Just over one month ago, I decided to use Google AdSense to put some ads on this blog. Here are my thoughts:
Readership
I haven’t really noticed any negative effect on my readerships. In fact, my Feedburner numbers have gone up even higher (over 600 recently) and unique visitors to the site have stayed about the same. I’ve had no one email me to tell me that they find the ads annoying or anything, so either they’re small enough or not very noticeable.
Ads
I haven’t really had any problems with the ads. I try to keep an eye on them, but every now and then, one will slip through that I wouldn’t necessarily want to have on my site. My friend Kellen found one linking to John Piper the other day – hmm, perhaps I’ll have to blacklist that ad. I’ve only blacklisted one ad, and it hasn’t shown up since, so at least I know that works well.
Income
Since starting the ads on December 11th, I’ve received a total of $41.05. That works out to just about $1.25/day, which doesn’t seem like much. But over the course of a year or more, that additional money will be very helpful. Around the same time that I began to implement Google AdSense, my Text-Link-Ads sales have been increasingly better. I currently have 3 ads under Support on the right, and 3 ads that are post-specific. I don’t know if there is a link or correlation between TLA and AdSense, but together, they should bring in around $80/month.
Overall, I am glad that I gave them a try, and I’m willing to stick with them. They don’t seem to be causing any negative effects, and I certainly enjoy the spare change!
