Testing a New Advertising Network

by phdinparenting on May 15, 2012 · 89 comments

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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My Thoughtful and Funny Son

by phdinparenting on May 13, 2012 · 8 comments

Today is Mother's Day and my partner and daughter arrived back from a two week visit with my in-laws just before dinner, so for most of the day it was just seven-year old Julian and I.

This morning, I was woken up to the sound of cutlery, dishes, and the fridge opening and closing shortly after 6:00am. About ten minutes later, Julian appeared in my room with my Mother's Day breakfast in bed. It was a German bun ("pretzel bread") that he cut in half and shaped like hearts with raspberry jam on it and a glass of juice. He then left and reappeared with four Mother's Day cards he'd made for me, two in English, one in French and one in German.

After I got out of bed, had coffee, and showered, we headed out to the Ottawa Farmer's market and spent a small fortune on amazing local foods (our garden is coming along, but not producing much yet). We had then planned to take a trunk full of wine and beer bottles back to the Beer Store, but didn't realize that it only opened at noon.

With more than an hour to spare, we decided to grab some brunch at a diner near the Beer Store. While we were waiting for our food to arrive, I learned the downside of teaching your children the proper names for genitalia and teaching them about menstruation. Checking out the dessert menu on the wall, he thought it was absolutely hilarious to loudly say "Red Vulva Cake?!?" over and over again. I now understand the wisdom of waiting to have "The Talk" until after children have passed the "bodily functions are so funny stage".

After brunch, we were walking back to the Beer Store, which is next to a Loblaws (a large supermarket chain, for those of you who aren't from here). Julian turned to me and said "do they make the laws at Loblaws?". I said, "no, actually, the make the laws in Parliament." Without missing a beat, he said, "oh, I thought they made the laws in China. They make everything in China."

And then my funny little man helped me with the gardening and the laundry while we waited for the others to arrive home to big cuddles.

Happy Mothers Day everyone. I hope your day was as great as mine. Have a piece of Red Vulva Cake and celebrate yourself. :)

Image credit: rox sm on flickr

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ARE YOU MOM ENOUGH? My Reaction to the TIME Cover

May 11, 2012




Today was an interesting day. All day yesterday, I was swamped with work. I had a major deadline today and every time I thought I was close to being finished, additional ideas would pop into my head and I felt compelled to pursue them. Ideas, and the rabbit holes that come with them, had me [...]

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Motherhood AND Feminism: The NY Times Discussion and its Aftermath

May 3, 2012




One of the first posts that I wrote on this blog was called Attachment parenting has not caught on in France. We were in France at the time, visiting my in-laws, one of many trips that we made there both before and after having children. It seems while I was busy observing, commenting on (and [...]

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Badinter's "The Conflict": Oppression of Mothers Through the Lens of France's Hegemonic Masculinity

April 29, 2012




Last week, the English version of French feminist Elisabeth Badinter's book The Conflict: How Modern Motherhood Undermines the Status of Women was released. The Internet has been abuzz with discussion of her book. While the book raises many issues that could be explored, I want to examine her assertion that it is no longer men [...]

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Women in the Media: You Can't Be What You Can't See

April 21, 2012




Not everyone is a trailblazer For better or for worse, most people are not trailblazers. That doesn't mean that they have no potential. But it does mean that they need role models. They need to see other people, often people like them, succeeding at the type of thing they want to do. They need it [...]

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Milk Junkies: Blog of a Transgendered, Gay, Breastfeeding Dad

April 18, 2012




I want to introduce you to Trevor, a transgender, gay, Canadian, breastfeeding father who blogs at Milk Junkies. Last night my friend Rebecca from Bunch Family pointed me to a guest post on her website by Trevor, describing his experience as a transgender breastfeeding father. Everyone loves lactivist dads, right? But most of them are [...]

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Step Aside, Mommy Wars, Let's Talk Policy

April 12, 2012




The American feminist blogosphere is aflutter this week with discussion of a war of words between Hilary Rosen and Ann Romney about working moms and stay at home moms. It is a discussion deeply rooted in class warfare and mommy warfare and nicely wrapped up in partisan politics. It is a discussion that has played [...]

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Should Chocolate Milk Be Advertised in Schools?

April 10, 2012




I was in an Ottawa public high school this evening and as I walked toward the doors of the gym, I saw a poster hanging on the wall advertising chocolate milk and claiming that it would help you "up your game". It immediately struck me as inappropriate, for several reasons. Chocolate Milk Isn't a Health [...]

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A Layette from the Government?

April 4, 2012




  One of my twitter friends passed along a link to an article in The Atlantic about Finland's "Baby Box" and I was fascinated. Apparently new parents can choose either to receive a box of baby goods from the government or a cash grant of 140 Euros. The box, however, is seen as the better [...]

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