Welcome BlogHer ads!

You’ll notice the new ads, I’m sure. They’re from the BlogHer network, and after 18 months of waiting, I was finally approved to run them. I also applied to be on the BlogHer Reviewer Program – I’m excited about the opportunity of trying a different form of writing. We’ll see how that goes.

I used the Google AdSense program for 2 years, and I didn’t even earn enough to get my first $100 payment.

Here’s my stance on ads…I don’t mind them at all. If I (or more likely someone else) can earn a few bucks for a future rainy day just with a few blocks of code, then that’s great. I’m also completely in favor of the recent FTC ruling that requires bloggers who review items to admit they’re received the items for free if that’s the case. Many bloggers are upset, claiming that professional reviewers don’t have to disclose they received review copies of products.

The differences is that when you read the newspaper (and we all do, yes?) you KNOW that person you’re reading is a paid reviewer and that s/he’s trying that product out for free or is reimbursed for the cost. When you read someone’s personal blog and they start mentioning a product over and over, you think they’re a fan of the product. If they happen to omit the fact that they were flown to NYC for a weekend courtesy of the company that makes that product, it adds a certain shadiness to the blog. And I don’t like shadiness.

So here’s to the beginning of (hopefully) a beautiful little partnership.

In completely unrelated news, I have to get rid of the “Beach” theme for Gmail, as it depresses me every night when the sun sets on the theme. I get that icky “last day of vacation” feeling.

Tags: advertising, blogher