OOPS...!

If you're a regular reader, you may notice there are no longer any ads on my page.

Google AdSense emailed me today, letting me know me and my account have been deactivated.

Forever.

You know all that pimping I was doing for my readers to "help me out" by clicking on the ads?

Turns out, I wasn't supposed to be doing that.

If I'd read through all the "dos and don'ts" - which I thought I had - as I was starting up the blog, I would have seen that.

But even more to the point, if I'd just "thought things through", I would have known better.

I honestly didn't think I was doing anything wrong; I figured the advertisers wanted people to see the ads, and I wanted people to see the ads, so me telling you to click on the ads was "win-win".

But in the clear light of day, I understand how what I did (Getting bunches of people to click on the advertising who had no interest in the advertising, but just wanted to "help me out") was basically not providing much value to the advertisers in question, and causing them to pay out much more than they should have been, considering my small readership.

To give you (And me) some perspective: I just filed an online "appeal" of this action (Basically, "throwing myself on the mercy of the court", since I screwed up), and as I was nosing around in the AdSense FAQ/help sections, I saw a "publisher" had a question - "I used to get 11,000-15,000 page impressions a month, and was making $30. Now I'm up to 40,000, and I'm making $15 a month. What gives?" (A fellow "publisher" opined that "times are tough, and people just aren't as interested in buying stuff...").

In comparison to Mr. "40,000 page impressions a month", I was getting maybe 1,000 hits a month...and I just got a check yesterday for $107 - Clearly, a "red flag" to the Google folks.

So here we are - My first "get rich quick" scheme goes down in flames...

But I wanted to thank you, Gentle Readers, for your interest in my blog, and your desire to help me stay afloat. It will no longer mean a monthly check, but it is nevertheless very much appreciated.