please empty your brain below

What I don't get is why you don't use Google Adsense to get some cash to cover your blogging costs.

I turned off Adblock pro the other day and I thought it was odd "dg" doesn't take ads.
I edit a telecoms magazine, and PR people (though no one so far called Bree) continually send me infographics that they fondly believe that (a) I am interested in, (b) provide useful information and (c) I will somehow publish. Most of them are about 400 pixels wide and around 4000 pixels high, or long -- about the same aspect ratio as, say, seven sheets of loo paper. More to the point neither a magazine page nor a computer screen are suited to this format, even if the information were to be in the slightest way interesting. Why do they do it?
Alan Burkitt-Gray: Reminds me of xkcd: Tall Infographics



Aagh. Just looked at your named and shamed websites and was despairing at their shiny vacuousness when it occurred to me to check out the 'research' organisation my employer has recently engaged to help us redesign and relaunch ourselves... and it was pretty much the same. It included this gem:
'Finally we like to add value to our work, getting the detail right, challenging clients and each other to improve the quality of what we do every day.'
Getting the details right is adding value? It's not, like, the basic minimum you'd expect?

If this is how they market themselves, I have little hope of their ability to help us market ourselves.
I'm rather bemused by concept of music including "vigorous clunk". Puts my rather strange imagination in mind of an over excited cartoon character from Dastardly and Muttley "Catching the Pidgeon".
I got my very first request like this the other day, asking me to publish an article on my blog that would be "of interest to [my] readers". Yeah right. Hell, the stuff *I* write is barely of interest to my readers. Still I was kinda chuffed. I feel like I've made it as a blogger now. I hope I eventually get enough to start finding them annoying.
I love these posts - fascinating insights into the murky world of blogvertising.

But I don't begrudge people for taking advantage of these offers - I get a lot of entertainment out of blogs, and I don't mind a bit of payback in the form of having to filter some spams out of my mind. It's when the spamming is cunningly hidden that I think it's unfair to readers.
Your resistance to commercialising does you great credit and is one of the things I love about this blog
In the past year I've turned down paid advertising worth over a thousand pounds, and probably a similar amount in freebies for free reviews / free gifts for readers. I'm just not interested.

I have a standard extremely scathing email that I send to those who bother me more than once. I can confirm that it doesn't work.

There aren't too many of us left who haven't sold out, are there?
Jessica from 'digital agency' eightandfour.com sent me the following email this afternoon.

She clearly doesn't read the blog.

Hi there,

I hope you’re well.

I’m emailing to introduce <Brandname>, a brand new nightlife service in London that I think will be of interest to you and the readers of Diamond Geezer.

I’d also love to share a competition that <Brandname> is running for visitors travelling to London…

By entering their details, entrants are given the opportunity to experience real London nightlife with a ‘nightlife safari’. Our team of nightlife experts will take the winner and their friends out for an amazing night out in London. They’ll visit a fabulous restaurant and enjoy cocktails at a number of exclusive bars, ending the night at one of London’s most elite clubs!

It’d be great if you could share this with the readers of Diamond Geezer. Please do let me know if I can send you any more information or supporting imagery.

Thanks,
Jessica


My apologies to any readers who are interested in nightlife safaris. Other blogs are available.
I get regular requests for infographic placement on my blog. They clearly didn't read the bit, just above the contact box, promising a rude reply. I do oblige with rude replies.

At the same time, I do get offers for paid ads/posts/links. It pains me to accept them. Alas, I need the money, and the money is good. I've added more than £3,000 to my bank account in the last year, and probably something approaching £20,000 in the last 6 years.

My blog feels dirty and violated. But such is life.
Who was the Geordie band?!
Hi Gary

If I blogged something as dirty as your recent "top luxury casinos" post, I suspect my readers would desert in great numbers.

But £20000? Good luck to you.

dg
Given the stand you've taken against those sort of posts, you'd certainly stand out as a hypocrite if you suddenly covered your blog in spamware. :)

Don't get me wrong, I'd much, much prefer not to posts any sort of ad. I've been keeping my blog going for over ten years now, so when I say it pains me to publish shite on it I do mean it. And I applaud your restraint.

I commented not to dispute your very valid post, but just because there's another side to the coin. That spamware can be lucrative and if your day job isn't much more than NMW (and if you have a wife with high maintenance costs!) then it's going to be tough to say no.

By the by, the stats suggests that the ads haven't had any particularly negative impact on visits. Some of my regular 'blog chums' enjoy leaving snarkey comments on the ads. I think most of them just ignore them.










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