Ramblings-n-Writings

Have you noticed a tiny change in the left sidebar? Earlier this week, my BlogHer ad vanished. Don’t worry, it wasn’t those pesky gremlins that keep messing up my site. It was an intentional move by me, and here’s why ….

I’ve had a great experience with BlogHer. Their ads are colorful, family friendly, and I really have no complaints. The main reason why I chose to remove BlogHer ads is because of their increasingly more stringent rules about the kinds of posts I could put on my blog.

I believe that this is my blog, my space in the online world, and not a place for advertisers to dictate what I can post, where I can post it, or how often I need to post. Ultimately I have the say in what can or can’t be done on my site.

Besides random ramblings about various topics, my main focus is on promoting excellent books. As many of you know, I receive these books free from the publisher in exchange for my writing a review or introducing my readers to the book. Unfortunately, the advertisers that have contracted with BlogHer feel like a blogger’s promotion of a book interferes with their product advertising.

Personally, I see no harm in a post that includes an author bio, product details, and a video about the book. But in order for those posts to continue on this blog, I would need to create a separate review page or write a review for every single book I read.

So, with all that being expressed, I decided to discontinue my BlogHer ads.

(Short side note: when I started with BlogHer ads a couple of years ago, they did not have the stringent requirements about reviews. Over time the requirements have morphed into what they are now. BlogHer ads is wonderful passive income generator, and I recommend it to other bloggers who do not have other advertising or write reviews.)

Related posts:

1. Writing Wednesday: PayPerPost
2. What’s Your Perspective on My Blog?
3. The Power of Advertising
4. For the Love of Reviewing Books
5. I need Blog Redesigners Anonymous

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