Google Adsense: Taking the plunge

Since starting this site in 2002, I have never used any sort of advertising, no Amazon referrals, never accepted payment for promoting content, locations, or products of any kind, and have never used text links related to serving myself in any way.

Being 2008, I’ve decided to ease into a bit of advertising, utilizing Google Adsense first. I find them to be relatively unobtrusive and quite relevant to the topics I discuss: photography, travel, Indonesia, Bali, technology, blogging. I have absolutely no idea how much revenue this site could bring in, but hopefully it will at least help cover the rising costs of my hosting and perhaps even help out with my equipment costs. I’ll have to learn what placement, number of ads, and type of ads work best without cluttering the site or driving you guys away.

I won’t be changing my content, writing posts in efforts to receive more traffic, nor tailoring my photography to meet what the public wants. I simply think it’s time to start receiving some sort of compensation for my efforts – especially since other people have been stealing my work and making profit from my writing and photographs without my consent.

I’ll be pursuing more ways to increase my photography sales as well. I’m investigating stock photography, but don’t feel micro-stock is for me. There are just too many beautiful people and places in Indonesia to be stuck inside photographing colored pencils and computer components.

Wish me luck.