For years, I've been selling all of my own ads on this blog. That means that every single ad that shows up was approved by me before it shows on the site. I do this to avoid having, for example, formula ads showing up next to breastfeeding articles or having ads from companies that I do not support next to my carefully crafted message. This is a labour intensive process, but is a way to ensure that the companies I am working with are ones that I support.

There are also a great many advertising networks out there that automatically feed ads to bloggers. In the past, I've looked at and then rejected many of those ad networks because they didn't pay enough for the space they were taking up, they didn't allow me to block companies or categories that I wasn't comfortable with, or they demanded exclusivity on the "above the fold" area of my blog.

Recently, I was approached by an ad network that will allow me to block entire categories, specific companies, and specific ads. It will also let me place the ads wherever I want on the page, so I can continue to sell my own ads and provide the companies that I work with the best space. This seems like a good fit, and while my ad spaces were fully booked with a waiting list too a few months ago,  interest seems to have slowed this spring. So, I've decided to give this ad network a try on a trial basis to see if it is a fit for my blog.

That said, one of the issues with ad networks is that I don't get to see all the ads that are on the site, since they change quickly and are often geo-targeted (e.g. people in the United States will see a different ad than people in Canada).  I've sent the company a list of categories and brands to block and I'm now testing things out.

The new ad appears on the left-side, under my "No Nestle" graphic and above my "recommended books" section. So far, I've seen some ads that I was happy with (one was for Shopify, which is an amazing Canadian company offering a great ecommerce store service). I've also seen some ads I wasn't happy with and that I added to my "blocked" list (e.g. scams offering to get you thousands of dollars of government grants).

I'm going to give it some time and see if a bit of tinkering gets it to a place where I'm happy with the type of ads that are showing and the revenue that it is bringing in. If that doesn't work, I'll get rid of it and continue with the approach of exclusively selling my own ads.

As I evaluate and tinker, I'd love your help. Would you drop me a comment and let me know what ad you are seeing in that space (again, it is below the "No Nestle" graphic and above the recommended books)? That will help me get a better picture of what ads are showing up, even if they don't show to me.

Thank you for your help and your patience as I fiddle with this.

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