Braamekraal Webstuff Changes [ liff/ ]

Wiki URLS Have Changed

I've changed the way that URLs are handled in the wiki that handles the farm website content so that they're more human-readable. This means that some of you (and it seems that I have quite a few regular readers - Thank You!) may have bookmarks in the old style. From my testing these should still work fine, but if they don't, please re-bookmark. Drop me a line if you're stuck...

Blog Changes Soon

In similar vein I am planning to replace the blog software I've been using forever. The old system is just too clunky and ugly to continue using, so I'll be replacing it as soon as I can make time to hack up some nice templates for the new software. The big trouble is all my old content... (Indeed, the poor access to old content is one of thr motivating factors for moving to newer, better software!)

Moving the content from the old system to the new will take a whole lot of time, and I can't seem to find an easy way to automate it. So I may end up losing old comments, and it may take quite some time to move the older posts. In any event, my planbe blog link is highly likely to change...

Advertising? What Do You Think?

I've resisted running ads on the farm website and blog up to now. It is not a commercial site, and I hate the idea of cheapening it. Then, too, I strongly hold the stance that The Whole World Is Not Your Billboard. Not everything is for advertising. Not everything is for sale. (I've been known to remove random real-estate boards from fences in prominent public eye where they're clearly just taking a chance.)

But! Times are (very) tough and money is tight. I'm not sure that the site drives enough traffic to earn even a little bit of money from running ads, but the idea of some small revenue (however minor) is sounding increasingly attractive.

So: I'm asking you - my regular readers and friends - what you think. Please contact me directly or leave a comment. Is it worth risking the integrity of the site? Or am I blowing the risk aspect up too large in my mind? How do you feel about ads on the Braamekraal site and planbe blog?

22.Jan.10 8:03 AM, SAST | Words (383) | 3 Comments | 0 Trackbacks | Link Cosmos

Comments on this entry:

Good luck with all the changes, it sounds like a lot of work.

As far as ads go, I use Ad Block Plus on my browser, and so not only will I not notice ads but you won't get any 3 cents from me reading your blog!

I think most people who don't like ads will block them, and in the end you won't make a lot of money. If you want to make a little bit of money, I say go for it.

Please don't restrict your RSS feed in an effort to get people to come to your blog and see the ads! Otherwise I won't be reading it so often, as I do most things via my feed and tend to ignore blogs that don't have a full feed.

Sat Jan 23 22:47:56 SAST 2010 Patrick - http://www.patnsteph.net

I've toyed with the idea for our blog but so far... I've avoided it. We didn't set out to make money from it and the run costs are so small.

Having said that - I'm always astonished at the levels of traffic and if we chose to attempt to monetise it - it would pay well.

I'll watch with interest should you decide to go down that route.

Sun Jan 24 13:56:34 SAST 2010 Adrian - http://www.bellebouche.com/blog

I say go for it with the ads. Although I know you did not intend for your blog to be a comemmercial venture, the fact of the matter is that it is no skin off my nose if you earn a few cents simply from my visiting and enjoying the content you put up. I don't work for it, it doesn't come out of my pocket, and it only seems reasonable that you glean some benefit from the time you put into the sites. Luck with all your endeavors.

Mon Jan 25 07:50:03 SAST 2010 Ea -