There is a great long column at Daring Fireball. He talks about the Google AdSense program and why he decided on using it. This program is interesting, and I'm considering applying. It gives you text based ads that should be relevant to your content and pays you if they get clicks.
He also writes a great bit about Independent publishing on the web and why it does well compared to the corporate web publishers:
The web is where independents shine. Independent web sites tend to look better and are better produced. Their URLs are even more readable. This isn’t bluster about the future, this is a description of today. With a text editor and an Apache web server, you’re on equal footing with any web site in the world. Even if you can’t design worth a lick, the default templates for most major weblog packages are decidedly more readable and better designed than typical corporate media web sites. For short-form opinion and analysis, the web cannot be beaten as a writing and reading medium. The immediacy, linkability, lack of word count restraints (this works both ways, short and long) and direct connection between writer and reader puts the independent producer at a decided advantage over media corporations.
This is a great essay.
You will never get enough click throughs from your site unless do it yourself. Blog readers don't click through:-)
It is just a clever way for Google to plaster ads on the blogger sites they aquired.
Don't waste your time making web money this way:-)
Tech sites are the exception to this rule. Even if it's a blog that touches on tech issues (which this one does), tech ad click through rates are higher. I know I click on banner ads a lot when I'm reading MacCentral.
Blog readers miight click through as a charity :P. But then if they are just doing it as a favor and they don't really care about the site it is taking them to, the system breaks down.
I'm starting to think there isn't a good way to make money off web content.
"He also writes a great bit about Independant publishing on the web and why it does well compared to the corporate web publishers:
'The web is where independents shine. Independent web sites tend to look better and are better produced.'"
For God's sake, man. "Independent" is spelled correctly TWICE, RIGHT THERE. It doesn't have an "a" in it. How do you pronounce the word "ant?" Right, now put "independ" in front of it and say the resulting word. Right, now don't ever do that again.
LOL! Valrus, the walking fuc*ing dictionary... wh00t! Webster's lookin' fer ya!
Google's adsense is going to have problems because of the 1) lack of control they give you over the presentation of the ad, and 2) the refusal to let small "personal" publishers get in on the action.
Fer (1), their ads look like ads, and look even more like ads in the adsense block. They should follow textads.biz and let the host customize the layout of the ad, seperate data from layout.
Fer (2), Personal publishers, with personal content, speak more to a topic, sometimes... kinda like the techies speak to techies... Their refusal to let the small publisher in blocks out a whole 'community' of peoples...