I thought it would please you to know I have 86ed the full-page pop-up ads that you would see on Eclectablog if you loaded more than one page. They were my highest earning ad but they are obnoxious and, frankly, none of the ads is bringing a whole lot of revenue (ads are bringing in less than $25/month total.)
I’m toying around with the idea of allowing folks to sponsor an ad of their own for a month. There are banners at the top of the page, the bottom of each post and two in the sidebar. If people were willing to contribute $20-$50, I would run the ad of their choice for a month (like I have done for the Hope Center in the right sidebar.) It could be your favorite charity, your own blog, your [cough, cough] union. Whatever you like. Maybe it would even be “run no ad at all!” in the space for a month.
There’s basically no money to be made running a blog like this unless you’re getting several thousand hits a day. I get 500-1,000 which is pretty respectable for an “unknown” like me but it’s not ever going to be something that allows me to blog for a living until I get way more traffic and become way less unknown. The ads are a simple way to at least make some money to pay for gas for trips around the state to cover stuff, a bit of technology to help with the process, and other things like that. But I’d love to find a different model, one that was less obnoxious and obtrusive and could actually be NICE! $20 to promote your favorite progressive charity or site doesn’t seem too onerous and, hey, it’ll freshen the place up a bit!
Don’t even ask to run a cellulite remover ad or something that flashes DOWNLOAD NOW!!!, though. I’m sick to death of looking at those damn things ;^).
I may also start doing a quarterly fundraiser along the lines of what Bob Cesca does at the Awesome Blog. I hate begging but it’s better than ads for Russian singles, right?
Feedback, as always, is welcome.
