Sorry Advertisers

Not in such a blogging mood this morning. One reason is I was up late watching the returns and speeches. Was not surprised to see Obama take it, but it was still something to see.

Certainly felt as though he had a significant edge when all the chips went in. Not necessarily a set-over-set kind of edge, but a strong hand that had to fade a flush draw or the like with a couple of cards to come. And Obama’s hand held up.

Having stayed up late, I have a little less fuel in the tank. I also feel a little sapped because I learned yesterday that Google has decided Hard-Boiled Poker is mostly spam, anyway, which I’ve discovered does have a slightly detrimental effect on one’s inspiration. (Just slightly, mind you. I’m not in despair.)

Yesterday I had an instructive chat with one of my advertisers who has decided not to renew, pointing out to me that thanks to a variety of factors Google has demoted my Page Rank in such a way as to make the blog less attractive to advertisers.

The irony? It is the ads themselves that are causing the problem. I have some that violate Google’s “link scheme policy.” Also, apparently I get penalized for linking to other blogs, too. And since I have so many people linking to me, that is also somehow hurting me as well. (Too popular for ads, I am.)

Those of you who aren’t up on all this stuff probably don’t care too much about it, I imagine. Those of you who do have some insight into the whole “monetizing” thing probably recognize how naïve I sound about it all.

The reason for that is, I am.

I never began this blog as a moneymaker, but over the two-and-a-half years of its existence it has managed to earn me a little extra cabbage. So yeah, I’m frustrated that an advertiser is telling me I’m no longer attractive as a client.

Still, as I say, the ads were never the reason for the blog. Nor will they be moving forward.

Google thinks I’m spam, despite the fact that I produce wholly original content here on a regular basis. When 2008 began, I decided to try to write a new post every single weekday, and I have managed to keep that up here into November without missing a single one. (Prior to 2008, my pattern was to post every other day.) I have also written on the weekends, too, occasionally. That’s something near 300 posts this year alone.

Additionally, I never publish posts that are nothing but paid ads, but only very occasionally -- i.e., less than five times -- have included paid links to sites in a post if doing so didn’t interfere with my writing on a subject of my own choosing. (And never with multiple links in a post.)

I’ll look into all this eventually, I suppose. I’m told I can let these ads expire, stop linking to other sites (including blogs) that have low rankings, and take a few other measures. Then I can “resubmit” my site to Google for reconsideration, a process that looks as though it takes weeks to complete.

Maybe I’ll bother with all that crap. Or maybe I won’t. Life is too friggin’ short to be taken up with certain kinds of applesauce.

So, sorry advertisers, for letting you down so.

And thanks, readers, for finding me and coming back. You’re really the only reason why I do this. Keep coming back and I’ll keep writing. I promise.