Joe Strazzere
Moderator
Reged: 05/15/00
Posts: 12344
Loc: Massachusetts, USA
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I've been approached by a marketing agency about placing an advertisement on my blog AllThingsQuality.com.
I'm conflicted.
I don't blog to make money, I just do what I enjoy, when I feel like doing it.
On the other hand I do like money.
It's a small amount, but could pave the way for something a bit bigger down the road. And I've wondered about monetizing a site from an experimental point of view.
But the product/service isn't something I'd ever personally recommend.
Anyone care to relate their experiences? Did you eventually choose to include ads? Did you eventually choose to reject ads?
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- Joe
Visit AllThingsQuality.com to learn more about quality, testing, and QA!
I speak only for me. I do not speak for my employer, nor for anyone else.
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cmeisenzahl
Super Member
Reged: 07/22/02
Posts: 1437
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I don't see anything nefarious about. I have AdWords on mine, granted I make next to nothing from it. ;-)
But I see nothing inherently wrong with it. And I've yet to see an ad on there that I found objectionable.
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michaeljf
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Reged: 09/17/01
Posts: 3979
Loc: Yankee Land
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If its topically valid then sure, it's more in sync with what you are doing than say having ads about socks or something. Although it would be amusing to see an ad for the same company that is in your "they should have tested more" posts; I'd get a chuckle out of that.
Most people ignore ads anyway, from my recent reading since we are doing something like that for our site, so it's probably fine for the most part.
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- M
Nothing learns better than experience.
"So as I struggle with this issue I am confronted with the reality that noting is perfect."
- Unknown
Now wasting blog space at QAForums Blogs - The Lookout
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Corey_G
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Reged: 09/14/01
Posts: 4281
Loc: Boston, MA
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I use Google ads on my sites and make about $100/month.
I've been contacted many times from individual companies and prefer to steer away from them.
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Corey Goldberg
Homepage: goldb.org
Twitter: twitter.com/cgoldberg
Google+: gplus.to/cgoldberg
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Administrator
Architect
Reged: 01/20/06
Posts: 3380
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My recommendation is go for it. I started SQAforums with no ads in mind, and then switched that when I found out that you can get sponsors related to the industry! Now... I do have adwords which pays a very small portion of the hosting fee, but it's nice nevertheless. And I do get to exclude sites I do not want on it...
Just do it!
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"The Source is strong with you young spycoder, but you are not an API yet"
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rtehve
Super Member
Reged: 08/21/00
Posts: 1437
Loc: Elanora Heights, NSW, Australi...
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Joe Strazzere
I thinks is more a question of what they advertise.
What product do you think readers of your blog might be in need of ?
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Robert Tehve
rtehve@bigpond.com
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Joe Strazzere
Moderator
Reged: 05/15/00
Posts: 12344
Loc: Massachusetts, USA
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Quote:
I've been contacted many times from individual companies and prefer to steer away from them.
Why? Would displaying individual company ads preclude your use of Google ads?
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- Joe
Visit AllThingsQuality.com to learn more about quality, testing, and QA!
I speak only for me. I do not speak for my employer, nor for anyone else.
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Joe Strazzere
Moderator
Reged: 05/15/00
Posts: 12344
Loc: Massachusetts, USA
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Quote:
I thinks is more a question of what they advertise.
What product do you think readers of your blog might be in need of ?
They are advertising a product that has nothing to do with the topics in my blog.
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- Joe
Visit AllThingsQuality.com to learn more about quality, testing, and QA!
I speak only for me. I do not speak for my employer, nor for anyone else.
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Corey_G
Veteran
Reged: 09/14/01
Posts: 4281
Loc: Boston, MA
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Quote:
Quote:
I've been contacted many times from individual companies and prefer to steer away from them.
Why? Would displaying individual company ads preclude your use of Google ads?
typically, they ask you to do things. "can you make these words in *your* text a hyperlink to our content?". I don't like that subversive sorta linking.
Otherwise, they tend to not pay more than I make from Google ads, and I would need to remove google ads unless I wanted my sites to be an ad-riddled jokes 
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Corey Goldberg
Homepage: goldb.org
Twitter: twitter.com/cgoldberg
Google+: gplus.to/cgoldberg
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rtehve
Super Member
Reged: 08/21/00
Posts: 1437
Loc: Elanora Heights, NSW, Australi...
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Joe Strazzere
I am personally very sceptical of web ads ....... they are an annoyance at best, effective ????? not for me. At best targeted advertising might be effective but if they advertise Tampons in a techy computer blog..... that might be amusing at best, could put your blog friends off, could be a loose loose.
I heard a stat about letter box drop advertising being 95% effective. Any crap that ends up in my letter box will go into the re-cycling bin which is conveniently placed on the way back to my house. Honestly (I know the SQA advertisers would not want to read this) I tend to block out any web ads when I browse web sites. For example, without deliberately looking at them I could not recall any of them.
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Robert Tehve
rtehve@bigpond.com
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Joe Strazzere
Moderator
Reged: 05/15/00
Posts: 12344
Loc: Massachusetts, USA
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An update.
Because the ad content was unrelated to testing, software or quality, I declined the offer.
But I did let the marketer know that I would be open to other ads if they fit in better with the spirit of my website.
Perhaps something more relevant will come along some day and I'll be able to experiment with revenue-producing ads.
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- Joe
Visit AllThingsQuality.com to learn more about quality, testing, and QA!
I speak only for me. I do not speak for my employer, nor for anyone else.
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Joe Strazzere
Moderator
Reged: 05/15/00
Posts: 12344
Loc: Massachusetts, USA
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And now the marketer doubled the offer. The answer is still "No", but now it's getting funny.
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- Joe
Visit AllThingsQuality.com to learn more about quality, testing, and QA!
I speak only for me. I do not speak for my employer, nor for anyone else.
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michaeljf
Veteran
Reged: 09/17/01
Posts: 3979
Loc: Yankee Land
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Quote:
And now the marketer doubled the offer. The answer is still "No", but now it's getting funny.
Must be nice to be "in demand". 
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- M
Nothing learns better than experience.
"So as I struggle with this issue I am confronted with the reality that noting is perfect."
- Unknown
Now wasting blog space at QAForums Blogs - The Lookout
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Joe Strazzere
Moderator
Reged: 05/15/00
Posts: 12344
Loc: Massachusetts, USA
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Quote:
Must be nice to be "in demand".
It's not a very lucrative sort of demand i'm talking about. Just a couple hundred bucks per year. It was just funny that it immediately doubled.
Now if she came back and added a zero or two, I might be willing to compromise my principles...
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- Joe
Visit AllThingsQuality.com to learn more about quality, testing, and QA!
I speak only for me. I do not speak for my employer, nor for anyone else.
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rtehve
Super Member
Reged: 08/21/00
Posts: 1437
Loc: Elanora Heights, NSW, Australi...
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Joe Strazzere
Why not set up another site that is more relevant to what they want to advertise ?
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Robert Tehve
rtehve@bigpond.com
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Joe Strazzere
Moderator
Reged: 05/15/00
Posts: 12344
Loc: Massachusetts, USA
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Quote:
Why not set up another site that is more relevant to what they want to advertise ?
They are specifically interested in AllThingsQuality.com.
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- Joe
Visit AllThingsQuality.com to learn more about quality, testing, and QA!
I speak only for me. I do not speak for my employer, nor for anyone else.
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Tarun_K
Advanced Member
Reged: 01/21/07
Posts: 646
Loc: Bangalore, India
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Adword usually shows relevant ads, And as some one pointed out you can block ads for a category (provided you have time to keep tabs on ad display)
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~ Tarun
Free Selenium Training
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NoUse4aName
Super Member
Reged: 06/13/08
Posts: 1720
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Yeah it's a conundrum. If they were for products/services you would recommend and endorse they wouldn't need to pay you...
I do make some judgments about a site/owner based on what ads they allow to run...when I'm not running adblocker anyway.
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rtehve
Super Member
Reged: 08/21/00
Posts: 1437
Loc: Elanora Heights, NSW, Australi...
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NoUse4aName
"If they were for products/services you would recommend and endorse they wouldn't need to pay you.."
This is what advertising is about through direct endorsement or by implication.
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Robert Tehve
rtehve@bigpond.com
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