I’m trying something a little different for August, disabling Google Ads across AlexReviewsTech. Here’s why, and what you can do to help!
It’s not exactly a secret that running any kind of media business, and especially an independent one is a big challenge right now, and especially so in the consumer tech media space. In the past couple of years, some of the biggest tech sites in the world have ceased operations in Australia, including names like ZDNet, CNET, Gizmodo… the list is pretty depressing, frankly.*
AlexReviewsTech is a one-man band — you can read the about page here if you’re not up to speed on that — and it’s certainly not an easy road to take to launch a new tech publication off my own back and based just on what can be made in a tough market. The number of either AI-generated content sites of near-zero value, or publications with, shall we say, negotiable ethics doesn’t help either…
One of the benefits of running my own site is that I can experiment at will, so that’s what I’m going to do this month. One of the ways that the lights do stay on here at ART is with Google Ads… and it’s going to be to the surprise of nobody that they’re a less-than-ideal solution. The ads are ugly, often intrusive and my own stats do suggest a lot of folks outright dodge them with ad-blocking extensions. I get it, I really do.
Equally, it’s not as though they’re hugely profitable at the current scale that ART operates at. They help, for sure, but it’s not like I’m swimming in a pool of gold-plated Lamborghinis here… because that would be stupid, but I digress.
With all that in mind, I’m going to experiment in August, as per the title above. No Google ads will run on the site this month, and instead I’m going to ask you — yes, YOU, dear reader, to donate via a Ko-Fi link to the running costs of the site.
If enough people donate — either as a one-off, or if you’d like to become a rolling subscriber, that would be amazing — to a level that’s at least equal to what I’m making out of frankly lousy (that sound you hear is my Google site rankings crashing, but oh well…) auto inserted ads, then they’ll never return. If it doesn’t work out, then they will. All I’m doing is risking a little ad revenue, and checking in to see what kind of value the world places on what I’m doing.
I’d like to think it has value — but only you can decide that, so instead of ads, you’ll see the following very simple banner in every page this month only. If you’ve found what I do valuable, or entertaining, or informative, or if you’d simply like to support an ethical journalist doing honest work, please consider donating.
For the moment, affiliate links — those “buy” links you’ll see in reviews — will still remain, but I feel those are fairly transparent and clear — and to be 100% transparent and clear, they never have an impact on how I write a review in any way at all in any case. But algorithmically generated ads are, for the moment not going to appear on any content you read here.
Right now, I’m running AlexReviewsTech without Google Ads at all.
Why? Most people complain about them a lot, and I can see why — they can often be intrusive or irrelevant, and they get between you and the content you’d like to enjoy in the first place.
The problem is… that limits the income for the site, which makes it harder to run (servers cost money) and harder to justify (I like to eat food… sometimes!)
That’s why I’m instead seeking reader assistance to keep AlexReviewsTech viable, primarily via Ko-Fi donations.
Don’t want to make a Ko-Fi donation? There are other ways you can support AlexReviewsTech — read about them here!
* Disclaimer: The author is a former editor and contributor at CNET Australia and Gizmodo Australia. Make of that what you will.
AlexReviewsTech is (for the moment) running ad-free.
This is done via the generosity of folks like you who cover the difference between having on-site ads (with their intrusivenes, flashy images, interstitials, all that bad stuff) by making a one-off or regular sponsorship donation. Something’s got to keep the server spinning up.
So if you’ve found what you’ve read valuable, and you’d like AlexReviewsTech to stay ad-free, please consider making a one-off (or recurring) donation.
If everyone gave just a little, the ads would never need to return — and I would be able to bring you even more ethically-produced tech journalism.
I’d like that, and I think you would too.
