick? Magnetic Bracelets at Low Prices!", "Low Cost Loans!", "Free Chess Tutor!".
Capitalism. Gotta' love it.
