New ad partner incoming – can you help support the site with a few pennies a month?

Those who follow the website will likely be familiar with my ongoing headaches with adverts – specifically with how, when and where they are displayed on the website. The short version is that I haven’t been happy with the provider for a long time, but haven’t felt confident moving away from them as I have been worried about a reduction in revenue.

There is a reality to the running of this website that I don’t often talk about. That being that it is hard, it is time consuming, and I don’t earn anything close to minimum wage for the time that I spend on it either. Though none of this ever feels anything like an issue to me because I love doing it. I love the community, and I very much appreciate the fact that whilst I don’t earn much from doing what I do, everyone else who contributes does so for nothing more than their own enjoyment. All of this has made the idea of doing something drastic like moving ad providers seem like a big deal. I suppose it feels like there’s a fine balance here. The website is currently generating just about the right amount of cash to cover the costs, and to pay me enough for my time that I can justify doing it, but not so much that I feel guilty for raking in a load of cash for other people’s hard work. In short, I am comfortable with with the current balance. But I am not comfortable with the company I currently work with, or indeed the user experience of the website. In fact, to be honest, I find the amount of ads embarrassing.

As such, one of the big reasons for wanting to change ad providers is to regain a bit more control over how the adverts are displayed. The current system is to some degree automated to generate as much income as it can within certain parameters. This is good for the cash, but frankly crap for user experience.

I have spoken to a whole load of other companies about switching to a new system. Many of them just want me on board and talk about how much more money they can make me. To me, this just means they will clutter the website even more. There is one that hasn’t taken that approach though. In fact, they have been very honest with me and have said that if I switch to them, I will likely see a reduction in revenue, but the website will be cleaner and I will have more control over ad placement etc. So I have decided to go with them.

The problem is, whilst this is going to see a long term slight hit on revenue, in the short term it is going to be quite dramatic, and I am actually a little worried about the transition – both the reduction in cash, which they tell me could be quite significant to begin with, and indeed the cost of paying my tech support guys to make the transition.

So, if you hadn’t guessed already, I’m basically here begging for a few more pennies from a few more of you via the website subscription. It’s £2.99 a month, and for that you get a completely ad-free experience of the website. You also get a lovely warm feeling from knowing that you’re helping e keep this place going! I hate to beg, but really, if you are able to support the website, even if it was just for a few months, it really would help!

If you would like to subscribe, you can do so here – thank you in advance!

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