The Boston Diaries

The ongoing saga of a programmer who doesn't live in Boston, nor does he even like Boston, but yet named his weblog/journal “The Boston Diaries.”

Go figure.

Thursday, May 07, 2015

Small websites need not apply

Hoade and I were exchanging emails about AdWords today. He's trying to get his writing career into overdrive, seeing how every other job he's tried never worked out. I advised him against AdWords unless someone else was footing the bill, as it can get expensive.

[I'm amused that the GoogleAI has realized that lots of people don't think too highly of AdWords.]

I've also heard first hand that AdWords wasn't worth the money spent on it.

On the flip side, I found that AdSense wasn't worth it for me. Sure, if my blog had a bit more focus, like I was writing about gendered bodies in Japanese pornographic anime and horror through a Foucauldian framwork in order to analyze the West's gaze upon the world, Google would have had a better time generating related advertising towards the blog, but alas, my blog isn't that focused and the ads I did get were bizarre. And it didn't help me that not many people were seeing the ads.

Things might have changed since my last experiment with AdSense (or what I heard about AdWords), but I still cautioned Hoade about wasting money on AdWords. I feel he would do better by getting his name out there on podcasts and web-based forums. At least that way, he won't spend any money.

Last words from Hoade:

Just to add a little coda to our AdWords / Facebook ads convo, the for-real serious consensus seems to be "Maybe it could work. Do some A/b testing with your massive pile of ad money. One way might could work gooder than another." Not even XXXXXXX kidding.

Actual quote: "She ended up with a 1.3 percent click-through rate, which is actually very good." I believe this is true, but lord, it doesn't make you run for your checkbook.

Yeah, I'm thinking small sites need not apply.

Obligatory Picture

[The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades]

Obligatory Contact Info

Obligatory Feeds

Obligatory Links

Obligatory Miscellaneous

You have my permission to link freely to any entry here. Go ahead, I won't bite. I promise.

The dates are the permanent links to that day's entries (or entry, if there is only one entry). The titles are the permanent links to that entry only. The format for the links are simple: Start with the base link for this site: https://boston.conman.org/, then add the date you are interested in, say 2000/08/01, so that would make the final URL:

https://boston.conman.org/2000/08/01

You can also specify the entire month by leaving off the day portion. You can even select an arbitrary portion of time.

You may also note subtle shading of the links and that's intentional: the “closer” the link is (relative to the page) the “brighter” it appears. It's an experiment in using color shading to denote the distance a link is from here. If you don't notice it, don't worry; it's not all that important.

It is assumed that every brand name, slogan, corporate name, symbol, design element, et cetera mentioned in these pages is a protected and/or trademarked entity, the sole property of its owner(s), and acknowledgement of this status is implied.

Copyright © 1999-2024 by Sean Conner. All Rights Reserved.