You may have noticed that the advertisements throughout the site have been switched from those that link to amazon.com to those sponsored by Google. The new Google ads have several advantages to the old amazon ads:
1. They are less obtrusive. The new ads are mostly all text, and all in the color theme of the rest of the site. They never blink or flash or show tacky cartoon pictures with bright colors. This makes them both more stylish and less distracting from the important content you contribute.
2. They are much more relevant and interesting. The ads served up are not pre-determined by me or anyone else; they are determined based on the content of the page. So, if you write an article about red socks, you might find an ad to buy red socks. Write an article about John Kerry, find a link to organizations that support him. Browsing around the site, I have clicked through several of the new Google ads just because they piqued my interest. Honestly. And while the ads certainly are not there to provide editorial enhancement to the site, at least they do not detract from it.
3. They generate more revenue. Plain and simple. They pay by the click, rather than the purchase (as on amazon.com). The rate is better, probably because they are more relevant. The site costs $85 a year to host, and the revenue the ads generate should make a decent dent into that cost.
My goal with including the ads on the site has always been to help defray the cost of hosting it whilst never permitting it to degrade into looking like a piece of shit or appearing too profit-motived. It appears the new ads serve both these ends, as well as provide links to other interesting content (not all the ads, I have found, are links to purchase things -- some are indeed to other complementary articles around the web). Note also that Google reserves a portion of the ads for nonprofits, free of charge to them.
Thanks for your continued support. Poke around the site and look at the ads -- I think it is always interesting to see which ones match up with things I have written. If you have any questions, please let me know.
I have acquired several Gmail invitations -- would anyone like to register for Google's new email service? E-mail me.