Hi, just a quick announcement today: I've turned off the Google Ads that display on LeanBlog.org.
Over time, they became increasingly intrusive for me as a user. I can only imagine the ads were annoying others. And, despite Google's efforts to convince me otherwise, the financial reward wasn't worth the risk of driving readers away because of a bad experience.
My goal has never been to directly monetize this site. I do appreciate the direct sponsors that I have for the blog and the podcast, StoreSMART and Stiles Associates, respectively. I'd like to think their ads are unobtrusive and highly relevant to my audience.
As I work to finish the manuscript for my upcoming book The Mistakes That Make Us, I think I decided it was a mistake to keep using the Google Ads platform as the ads became more intrusive. Rather than beating myself up, I'll try to celebrate the idea that I noticed a problem and I'm making adjustments as a result.
Nobody had complained about the ads — but a lack of complaints doesn't mean everybody is happy! That's especially true when the commenting features on my blog were broken for a period of time (now fixed).
My hypothesis is that a better user / reader experience will lead to more people returning to the site — an increase in traffic means a better opportunity to explore, share, and discuss ideas with more people here, as I've been doing since 2005.
I think I forgot to celebrate my blog's 18th birthday. My blog is now an adult!
Reminders: I hope you'll join me for Dr. Lisa Yerian's webinar today at 1 pm ET. And you can still enter to win a “My Favorite Mistake” coffee mug:
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If you’re working to build a culture where people feel safe to speak up, solve problems, and improve every day, I’d be glad to help. Let’s talk about how to strengthen Psychological Safety and Continuous Improvement in your organization.
Hi Mark,
Thank you for the announcement. I appreciate the tenor of this blog.
Through years of experience I have always tried to avoid all ads.
Using firefox and some add-ons I can get a reasonably clean experience.
On this site and on many others.
This way I am not dependent on the site owner to stop ads for me.
However I liked your attempt.
Thanks for commenting — sharing your thoughts AND helping me confirm that comments are working again.
I’ll admit to using the Adblock plugin in Chrome. Then I get the pop-ups asking me to turn that off (something I’ve never had this blog do). it’s a never-ending battle it seems.
Mark,
Happy to help with the confirmation of the use of the comment.
And about adblocking. If companies or individuals find it more important that I receive (google) ads than their message, so be it.