AdSense IS Content
When was the last time you saw a web site that wasn't selling something? Can't think of one? Neither can I. Every site I've been to in the recent past has either been directly selling a product, offering to trade something you have for something less valuable that they have, or showing you advertisements (either fixed or adsense).
My first thought on the recent overabundance of advertisements was "When the hell did everyone get so greedy?" At what point, did content get bumped to second-place behind ads? At what point did we start to not only tolerate ad-filled sites, but to accept them as the norm? That thought, of course, was followed by "Damn... I've got to get that ad-blocker plugin for Firefox..."
As a server administrator (that's part of my day job), I know that hosting is expensive. I know that shared hosting rarely works out once you've got enough visitors coming to your site to pay for it. I know that Virtual Private Servers (VPS) are overpriced and often perform worse than the cheaper shared hosting does. I know that dedicated server hosting generally means that you either need to be a server admin yourself, or that you've got to dish out a few hundred dollars per month to hire someone to do the work. I understand the problem. What I don't understand is why the perceived solution to that problem is to fill your web sites with tons of advertisements.
AdSense below the menu
November 20, 2006 by Jason · 2 Comments
I'd like to get it out now that I'm not here to make money from this blog. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to tell you not to click the ads that are below the menu, I can always use extra money, but the $3 that this site is going to make each month isn't going to change my life. I have a theory on sites with and without AdSense but I want to give it a couple days before I post about it (hint: grab the RSS fees so that you know when I update).
As to the "Get Firefox" banner, I love FireFox. Aside from Opera (which is SO good that it can't be used with most people's sites, at least not yet), it's the best browser out there. I was never big on Google spying on what I'm doing, but I recently started using the Google Toolbar. I have to say, I really do find it useful. If you aren't currently using FireFox, please use the button on the right to download it. The package has both FireFox and the Google Toolbar so you'll get both in one shot.