Hey, all! Tonight I introduced ads onto the site. I'm working on some new content for the website but I am not able to work on the visuals at the moment so I figured it was time to start experimenting with rolling out ads. Where are these ads and why are we rolling them out?
Objective
The objective of running ads on the site is to help soften the cost of the website itself. Believe it or not, this website is very expensive! It cost me about $100-150 or so to get the site up and running with a premium plan, and it will cost me even more this coming March, possibly around $200-$300 for next year.
We won't make enough money from ad revenue to overcome this cost. However, it will make it more manageable to keep the site up and running.
Considerations: Annoying Ads Suck
I have been thinking about this for a long time: what are some ways to monetize the site that can help cover the costs of the site? Google AdSense was one of the first solutions that came to mind, but I knew that it came at a price: your comfort and convenience. Ads are annoying. They can increase page load time, clutter the page, and show inappropriate content.
Our goal is to make sure that the ads that you see follow these rules,
Ads must be placed in ways that are not obstructive or annoying. They may even help break up the content of longer blog posts to make them easier to read.
Inappropriate, offensive, or uncomfortable ads should never be allowed.
Users should be able to report ads that break these rules.
Ad Placement
I have manually placed ads on the site. In fact, as of the writing of this post, ads only exist on three pages. This was decided based on traffic metrics. We have the ability to move ads around both on desktop and mobile experiences to help make the experience feel less cluttered or annoying.
Reporting Bad Ads
We have the ability to block ads that we deem inappropriate. Occasionally you may find some ads that are a bit naughty! If you see an ad with inappropriate or uncomfortable content, please report it by replying to this thread. Please copy and paste the URL of the ad if possible, as this can help us investigate and blacklist the advertiser.
Supporting our Website
We invite you to support the LBP Union's website by whitelisting us in your adblocker. Your feedback is greatly appreciated, so please make sure to report inappropriate ads here. If something catches your eye, give it a click! Don't download anything suspicious.
If you click on an ad and see popups telling you that you have a virus, don't sweat! Close the tab. Many sites create fake pop-up messages to convince you to click on them to download anti-virus software. Make sure to report any sites that do this here so we can block them.
If you have any thoughts, concerns, or questions, please leave a response to this thread. We greatly value your feedback on this process. Thank you for your support over these past few months!