So apparently writing "Websites by Scam Agents and Fake Contests" was not obvious enough for some people, who have emailed me under the impression that I either (a) endorse the agencies Google Adsense chooses to put in my ad space or (b) work for them. I honestly don't know how much more obvious I could be, short of writing a paragraph saying HI GOOGLE SELECTS ADS BASED ON PAGE CONTENT AND THE ADS ARE FOR SCAM AGENCIES DO NOT USE THOSE AGENCIES AND IF YOU CANNOT READ THESE WORDS YOU PROBABLY CAN'T READ AND SO WHY HAVE YOU BOTHERED TO WRITE A NOVEL IF YOU'RE NOT LITERATE?
Seriously people. As far as I can tell, I cannot ask Google to eliminate certain sites as much as I can specify which ones I want to use (thereby eliminating everything else) but I can't think of anything I want to use, much less dozens of sites that are advertising. So I'm torn between the money (which has been $40 so far) and worrying about sheer idiocy.
I could try an affiliate program with Amazon, but honestly I would only endorse books I've both read and liked, so that narrows it down a lot.
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If you go through Amazon then if somebody clicks through they can buy anything and you'd make money, so there's that.
I know when I was doing Google ads, you could tell it that certain sites were competitors and not to list those ads. Have you tried that?
So, how do I go about doing that?
It's been a while since I did it, but there is a place to set your ad preferences. You can list all of the domains of the scam places and shut out ads for them. The difficulty is that there are so many, and new ones coming up all the time, and so few legitimate Google ads for writing. I finally gave up on Google ads on my writing sites and went to Amazon links for good books on writing, with a short review of each. I do gardening book reviews on my garden blog. On my writing site I have articles on writing for children, and include links to appropriate books in the margins.
While sales are sporadic, the nice thing is that the commission is for anything that person buys when they click through your link, not just for the books you advertise. Sometimes some pretty surprising things come up. "Wow -- what was it about that article on the children's book industry that made someone want to buy a cordless drill?"
Rejecter! So sassy! Purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...
I wouldn't worry about it. If people continue to complain, tell them to email me at P&E. I'll straighten them out.
Go to http://www.google.com/adsense/ then select AdSense Setup, In the blue bar at the top of the page, it you can find "competitive ad filter".
Wow! I am impressed. $40 to date is pretty darn good.
Sadly, you cannot assume blog readers are necessarily literate. I have received numerous angry e-mails and comments on a SPAM e-mail I posted about. Somehow, despite clearly stating right in the opening that I am not the author, people assume I am the author. In some cases, people have tried to exorcise me and the SPAM in the name of Jesus.
If people are that stupid, really there's a limit to how much responsibility you can take.
I think you should expand the ads section with Blogads (though they require a sponsor).
I personally was amused by your disclaimer above the ads. Anyone who ignores warnings about sharks in the publishing ocean deserves to be chomped.
That's hysterical! I had no idea that people ACTUALLY paid attention at all to Google ads. Fancy that!
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