Comments on: Why I’ve Decided To Abandon (Virtually All) Ads On The Simple Dollar

By: Brooke Lorren

Brooke Lorren — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:28:59 +0000

I’ve never done adSense on my blog, although I thought about it. I ended up signing up with Google Ad Affiliates, which is different. You can choose your advertisers, and even which ads you want to feature.

By: Jacky

Jacky — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:45:59 +0000

YOU DID THE RIGHT THING!! You know how you always talk about how valuable your time is? You would have spent (unconsious) time worrying over the ads, and you would have been upset with yourself. You can’t underestimate the value of knowing you aren’t purposely trading your values for your income. AND, I remember reading that the Google ads payment is not actually competitive; that there are better paying ads out there.
You review books so much, why not approach Amazon/Barnes & Noble/other booksellers to see if they would like to advertise on your site? Or people who give financial seminars who do a good job in your opinion. There is really no limit to your potential for advertisers who you can feel good about promoting. And, nowthat you still like yourself, your relationships with your wife and children won’t suffer either. Actually, keeping the AdSense would have been pretty expensive for you in the long run.

By: Trent

Trent — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 21:55:20 +0000

If you read through the comments, my readers were pretty clear that I should abandon this and put the ads back. So I did some research, developed a system for flagging unethical AdSense ads, and brought them back:
http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2008/02/03/a-decision-on-ads/

By: Andy

Andy — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 21:17:04 +0000

Hey – your adsense ads are back? What happended to the ethical dilemma, or is Greed too Good?

By: Scott Sweeney

Scott Sweeney — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 11:37:03 +0000

I give you supreme kudos for nixing the advertisements. When your site is doing as much traffic as it is, it is hard to turn away from a dollar. You are one of the good ones!

Cheers!

By: Money Blue Book

Money Blue Book — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 10:03:06 +0000

Quite impressive that you made the move! You will find a more lucrative method to achieve your selective ad purpose. Direct selling pays better but requires a lot of traffic, which you definitely have! Happy 2008!
-Raymond

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 03:29:25 +0000

You could try looking into something like http://adpinion.com/. In theory the collaborative filter will keep people from ever seeing adds they don’t like.

By: Tommy

Tommy — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 15:15:51 +0000

Wow! What a bold move. This is the first post I’ve read from you. I congratulate you on your principles and wish you the best of luck. You will be blessed for your efforts.

By: Andrea K.

Andrea K. — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 05:39:02 +0000

Trent,

It takes a lot of integrity for a person to do what you have done. I hope you’re able to make use of other means to supplement the income you will be losing as a result of your decision. As others have said, there are more ad networks that are our there, and some of them can give you the control over the ad content that you really do need with this site, and you could also make use of affiliate programs that you feel are appropriate.

Considering the number of personal finance books you review, you could probably pitch quite a few of them to your readers with little difficulty. I would definitely order some of them through links provided on the site if you chose to do that. I wouldn’t be as willing to pay for a subscription to the site.

I guess what I really want to say is this: as long as you do what you feel is the right thing to do, everything will fall into place for you.

By: Coryan

Coryan — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 23:29:20 +0000

I’ve never been to your site, but followed the ProBlogger link to this post. First time visit, but I will be back! Your actions of removing the ads speaks more for solid financial principles than the volumes of trash sold each day as “financial advice”. The credit vultures lost this fight…and you’ve won a reader!

By: Rob in Madrid

Rob in Madrid — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 18:46:26 +0000

You are correct that people won’t pay for a subscribtion. Everything is free on the interent, paid for by advertising. That’s the trade off.

Understandly mostly readers myself included are concerned that this is a business not a charity, doing something for free only goes so far. Noticed Ads on getrichslowly but his seem targeted, no dodgey ads there. Dave Ramsey makes money by selling things.

good luck

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 17:22:03 +0000

I can’t judge the ads on your site, Mozilla and Ad-Block Plus and a few other add-ons prevented me from ever seeing them to being with, but I applaud your taking a stand based on your principles.

By: Gilad

Gilad — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 17:05:39 +0000

I solute you. Taking control over your ads very important, how ever I think that the right ads could add value for the readers of your site.

Try:
http://adify.com
to select vertical ad networks that can appeal to your readers

By: Nursecap

Nursecap — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 13:12:32 +0000

No doubt your decision was a hard one, but really commendable considering you eliminated a good source of income. There aren’t a lot of people who would have done what you did.

By: Gina

Gina — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 07:20:57 +0000

The fact that you were getting any income at all from Adsense ads suggests that your fears are based in truth – desperate visitors with no idea how to make positive changes are clicking through to these advertisers. Because the ads appear on your site, they probably think these are solutions endorsed by you. While a great many of your visitors are only looking for validation of their own decisions, many more may be easily swayed by advertising – if ads didn’t work, they wouldn’t pay to show them.

I support your decision, though I’d suggest that you look into another ad/income source. Amazon.com can offer options with greater control.

By: J.B.

J.B. — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 05:43:07 +0000

Trent, you are a man with values. Good for you. I’m often discouraged when I visit a PF blog advocating smart use and saving of money that advertises for payday loans, etc.

I don’t mind other ads at all, I hope that’s something you can integrate back in and choose what types of things to promote, so your revenue stream isn’t affected. But the payday ones aren’t ethical from a website that’s devoted to PF.

By: Shaun Carter

Shaun Carter — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 02:52:18 +0000

I found this post by way of ProBlogger and would just like to make sure you are aware that there are plenty of other ad networks out there that give the publisher complete control over the content of the ads displayed on their pages.

Examples include AdBrite, Text Link Ads, various affiliate programs, and many more. You should really look into these other programs so you don’t need to make the sacrifice of lower income.

By: Justin Dupre

Justin Dupre — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 02:12:53 +0000

I’m not so sure I would be able to make the trade off from a bunch of money, to none like so. I commend you.

The site does look much prettier though.

By: Susan

Susan — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 02:02:47 +0000

That’s a truly commendable move! It’s my feeling that once you put your principles first, the rest of your life eventually falls into place. I’m sure you’ll suddenly find yourself with innovative new revenue streams.

By: Andrea_R

Andrea_R — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 22:51:37 +0000

I switched to Blogads.com – you have to approve each ad, and it’s on a block format. Easy to do. :)

It’s invite-only though, but you can set your own process for the ads, and I found it more reliable and steady with better advertisers.