Personally, I dislike the advertising on blogs that I visit. Google ads aren’t too bad, because they typically are geared toward whatever the site, or that post, is about. But still…I dunno. Folks make money when someone simply clicks on one of the ads. You don’t have to buy anything for the owner to earn.
I have no intention of using Google’s AdSense on any of my sites. I can’t really explain why, I just don’t want to. However, I am an “affiliate” with several software companies. I have bought their software and liked it so much I became a kind of virtual saleswoman for them.
What happens is this: you click a link on this site which takes you to a product page. That link contains my i.d. number. If you decide to purchase anything while you are on that site, then I get a small percentage of that sale. I get nothing if you simply visit.
Why am I telling you this? Simple. I don’t like stealth. I am not comfortable with the idea that if I click a link on a site, that person earns a bit of change (pennies, probably). If I like and know the person, I am more comfortable with it (such as Georganna over at Writer’s Edge). Why? I don’t know that either. I’m weird that way. Besides, I am there to read their content, not find their content amongst all the text ads, or worse, damn banner ads. So by telling you up front, you know what you are doing when you click a link. If the link ever leads to some way that I will earn money from it, you will know. Like I said, I don’t like stealth.
Below are the companies and their software I support.
From Iconico:
| Right click here to download trial version (732 KB)
| Right click here to download trial version (1.01 MB)
| Right click here to download trial version (799 KB)
| Right click here to download trial version (608 KB)
| Right click here to download trial version (868 KB)
| Right click here to download trial version (607 KB)
Color Pop (there is no trial version)
ProFantasy Software:
Gecko Tribe, LLC
In the sidebar, down near the bottom, is a section called “Affiliations”. Those links have my i.d. attached to them. On another page, Iconica (where I moved all the graphics that were in the sidebar), are graphics and links with my i.d. attached to them. Again, they are under the heading of “Affiliations”. Also on that page, as well as the footer of each page, is a little icon for Dreamhost, the company that hosts all my sites. One button will allow you to donate to the cost of hosting this and the other sites. Another button takes you to where you can find out more about Dreamhost. If you choose to sign up with them, I get a percentage of that too.
Oh, and if you see anything on a link that says no clicks or 3 clicks or some other number of clicks, that’s a plug-in, not a sales thingywhatsit. It tells me how many people have clicked on any link within a post. I can tell rather quickly which post was read and utilized the most and which must’ve been a yawner.
There. That’s all of them. Now, how about a group hug?