The crew here at Elegant Code has discussed advertising for a long time now and we have largely dismissed the idea. One big reason for this is a desire to have a degree of confidence that the products advertised are neither intrusive or incompetent. Google Ad-Sense, as an example, was never a real option.
Why We Be Advertising
The only real reason we can come up with to make a little money with the site is to pay for hosting. Frankly, hosting isn’t that expensive, but with the popularity of the Code Cast climbing we may be looking for some high bandwidth hosting there. Those things do cost a little money.
Also, if our $20 a month or so pays for all the hosting, maybe we can pay for a bar-be-que or something once a year :).
What We Decided to Do
The opportunity arose to join the Lounge network, which is an exciting development for us. The Lounge network self describes themselves this way:
The Lounge is an exclusive advertising network of trusted and respected publishers focused on Microsoft technologies
And after looking into it, I have found this claim to be true. Joining this webring of .NET sites puts us in some very reputable company.
Thank You
I started blogging at ElegantCode.com several years ago and in that time have been elated to see the site grow into a home for like-minded professionals looking to improve.
This hobby has been a very rewarding experience. I appreciate not only all of the Elegant Coders who contribute to the blog, but the readers and listeners who participate in the discussions.