Finance and Fat

About one month ago I wrote about how this blog earns money and how I dropped the ads from my site. That sure sounded noble and I really thought I could drop the ads and not look back, but now I’ve changed my mind. By the way, I’m not just doing this because Trent went back and resumed his Google ads either. This had been on my mind for a while and I was actually working at adding them back to my site before his post went up (so yeah, he is copying me now).

If you visited my site lately (rather than just reading in a feed reader) you may have noticed one little Google ad at the top of the right column. Yes, I guess I failed at the ‘no ads’ effort. Honestly, I still really want to go that route, but I hate that this blog costs me money. I don’t mind giving up my time to write for the site. Not only has my work here actually been helpful to at least a few people out there in the world, but it has been a huge benefit for me personally. I fully credit this blog with keeping me on track for almost six months now- both with my money and with my weight.

On the other hand, this is a blog about taking control of my money and getting out of debt. Spending over $300 a year to maintain the site is not getting me any closer to my goals. I would be perfectly happy just to break even and I think the simple Google ad spot will allow me to do that. I may still some day sell some ads on my own, but for now I don’t have the time and the Google solution is quick and easy.

I will be watching the Google ads very closely and blocking anything that I find objectionable. By all means, if you see an offensive (or just plain stupid) ad feel free to contact me and I will add it to the blocked list (send email to feedback at financeandfat dot com).

That being said, you can help this blog grow (if you think it is worth growing) by subscribing to my RSS feed and telling a friend to come by and visit. Also, you can help support me financially, though indirectly, by following this link to Amazon.com next time you go there to do some shopping - Just follow this link and I will earn a commission based on what you buy (no personal information is sent to me).

I also take donations, but hey, I don’t want to beg - saying you don’t want to beg doesn’t count as begging right. If you happen to find yourself in a great financial situation or maybe you became debt free by reading the great material I have written then by all means toss a buck or two my way. You can rest assured that any money earned by this site will pay to maintain it first, and anything else will go straight to reducing my debt.

So there you have it, the story of a blogging hypocrite. Some day I will find a better way to monetize this site, but the Google ads will have to do for now. Please share your thoughts on my decision and let me know if you have any better ideas for making money on my blog.

I have to admit that I started this blog with dreams of getting rich and becoming debt free simply by writing a blog about getting out of debt. Seems silly, I know. Well, it turns out that writing this blog has become very valuable to me, but in an unexpected way.

I have learned a lot, I have made some great friends and contacts in the ‘blogosphere’, and I honestly credit this site with keeping me motivated and keeping me on track with my finance and fat goals. Most of that credit goes to you, my readers. The comments, advice, and ideas that have come from many different people are very valuable to me and I appreciate every one. It’s because I value that relationship so much that I want to share with you how I am compensated for my work here.

No one pays me to write any of the content on this site. I do not accept ads from products or companies that I can not personally endorse (why I dropped my ads). I will never write paid posts or be otherwise compensated directly for writing anything on this site (if someone sends me a book or product to review I will state how I received it, give my opinion, and give the item away when I am done).

I don’t want to ask for anyone’s money, but if you find yourself in an excellent financial position and would like to donate, of course I would greatly appreciate your generosity. However, please do not send me a donation if you are in debt. That being said, don’t forget about me when you become debt free thanks to the great content on this site.

There are a couple of other ways you can help support this site. If you visit regularly but have not subscribed to my RSS feed yet, please do so. RSS subscribers are very valuable when it comes to selling ads (I do intend to sell a few ads some day, but only for products I believe in). You can also help me if you shop at Amazon.com. Just follow this link and I will earn a commission based on what you buy (no personal information is sent to me).

The other Amazon.com links you will find on this site are ‘affiliate links’ meaning I will earn a commission if you click the link from the site and buy the item. However, you will not find me promoting these products in order to earn money. I am simply sharing information about products that I have tried or recommend. If you feel uncomfortable using affiliate links, simply type the item names into a search engine and find information about them on your own.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my site. Blogging doesn’t pay much, but that won’t stop me from putting in the time to write content and do my best to help others who are struggling with the same things I am.

Inspired by Trent at the Simple Dollar who recently abandoned (most) of the ads on his site, I have decided to drop Google AdSense and Text Link Ads (the only ads I have as of now) from this site.

I was actually very close to doing this about a month ago. To be honest, I don’t like most of the ads that show up on AdSense- many of them look like scams or come from companies that I would never endorse.

AdSense ads are quite common on the Internet, and it’s not like I’m some sort of Internet Saint for dropping them, but at some point I need to ‘walk the walk’ and draw the line. For example, I would never sell an ad to a Pay Day Loan company so why should I let Google display their ads on my site?

The good news is I hardly make any money from these ads right now so I’m not going to be hurt by the lost income. I can’t imagine how much money Trent is missing out on, so if he can do it there is no reason I can’t do it.

To be clear- I am not saying there will never be ads on Finance and Fat, but I will only sell ads for products I can truly endorse. I think that is an important message for me to send because I want this site to be a resource that helps people who are struggling to improve their lives, not a way to make a quick buck at the expense of people who visit my site.

Also, I do not mean to say that I look down on sites that run AdSense ads or that I will stop visiting those sites. I have no problem with the ads as a site visitor and I would never judge someone for using a legitimate source of income. This is a decision I have made for myself, based on my personal preferences, and I also reserve the right to change my mind at any time. 

I spend a lot of time on the Internet. As a result I collect a lot of interesting links and resources. The hard part is finding an efficient way to keep track of the good stuff and share it with people who might be interested. Lately, I have become a regular user of StumbleUpon and Tumblr. I like these sites because sharing links with them is fast. I also use Digg, Del.icio.us, and Twitter, though they are becoming less useful to me. I still consider Del.icio.us my all-encompassing bookmark reference, and that is a valuable thing to have, but it’s not great for sharing. I like the StumbleUpon community and recommendations and I like that Tumblr is sort of a mini-blog and very easy to use for quick thoughts (I’ve found I prefer it over Twitter).

I have added a ‘Links‘ link to my site navigation that points to my Tumblr page (Tumblog). That will be the main place I keep my Internet favorites and other cool or fun stuff I come across when I’m on the Web. You can also subscribe to my Tumblr RSS feed if you want to keep track in an RSS reader. The Tumblr links will go beyond the content of this site, but if you have found what I’m doing here to be at all interesting you will likely get some value out of my favorite links as well.

You can also follow me at StumbleUpon, though I will likely add anything I ‘Stumble‘ to Tumblr as well (is this language getting ridiculous or what). Of course, there is an RSS feed for my StumbleUpon reviews too.

Summary:

• My StumbleUpon page
• My Tumblr page
• My StumbleUpon RSS
• My Tumblr RSS

My username at StumbleUpon and Tumblr is ‘edenj‘. Add me to your friends or follow me if you like. If you use these services send me an email or post a comment with your username and I will add you to my friends.

Just a quick note to say that my email has been down for several days now due to a mistake I made when changing hosts. Oops! If you sent me a message during that time it has been lost forever. Really, I wasn’t ignoring you. 

I was somewhat confusing myself by using two different email names for a while, but I think I have finally settled on an email address for this site. So, if you would like to ask questions, offer tips or ideas, or just say hello you can now reach me here: feedback [at] financeandfat [dot] com

If you wonder why that doesn’t look like a normal email address, that format is an attempt to thwart email harvesting spam robots that scour the Internet looking for victims. It surprises me that they are still fooled by this, but it does seem to work.  Just type it into your email address box the way it sounds when you read it and you will be fine.