Simple Dollar abandons advertising for moral reasons

[Aaron Stroud]

Originally Posted by soupkitchen96

That's selfless and all but what about his family.

I believe there is more to Trent's decision than simply purging his site of undesirable advertisers.

He has a valuable asset he is trying to build up. Adsense advertising might interfere with his long-term goals of a creating a more professional image. Using adsense feels counterproductive to some of us attempting to imitate trusted, established sources for financial income.

[arcadian]

i think aaron is right. image is everything. while many people are used to adsense, sometimes it can still look a bit jarring on a website. i noticed you don't have any advertising on your website aaron. do you have big plans in the works?

[Patrick]

I think many of the reasons already mentioned are accurate. Trent didn't want anything he couldn't control (I certainly respect that), and he probably wanted a cleaner image for his site. Trent has put an enormous amount of work into his blog, and he is trying to get a book deal. He is a tremendous writer, and I hope he reaches his goal.

Originally Posted by lazy23

Money isn't everything. Blogging is about sharing ideas and building friendships. He does a lot more for his family by setting a good example of not compromising himself.

That's worth a bit more than the pennies adsense pays you.

lazy23, I am not trying to pick on you, so please don't take it that way... In Trent's case, we are not talking about pennies. Several of the pf bloggers estimated he was missing out on about $3,000 per month or more by dropping AdSense. Of course, this is speculation and Trent did not verify these numbers. But it is important to understand he isn't giving away the $100 a month many bloggers make, but closer to $100 per day. (I don't think I am giving away any secrets because these numbers have been revealed in other forums, and Trent mentioned he was getting 200-300 AdSense clickthroughs per day when he dropped it).

But I agree with your statement - "He does a lot more for his family by setting a good example of not compromising himself." I believe played a large part in his decision.

Trent's action brought a lot of attention to his blog in the form of reader comments, traffic, and off-line conversations such as this. I don't think he made this decision lightly and I respect him for sticking to his morals. There are other ad options outside of AdSense, and I am sure Trent has investigated them. In the long run, he will adapt to this and possibly even exceed his previous numbers. I certainly wish him the best of luck.

(yes, I run AdSense on my site, and yes my site is cluttered. I need to work on that. A designer I am not.)

[lazy23]

Originally Posted by Patrick

lazy23, I am not trying to pick on you, so please don't take it that way..

Not at all Patrick. I'm glad you told me about the true extent of Trent's sacrifice. It only makes me respect him even more.

I didn't know Trent was pursuing a book deal. He certainly deserves one.

[Prince of Thrift]

Originally Posted by CFOontheGo

AdSense also allows you to filter the ads that are shown on your site, so you can remove the objectionable ones.

while AdSense allows you to filter, one cannot filter out credit card of ads advertising loan products. When you set you topics to finance, you will get all those other financial items that many of us PF bloggers oppose.

I use google AdSense, wish I received a payment every month from them, but am glad to get one every 2-3 months. It is my ope that in 2008 I can double my income through the advertising mechanisms so that I can be debt free 4ever.