For Tom: let me reiterate, it’s not the Capitalism I find evil! And thanks for the effort you put into the subject on Touch the Elbow. I’m not sure it’s a trust issue, exactly. More like apparent conflict of interest – at least where the purpose of the site or blog is not clearly to make money. But then I’m a suspicious sort.

For Brett: first, I’m not saying that one can’t help pay expenses with ads, just that I don’t like what they do to the “flavor” and (to my view) credibility of one’s site. If it’s a fair tradeoff for you, there’s no problem. Second, you can probably get the server capacity and bandwidth you need for a lot less $. :)

For Mike in Arkansas: it sounds like your goal is to make money online – nothing wrong with that (see Capitalism comment). Continued success to you. In complaining about ads, I’m referring more to sites ostensibly doing History for its own sake and hoping to be taken seriously in that field. Your situation sounds a little different.

I’m currently making enough money from ads to pay for all of my online costs and most of the monthly payment on my wife’s car. I’m currently using over 520 MB of space and 5.2 GB of bandwidth a month.

Right now, I don’t have the time to do all of the stuff I’d like to do on-line. However, I will be retiring in about 299 days (but who’s counting) and will be taking a substantial reduction in income. Frankly, I plan to spend more time placing useful content online with the intent of generating more income — work that I want to do, not work that some employer wants me to do. I plan to do that for at least a year and then, if need be, I’ll find myself a high paying consultant gig.

“Chronicles of the American Civil War” doesn’t bring in much compared with some of my other on-line material, but it does contribute to the total.

Mike

I forgot to add this morning that my blog is only one of many Civil War related sites I run. The two wargaming fan sites host add-ons and mods for the games of HPS Simulations and MadMinute Games, and they take up a large amount of space. At the moment, I am using over 700 MB of web space at http://www.brettschulte.net.

Brett

I can’t speak for others, but I do use the money to pay my web hosting bills, which come out to over $100 per year. This frees up money to buy more books on the Civil War. I understand your concern, but I honestly do not think Google AdSense ads are a big deal if they are sufficiently “blended in” to a site.

Brett

The Evil Tom

You know I completely agree with you. Over the past year my blog has grown and matured and I have tried different things. I believe I have found my focus, which is focusing primarily Battlefield Preservation with posts on articles, news stories, posts, etc., I find interesting. All told I’ve made a $1.56 off of Amazon. I can’t even by a 6 pack yet!

So as I begin my 2nd year of blogging, I’ve decided to kill off the Amazon link on my sidebar. My attempt was to get it to display new releases and bestsellers of Civil War books that have come out. It hasn’t always worked. The real estate it consumes is too valuable to me so I removed it today, inspired by your post.

Mike

Disclosure: I still will maintain the Amazon linkage to books in my Now Reading lists and occassional book posts. It speaks to my “when I grow up” entrepenuer calling.

As for my blog, as you know, there is no advertising and the only commercial motive is trying to market my own books. Beyond that, though, there never has been advertising, and there never will be.

Eric