A few days ago I signed up for Google Adsense and put a few ads on my blog. I figured there’s enough traffic coming in that maybe it’ll pay for the hosting fees and “break even”, which is all I wanted. But I had one problem – I hate ads.  Actually let me qualify that. I hate obtrusive, annoying, in-your-face-can’t-tell-the-content-from-the-ads ads. (Like those ads that use javascript to change content into links that display popups when you hover over them – argh, don’t get me started! If you put those on your site, and I meet you in person, there’s a good chance I won’t say hello.) I can tolerate ads that are subtle and not eye catching. Google Adsense makes it easy to put ads on your site, and you can even make them very non-intrusive, but the problem is that you don’t know what’s being shown. They are “relevant” in that keywords specified by the ad supplier match keywords in the page content, and who knows what results will show up.

So I struggled with the decision from the start, but went ahead anyway.

But today I slapped my forehead and remembered that I don’t need ads. My hosting fees are extremely affordable and I don’t even come close to my bandwidth limit. So until I need ads, I won’t use them. And when the time comes that I need them (yes, I’m foolishly optimistic, sue me) I will first seek out “sponsors” that really are relevant to software development.

Until then, sayonara ads.

1. Jeff Moser Says:
   September 16th, 2007 at 8:07 am

   You know you want to be able to buy things like an iPhone from ad money like the Hanselman

2. Chris Says:
   September 17th, 2007 at 10:40 pm

   The funny thing is that I saw this post just as I was finishing putting ads on My wife’s Website.

3. i like ellipses… » Ads and their true cost Says:
   October 6th, 2007 at 12:28 am

   [...] Lerch recently wrestled with whether he should show ads on his site. Sure the temptation of making a few bucks off your [...]