{"id":1830710,"date":"2024-05-07T19:20:26","date_gmt":"2024-05-07T23:20:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1830710"},"modified":"2024-06-07T09:23:21","modified_gmt":"2024-06-07T13:23:21","slug":"help-the-map-room-go-ad-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2024\/05\/help-the-map-room-go-ad-free\/","title":{"rendered":"Help The Map Room Go Ad-Free"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Earlier this year my ad revenue increased nearly tenfold. This obviously led me to conclude that it\u2019s probably time to stop relying on ad revenue, and try moving to a model based on reader support. If you\u2019d like to understand how I came to that contradictory conclusion, read on; otherwise the\u00a0tl;dr<\/a>\u00a0is that you can now support\u00a0The Map Room<\/strong>\u00a0via monthly payments at both\u00a0Ko-fi<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Patreon<\/a>. When monthly payments reach a certain level (see below), I will discontinue ads on this site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

In March my ad revenue basically quadrupled, and in April it nearly doubled again. This appears to have been the result of Google AdSense running some experiments with its Auto Ads system. I paid it little mind because I use an ad blocker and don\u2019t see the ads that appear on my websites unless I make a point of doing so. At some point I realized that this was not a good practice, that I ought to turn off my ad blocker and see what Google had done to generate such returns. Oh. Wow. Ads thick on the ground, with interstitial ads that popped up when you clicked on a link. Sorry about that. I turned off the more obnoxious methods, blocked out some areas to keep ads out of the content area as much as possible, and dialed back the number of ads per page to Auto Ads\u2019 minimum. Daily ad revenues dropped by roughly two-thirds, but are still several times what they were at the start of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, if I<\/em> don\u2019t like the ad experience on my own website, that\u2019s a problem. To say the least! I\u2019d actually prefer it if The Map Room<\/strong> could go ad-free even for visitors who don\u2019t use ad blockers. But, on the other hand, I do need to generate revenue. I\u2019m not a map professional: this site isn\u2019t a loss leader to drum up business for the day job. I don\u2019t necessarily need it to provide a living on its own, but I\u2019d like for it to pay its own way (I very nearly ran a loss last year) and maybe just maybe also pay me for my time and effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since The Map Room<\/strong> restarted in 2016, display ads (i.e. Google) have provided slightly less than half of my website revenues, with affiliate links (mostly Amazon) also making up slightly less than half. The remaining few percentage points came from occasional contributions to the Ko-fi tip jar<\/a>. So far this year, with the uptick in AdSense revenue, and fewer book-related posts, the breakdown is more like 70 percent Google, 20 percent Amazon, and 10 percent Ko-fi. If I can generate enough revenue from recurring contributions, I can retire the ads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So for the first time, readers who would like to support The Map Room<\/strong> can now do so via monthly payments. You can sign up at either Ko-fi<\/a> and Patreon<\/a>. Each has three tiers of support (you can specify a different amount at Ko-fi). Ko-fi is priced in CAD, Patreon in USD. The highest tiers do not have additional bonus material, at least at the moment (I\u2019m still working that out); they\u2019re mainly there for those who want a higher rate to support the site at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve set a goal of $400 CAD per month (just under $300 USD): When monthly payments across the various platforms reach $400 CAD, I will turn off ads for everyone. (That number represents a low-end estimate of The Map Room<\/strong>\u2019s ad revenues if I were to go full Dark Side and let Auto Ads just rip.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There may be other announcements and enticements as this gets a bit further along. I don\u2019t want to promise members-only content at this point\u2014as an old-school blogger whose longstanding M.O. is to point to content elsewhere<\/em>, I don\u2019t have a whole lot of my own material to hold back for paying customers\u2014but I can say that I\u2019m thinking about something. Watch this space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re more comfortable making a single one-off contribution, you can still do that via Ko-fi<\/a>. I appreciate any level of support, and am deeply thankful to everyone who has contributed over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, until this funding goal is reached, you can have an ad-free experience on The Map Room<\/strong> by using the ad-blocker of your choice\u2014I will never, ever prevent you from using an ad blocker on my websites\u2014or by subscribing to the RSS feed<\/a> in your preferred feed reader.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year my ad revenue increased nearly tenfold. This obviously led me to conclude that it\u2019s probably time to stop relying on ad revenue, and try moving to a model based on reader support.… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1830710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-housekeeping"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1837473,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/03\/pledge-drive\/","url_meta":{"origin":1830710,"position":0},"title":"Membership Drive","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"4 March 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"We interrupt The Map Room for a pledge break. As you may know, I\u2019ve wanted The Map Room to go ad-free for some time. But much as I\u2019d like to get rid of them, Google ads represent something like 60 percent of my website revenue. 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With online ad revenues a fraction of what they once were, I'm exploring other ways of making this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Housekeeping"","block_context":{"text":"Housekeeping","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/housekeeping\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5931,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/11\/pledge-break\/","url_meta":{"origin":1830710,"position":4},"title":"Pledge Break","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"17 November 2017","format":"status","excerpt":"If you like what I do here and you have\u00a0a couple of extra dollars, pounds, euros or kroner lying around, this would be an awfully good time to send them The Map Room\u2019s way: sent directly to me via\u00a0Ko-Fi or, if you don't trust me to handle money, directly to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Housekeeping"","block_context":{"text":"Housekeeping","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/housekeeping\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1787979,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/10\/ads-and-support\/","url_meta":{"origin":1830710,"position":5},"title":"Ads and Support","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"29 October 2019","format":"status","excerpt":"Updates to Google\u2019s ad system did a number on the layout of this website, spraying ads everywhere, so I\u2019ve disabled ads until I can get that sorted out. 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