For the Sake of Blogging
Posted on 13 Dec 2009 under Rants, Site Designing
At one point of time, I used to have Google Adsense ads on my blog. I kept them until I got to my $100 payout and then I took them off. Why?
- Ads were not always pretty.
- Depending on the content, unwanted ads could pop-up.
- I used to log on every day to my Adsense account and see if I had made any money that day or that week, and many disappointing weeks went by when I made just a few measly cents a week.
- I realized that the content of my site was more important to me. The content and the design. Ads and pure design could not go hand in hand.
I’ve never really regretted my decision to take off ads, although I admit I have been tempted to put them back on. I don’t know, I just might in the future. But ultimately, what satisfies me is the fact that I know I am not blogging for ads. I am blogging because I like to write and I am writing what I want without being concerned about what keywords I’m using or what my Page Rank is or whether my site is efficiently optimized for search engines. And that is what gives me freedom and pleasure in blogging.
Today, I came across a software that goes against everything that blogging means to me.
Behold WP Robot!
What does it do? I quote:
WP Robot is a powerful and easy to use autoblog plugin for WordPress weblogs allowing you to turn your blog on complete auto-pilot and drip-feed it with fresh content in intervals you specify. And the best part: The posts created will be targeted to any keyword you enter and any topic you could ever think of!
Basically, you enter one keyword and turn on “auto-pilot” and you have a blog full of content. Then you place your ads and sit back while the money pours in. Blogging, as we know it, is going to get transformed into a hideous web of commercialisation. All gas and no substance.
Disgusting. If this software (or others like it) succeeds, and if people start using it on a massive scale, imagine the situation. Every time you search for information on something, you’ll end up going to a blog that’s made by a robot, purely to attract page views and make money.
If this is the future of the internet, then the internet is going to hell.
Really nice post… Even I got a bit freaked out with the idea of WPRobot. I hope the damn thing never takes off…
I’m thinking of starting a campaign or something. The idea of WP Robot repulses me.
wottt…u made $100!!!
shit…WProbot…yeah…its disgusting
m gonna try it!
It took 6+ months (or more) to make that much.
I can probably make it faster now, though.
Very interesting post. Really a perversion of blogging. I can understand your feeling of being apalled. It raises a number of interesting issues actually. I would love to have a discussion with you about it sometime. May be after the end-terms. Meanwhile just relax and don’t worry about it too much.
Somewhat related: See this website that seems to contain very intelligent philosophical essays, but actually the text makes no sense and is generated using a software.
Enjoy
Which site? You forgot the link
Oops!
http://www.elsewhere.org/pomo/
@Amit: Oh Goodness, haha, I think I’ve seen something similar before. Haha.
Adsense usually requires a lot of traffic, smart placement and keywords in the articles that are paying high. For general blog it is not a good idea. Actually Adsense is definitely not the best way to monetize blog. Try affiliate programs.
I might consider them at some later stage. As of now, I think I like the look of my blog without ads.