Ad free browsing?

There are two sides to every story, and as a web users, I am torn on this one. Do advertisements bug me or not? For a long time, I wondered why Frank over at PostSecret didn’t monetize his site, then I realized this is something he is proud of, boasting The PostSecret website is the largest advertisement-free Blog on the web in his footer. In a day and age when people will buy ad space pretty much anywhere, it’s nice to have a haven on a popular site, that sticks with their original aim, rather than supplementing their income through ads.

Perhaps PostSecret is starting to re-think their strategy. At the end of this weeks post, I noticed they were plugging their book on Amazon. I assume that this is an affiliate link and will generate some income, but would they really change their no-ad policy if they don’t make enough Christmas dollars?

BBC news is a site that changed their policy recently, and started to include banner ads for all users viewing the site from anywhere other than the UK. British users are assumed to have paid their TV license fees which fund the network, so it’s nice that their only making money out of the expats and foreign readers.

I don’t sell ads on this site. None of the content or reviews are paid for, this my my space for my web-rant. I want to keep it that way. On the other hand, I have another four or five blogs, one of which is fair game. Offer me the dollars and I will do anything over there. When I’m browsing, it’s rare that I will click a banner, and I have totally tuned out the sponsored links that all sorts of people will try and feed me – but the advertising field is getting sneaky and keeps track of web trends.

The odd add here and there is great, go promote, increase your SEO or direct traffic, but it’s nice to see there are some sites out there that are true to their aims and creating an income from their blog comes second. Props to you Frank, I like they way you have your priorities!