This entry is prompted by the recent flurry of emails requesting a link exchange. I don’t do link exchanges period. They’re meaningless. Well, except that it helps search engine optimization for both sites, they’re meaningless as content. People exchange them without thought to the quality of each other’s sites. So you’re wasting your Web page space and visitors’ time with links that most likely are not useful.
Furthermore, I think it affects the professionalism of a site. I hear some of you saying, “But, you have ads on your site!” Yes, I do and for obvious reasons. But I don’t accept just any ad. It can’t blink, move, pop up, or appear over content. I mainly use text ads and do my best to keep them out of your way without disappearing from your sight.
When I tested taking the ad outside of the content and putting it at the end of the entry, the clickthrus went down. Isn’t that awful? I was trying to be respectful of readers by putting the ad at the end of the article yet it becomes a “No good deed goes unpunished.”
I was going to create a separate site for things, products, people, and sites that I recommend. But as usual… it’s on the back burner as more important things come first.
