I do not have ads like this on my blogsite, mostly because they are ads for bad bargains.
When you read this blog, you may notice one thing - or a lack of one thing - advertisements.
Why is this? Because I chose not to "monetize" my blog. Why? Because monetized blogs SUCK, period.
The people who monetize their blogs are hoping that people will visit their blog and then click on the ads, which in turn will generate "click revenue" for them. Not a lot - just pennies or fractions of pennies.
But if you can get millions of people to click, well, you can generate some pretty good dough.
But there is one problem with this. Most of the ads are internet ads, and thus are for raw deals, bad bargains, and other utter SHIT that is just a rip-off.
Now, the point I had in writing this blog was to help myself, and perhaps others, figure out how personal actions affect personal finances.
And one thing I have discovered early on is that advertising, particularly TeeVee advertising, provides the worst sort of normative social cues. Internet ads are even worse, as they are often for the worst sort of bargains or outright rip-offs.
So, I can not, in good conscience, put up a blog that criticizes "Obama wants Moms to go back to school!" Internet ads, when the very same ads appear in the margins.
I can't write about car insurance rip-offs while "lower my bills" appears in a side bar.
And I can't write about how diet programs are utter waste, when "One trick of the tiny belly" is flashing in your face.
So, what about the bloggers who monetize? Well, you can't blame them for trying to make a buck, I guess. But the problem is, they've compromised their authenticity and legitimacy as a result.
Monetized bloggers are often just trying to generate keyword SPAM, so you will click on their site and read - and hopefully click on an ad link.
As a result, a lot of their blog material is sort of second-rate and also sensationalist. You get hits by being controversial, so they are controversial.
But rarely are they useful. And reading them, with all the spinning logos and bearded-homeless-man adverts on the side is, to say the least, distracting.
Note that I am not selling books, seminars, weight-loss programs or any of the other shit that many folks hawk on TeeVee these days. Why not? After all, it is an easy way to make money! But that is the problem with the world today - too many people out selling bad ideas and lazy thinking to make a quick buck for themselves, at someone else's - or society's expense.
