Trying new stuffs

If you scroll halfway down the page, you’ll notice something in my sidebar that is practically ubiquitous, and so so so important to the internet economy right now: a google ad bar.

On my blog here, it’s kind of like a tip jar - if you like what I do, click an interesting ad sometime, you know…just because. I’m not going to shove things down your throat.

But what’s amazing about that little bar is that it lets practically anyone serve ads on their site. It’s what makes little publishing nightmares like Flicker Gaming even possible in the first place - there’s no way we could launch with any expectation of revenue otherwise.

But all ad networks are not created equal. We launched sporting the shiny Google ads and the “network links” from Adbrite, a cool service that lets people buy links on your site at a price you set, instead of a price that google sets. I think it’s a pretty neat idea, but it only works if people want to be buying ads.

In the meantime, we filled in with network ads that have, since launch, consistently advertised cell phone ring tones and “how to cheat at online poker.” Nobody’s clicking, and I don’t blame them. Today I added a different ad service to our mix, an experimental “media exchange” from Right Media.

Let’s hope their ads target better than AdBrite.