Searchblog’s New Look, Ad Update

As you may have noticed by now (or sometime soon, as servers update), Searchblog has a new look. While I’d like to take all the credit for this (I will take all the blame), all due plaudits go to Scot Hacker, my webmaster, who rocks. (If any of you want amazing hosting with truly personal service, you should check out birdhouse.org). In any case, Scot suggested my color scheme was getting a bit tired, so we spruced it up with the new greens. Also, we went to three columns, which I rather like.

Speaking of green, you will notice my great Searchblog Ad Experiment has begun. I am starting, after listening to a lot of your input, with the easiest and most ubiquitous solution of them all, AdSense. I expect to try this out for a while as a level set, then try others as we go along. AdSense does not allow you to place any other kinds of ads besides AdSense on the page (except for hand rolled sponsorships), but others will, so I’m starting with AdSense and moving to the others – I expect to try out MarketBanker, BlogAds, and Kanoodle, if they’ll have me.

Yes, I was worried about accepting checks from Google even while writing the book, but the fact is, I’m not really expecting to make a lot of money here, and the firsthand experience will allow me to write about this stuff in a more thoughtful manner. If the money comes in faster than my expenses running the site, I will be donating a significant portion of it to my favorite charity: My kids’ school, where I am a trustee.

Thanks to all who helped me grok this move, and supported it. And please, send feedback on the new look, and whether the ads are bumming you out, to the comments below or, alternatively, to my email at jbat at battellemedia dot com.