In the blogosphere: Bookstores and Google ads

A few things of interest in my corner of the blogosphere: Jessa Crispin's gone speed-dating in a bookstore. Poor Melanie Lynne Hauser writes about a nightmarish book signing experience. And Glaukôpidos is asking permission to put ads on her site. See what you think of the comment I left at the last of these.

Comments

[Maxine]

1.

What a load of old miseries to that poor student. I am afraid I left her a bit of an essay saying I thought she should do what she likes.

[Debra Hamel]

2.

She shouldn't have felt compelled to ask! And whoever left the first comment shouldn't have told her not to.

[Glaukopis]

3.

Hey, thanks for the ad-defense! And I actually do like the ads on your blog, particularly because they are relevant and not obtrusive. I've actually occassionally found google ads that were useful, too, so I'm probably going to experiment and make sure they're actually as customizable as they claim to be.

[Debra Hamel]

4.

Good! They *are* highly customizable. Also, you can use channels to your advantage, as a means of seeing which of your ads are performing well. Rules of thumb: (1) the ads that are closest to your content work better (i.e., don't just throw them at the top of the page; no one will click); (2) ads that blend in to your site work better. But of course results will vary.

[Susan]

5.

I hope she puts the ads in! That elitist comment suggesting she'd be 'selling out' probably came from someone who'd never earned an honest dime in his life. Your comment was perfect and the kind of moral support she needed, Debra!

[Debra Hamel]

6.

Thanks, Susan. I appreciated your "What Debra said!"s.