As you may have noticed, I now have ads on my website.
I generally think that publicity often oversteps itself a bit, to the point where you can’t really do anything, especially online, without being flooded by ads trying to sell you all kinds of things. Many times, these ads don’t really add (pun intended) any value and they’re really there just to make money for the site’s author. They also come up in weird places in a webpage, breaking your flow while you’re reading an article or impersonating someone in a forum (god knows how many times I almost clicked on those links!). Or worse, you almost can’t find the content you’re looking for because the screen is so cluttered, or some stupid modal panel appears that you’re unable to close on your phone’s browser.
Ads in a site can be a real turnoff.
But I’m guilty of supporting ads now. Obviously, I think I have some good reasons for this.
First of all, I’ve tried to keep the ads unobtrusive. I have a banner on the right and one at the bottom. Period. They’re big enough to be noticeable but stay out of the content’s flow, so they’re a minor nuisance (I hope). I also tried to keep it in context with the content of the page.
The banner on the right has a collection of stuff I personally recommend. Those who know me know I only recommend stuff that I personally own or have used and only if I really think it is worth its price. I think that makes sense, given it’s my personal webpage: if you come here and like what I write about, you might like some of the stuff that I like, and this way you know. If you buy something and like it based on my recommendations, you win and I win, so why not?
I’m still wrapping my head around the banner on the bottom (which is why it’s at the bottom). It supposedly suggests stuff based on the site’s content and any other data it might have collected from you, so it’s still targeted, but it might go away if I come here too many times and find it suggesting crazy things.
That being said, I hope you find this change to be interesting or, if not, at least tolerate it enough to keep visiting. Anyway, thank you for tuning in.
