Some may have noticed I quietly removed advertising solicitations a few weeks ago. IdahoFallz.com will no longer solicit or accept local advertising.
I am a designer, programmer, writer, many things, but definitely not a salesman or telemarketer. It is ironic that nobody wants to receive a hard sales pitch, but it takes a hard sales pitch to drive advertising sales. I don’t want to do that. It’s not at all what I had in mind when I designed this site, and it is not a direction I want to go in. I am not that hungry. We will still allow free business directory listings, just email them to me.
One concern with ads is that it may someday be awkward with discussions. This site has proved to be a source of open and frank discussions. I imagine an advertiser would not be delighted to appear next to a comment or story discussing bad experiences at said business. I also do not want to wade into the area of censoring honest criticisms because of an advertiser conflict.
I am looking to May 20, 2007, when I must renew the site name and hosting for another year. I will keep the Google Ads up because (a) they are simple and require no time from me and (b) a buddy of mine recently received his first $100 Adsense check about 22 months after starting his blog. There is hope I will get some assistance at renewal time. Donations for the website are always accepted. The P.O. Box will be open until early January for cash/money orders/checks made out to IdahoFallz.com. The Paypal buttons are easiest because they also take debit or credit card payments without you needing to have a Paypal account. Yes, it is encrypted.
So no more concern about ads overrunning this site and making us look like so many other ad-drenched websites with a tiny bit of content buried in the middle. We will rely exclusively on donations. I want to sincerely thank those who have donated money and materials so far.
I will also entertain offers to buy IdahoFallz.com (the domain name and all the website files and databases). How much would it cost to pay a full-time person two years to completely develop and market a unique website, employ SEO strategies, and work up a strong Google Rank? If I sell the website (albeit unlikely), I will certainly refund all the donations doubly.
One other thing. I think it is clear that I have published many stories and comments inspired by local media stories or actions. I think it is clear that some local media outlets have published some stories inspired by IdahoFallz.com stories and comments. I think this is great, and it should be briefly acknowledged where the idea source was. I think I have done this most of the time (I would say all the time but someone will find once I did not).
I think an excellent way to acknowledge this is like how Phil Davidson did in last Thursday’s Post Register article on the Dale Storer city attorney contract, just briefly mentioning that community members were discussing it “on the local blog IdahoFallz.com”. Brief blurbs like these are perfect. I appreciate any and all attributions like that since I attribute our local media, but I can live with it if they do not always happen.
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It WAS all he had to say about it!
:@:)
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And funnily enough, local businesses CAN and some DO advertise here via Google Adwords. You create an account with them, then bid on the keywords and/or websites you want your ads to appear with.
It’s the easiest arrangement possible.
BTW, you’ll never see more than three ad blocks per page at IFz, compare that to the ads-to-content ratio you find at some other “local” websites.