Ads are coming to FWIW — at least temporarily

So, I’ve activated Google’s “Ad Sense”, and some rando ads may beginning appearing on the site. It costs me several thousand dollars annually to heep up my MLS subscription and GAR dues, state license fees, etc., and that was a cost I chose to carry so long as I sold a few houses each year, because I had ads on web sites, especially my site. But that revenue stream has mostly dried up — my daughter, who still keeps up with Greenwich social media, almost admiringly, because she thinks it’s cool that I take positions and don’t care who I offend, that I was one of the first “cancel victims” (I’m no victim, but for want of a better term …) years ago, after the Ladies of Greenwich initiated a boycott campaign. I don’t know whether that’s true or not, but I’m not changing or apologizing, so so there.

In any event, we’ll try Ad Sense. I’ve been told that it’s not a money maker, and that I’ll probably only generate $7-$10 a month. I’ll give it 30 days, and then, if that proves the case, I’ll ditch it. Bear with me.

In the meantime, I’m exploring a better alternative, which is selling ads to local Greenwich home service providers; builders, painters, electricians. Either small display ads, or perhaps a sidebar with individual firms listed and linked and a description of services provided. $49.99 a month?

My web master tells me that the analytics for this blog are exceptional: long reader “stickiness” : meaning how long readers stay on the site; repeat visitors during the day; and a lot of other metrics I have no idea the meaning of, but he assures me that they’re good. I do know that, depending in the day, 3,500-7,000 individual readers come on the site, and the bulk of them are from Greenwich, own houses, and are interested in the local real estate market, even if they’re not actively looking to move to a new home.

Real estate ads would be natural, but that’s out: Raveis asked me to leave their employ many years ago because of this blog, and I heard, again, many years ago, that a manager of another local firm had proposed at a staff sales meeting that he bring me on, and the outcry (almost exclusively from female agents, I was told — go figure) was so loud and so vehement that the idea was aborted — didn’t even make it to half-term.

That was fine with me, but I figure that many in the trades either share my politics or don’t care, and might want to reach my readers. If so, and you’re one of them, click on the button on the right, and we’ll see what we can work out.