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© 2012 Sanjeev Sabhlok's revolutionary blog
PD provided useful feedback on this blog, here. He also raised the issue of excessive ads, and noted: "I am assuming, that you make money of these ads to support the costs of running the site".
Well, here's some analysis. The biggest cost of this blog is the cost of accessing the internet. My monthly bill to access the internet is $49.
The marginal cost of hosting this blog is pretty small. The domain costs $10 or so per year, so less than $1 per month.
In addition, web hosting costs $5 per month. (This cross-subsidises a number of domains that I host, e.g. freedomteam.in, freedomparty.in, liberalpartyofindia.org, seesta.org, indiapolicy.org, etc.) And of course the numerous sub-domains of this and associated domains. I pay all for these domains separately, but hosting cost is paid only once: just $5.
So my monthly costs of running this particular domain/blog are trivial, less than the cost of a cup of coffee. I don't need to be "supported" in meeting the cost of a cup of coffee.
So why do I run advertising on this blog? Two purposes:
a) To find out how this works
Curiosity. Sheer curiosity. So I set up an adsense account 1 1/2 years ago, and have so far, in 19 months, earned a notional $44, i.e. an astronomical $2.30 per month! [see detailed table below].
On top of that, google's policy states, "Payments are issued within 30 days after the end of the month in which your unpaid earnings reach A$150". This means that at this rate I'll get paid after 6 years!
What is this telling me? That google is running a scam. MILLIONS of bloggers run ads which earn google REAL money, in the billions. Thereafter it sits tight on that money for years, and 99 per cent of the bloggers will NEVER reach the $150 limit. That means google will NEVER pay out the money that is due to the bloggers. A bigger scam one can't think of.
(I also run some google ads – for BFN. Google doesn't say that I should pay only after I've accrued $150!)
b) To stretch the reach of this blog
Every week someone or other contacts me wanting me to put ads on this blog. I ignore them because of the HUGE transaction cost of setting up accounts with individual advertisers. They have promised me big money – far bigger than what google offers, anyway – but I've simply ignored them.
What did interest me was MGID which doesn't offer cash (which is a sham anyway), but offers more traffic from diverse sources: people who might be interested in economics topics. That is why I run the MGID ads. I don't know how they make any money out of this, but they do ensure that (only) the following two posts of mine get about 30-60 additional visitors each day:
- For 12 out of the past 20 centuries, India was the world’s RICHEST “country”
- China exports seven times more than India
As you can see, I have no objection to extra traffic for these two posts. I am likely to find readers of the type I'm looking for: those interested in India, and who knows, even an FTI member or two. So I like MGID ads (they also spice up my website which is otherwise very boring).
In sum, I'm stuck like with google ads a mouse on a treadmill. In order to get my first $150 I have no choice but to keep going! I also want to know whether google will finally pay up in the end or not – I'm very sceptical of google, perhaps the greatest scam going in the world at the moment. They will surely have an excuse at that point not to pay. I need to understand its racket fully.
And MGID is GOOD. I have no intention of removing MGID ads.
One thing is sure, I'm not going to end up a rich man from running ads on this blog!!
MY AD "EARNING" SO FAR
| Date | Description | Amount | Account Balance |
| 7/31/2010 | Earnings (Jul 1 – Jul 31) | $0.56 | $0.56 |
| 8/12/2010 | Earnings (Aug, Balance Transfer) | $0.11 | $0.67 |
| 8/31/2010 | Earnings (Aug 1 – Aug 31) | $1.55 | $2.22 |
| 9/30/2010 | Earnings (Sep 1 – Sep 30) | $0.09 | $2.31 |
| 10/31/2010 | Earnings (Oct 1 – Oct 31) | $0.84 | $3.15 |
| 11/30/2010 | Earnings (Nov 1 – Nov 30) | $2.89 | $6.04 |
| 12/31/2010 | Earnings (Dec 1 – Dec 31) | $1.48 | $7.52 |
| 1/31/2011 | Earnings (Jan 1 – Jan 31) | $0.16 | $7.68 |
| 2/28/2011 | Earnings (Feb 1 – Feb 28) | $1.10 | $8.78 |
| 3/31/2011 | Earnings (Mar 1 – Mar 31) | $5.21 | $13.99 |
| 4/30/2011 | Earnings (Apr 1 – Apr 30) | $3.71 | $17.70 |
| 5/31/2011 | Earnings (May 1 – May 31) | $1.10 | $18.80 |
| 6/30/2011 | Earnings (Jun 1 – Jun 30) | $1.85 | $20.65 |
| 7/31/2011 | Earnings (Jul 1 – Jul 31) | $2.51 | $23.16 |
| 8/31/2011 | Earnings (Aug 1 – Aug 31) | $6.04 | $29.20 |
| 9/30/2011 | Earnings (Sep 1 – Sep 30) | $3.01 | $32.21 |
| 10/31/2011 | Earnings (Oct 1 – Oct 31) | $1.30 | $33.51 |
| 11/30/2011 | Earnings (Nov 1 – Nov 30) | $1.67 | $35.18 |
| 12/31/2011 | Earnings (Dec 1 – Dec 31) | $5.12 | $40.30 |
| 1/31/2012 | Earnings (Jan 1 – Jan 31) | $4.09 | $44.39 |
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Related posts:
- Blog name change: Sanjeev Sabhlok’s revolutionary blog
- Nine months – a progress report and review of this blog
- Feedback sought on improving the design of this blog
- Google Pagerank of this blog has increased from 3 to 6
- After being hacked by Internet Gangsters, this blog is back once again
- Request to support my blog on Networked blogs
- Tips for writing and managing a good blog
- Analysis of keywords that bring people to this blog
- Thanks for visiting this blog – the stats are showing
- Quick update about this blog
To spread the message of liberty and critical thinking, please share this post
The nature of advertising on this blog, its purpose, and its results http://t.co/WSpU2a21 #aboutme #blogging
The nature of advertising on this blog, its purpose, and its results http://t.co/YOhFEz2L
Sanjeev–
I understand your point about gaining extra publicity for two of your posts you mentioned via the mgid system. My issue (before your explanation) was that the mgid ads (links) were to topics which (in my opinion did not have anything to do with the content on your blog). As of now these are the mgid ads showing –
The Most Breathtaking Crashes and Stunts
Cowboy Code of Conduct
Snake Horror on Vietnamese Train
Before and After Hurricane Irene
The Truth Behind the Peace Sign
People Buy Gold by Ton!
How to Make A Billion Dollars in Africa
Three Great Stocks That Are Still Cheap
I personally would prefer links to other economics/governance based sites (both similar in outlook as in sabhlokcity or in opposition to it). Do you have any statistics as to how much traffic from sabhlokcity goes to these links and more importantly how much traffic comes in to sabhlokcity from mgid (I am assuming your two most popular posts you referenced above also get significant traffic from facebook; I, personally, was introduced to your website via twitter).
Thanks, PD. MGID counts how many people go to its links from this blog. It ensures that I get back equivalent traffic to MY blog.
In other words, no matter how pathetic its links (and after all, readers of THIS blog are the ones clicking on them! – not me!), I do get back quality readers in return. That’s a decent deal for me.
Re: “I personally would prefer links to other economics/governance based sites” – well, then go to stumbleupon.
s
Sanjeev–
I already use stumbleupon. I don't know how many people click on mgid ads but I don't. I understand your point about mgid though.
BTW any plans to change the comment box?
Tx. I’m going to try the box myself and see what’s the problem.
I use google reader to read your blog (unless i have to post a rare comment). I’m not too bothered by the ads because of that