Is monetisation a dirty word?

Above: Quality advertising Bangkok style

What do you think about adverts on blogs?

I'm in two minds whether to mention this or see if someone else does...  I've been dipping my toe in Adsense for the last year - with adverts so discreet neither you or anyone else has spotted them (in the invisible space at the bottom of the right hand column.) They don't earn mega-bucks... but they could!

Here are the easiest ways to earn money from your blog (or website):

• Become an Amazon Affiliate - join up and get the codes to insert an array of Amazon ads - from hyperlinks for individual items to all-singing banners and the little search engine gismo on the top right of this blog. They pay a generous 5% commission if anyone buys through your links (and it'll soon be Christmas again folks!) but only after you reach a £30 threshold.
• Join Google Adsense - again options include anything from a line of text to full bells and whistles. You get a few pennies for certain numbers of people clicking on the ads, not just buying stuff. You can screen out ads on sensitive subjects (e.g. sex, religion, folk-dancing) or things you don't want to promote (e.g. gambling, loans, the Daily Mail). But again, you have to earn £60 before you get anything.
• If you're a member of certain other sites (eg Topcashback) they sometimes pay commission to promote their sites. Only do this if you honestly think they're ace (I do, by the way) or your credibility will be shot!

Personally, my brain edits out adverts - except those horribly distracting moving banner ones (like on this short fiction site where they jump around at the side of the story for God's sake!) - so I won't have noticed if any of you have adverts on your pages. But I've added some - still quite discreet - to test them out and may keep tweaking. I'm aiming here more at casual visitors to old posts, not regulars, but you don't get the option to only put them on old posts... not that I can find anyhoo.

Question:  've been thinking about how much I like blogging but can't justify the time spent on it (my only income is p/time £7/hr  - I make almost nothing from writing). But is it 'wrong' to do it at all? Or I could have more than one blog - one for the usual random stuff, and another, more focussed on e.g. writing which would be more monetised.

What does anyone think? *braces herself for diatribes*

Zombie Wombles and the Keywords of Destiny

Just to COMPLETELY change the subject: Do you ever look up in Blogger stats or Statcounter to see what search keywords brought visitors to your blog?

Zombie Womble. That's what brought someone to mine*.

Now I've posted about Wombles and I've posted about Zombies, but not in the same breath... until today.

Over at Cultural Snow, the erudite Tim Footman was saying just the other day (in this post: Jammy Helen Mirren) how many people stumble across his blog when searching for semi-clad ladies, just because he may have mentioned them in passing. Similarly, Army of Dave is struggling to cope with being associated with a contemptible racist politician following the runaway success of his Nick Griffin Question Time Drinking Game.

It's a sobering lesson in being careful what you post about - these things can come back and bite you... A bit like Tobermory here.

... but on the other hand (and I wonder what Tobe did with the other hand?) it could point the way to a GAP in the market. Maybe, I thought, there ought to be somewhere people can go for a zombie womble if they want one?

By the way - what do you think at my first attempts at image manipulation? It was done with a free programme GIMP 2.6 which I am told has much of the functionality of Photoshop without the price tag.

So, who would like a poem then?..

Zombie Womble

Underground, overground, back from their tomb
The Wombles are Zombies and lurk in the gloom
Munching the brains of the people they find
Great Uncle Bulgaria’s eating mankind!

Underground, overground, up from their graves
Nothing is wasted, everything saved
Matted with black and malodorous mud
Lumbering Wombles are hungry for blood!

And in their foul burrow there’s always a store
Of bits of old bodies all covered in gore
Where Madame Cholet, her apron streaked red
Is cooking up something to feed the Undead

Bumbling, stumbling, Wombling free
They want to recycle the best bits of ME!
Oh no! Orinico is coming to get me!
The Wombles of Wimbledon Common all ATE ME!!

My 100th Post!

I thought I'd missed my 100th post. I was counting them from my 'edit posts' list, but that figure included draft notes of future posts. Doh!

So hurray for my 100th post! To celebrate, I'm going to take the 7 Link Challenge from ProBlogger.

My First Post: Where do ideas come from Mummy?  In which I suggest 'free writing' to extract weird stuff from your subconscious... hey, it works for me!  I had one comment...I was out there!

The Post I Enjoyed Writing the Most: I'm torn between two (1) Why are there so many songs about librarians? was great fun because I had put a call out on Twitter for spoof library songs and got some brilliant ones which I then did a post about, giggling all the way and (2) National Double Entendre Week for obvious reasons.

A Post With a Great Discussion: I couldn't choose one from here because I get such great comments on a regular basis, so I'm cheating a bit. I'm also one of the 'cooks' on the Fridge Soup blog and this went up there, although perhaps here is its rightful home: Dr Strangelove Actually - this was great fun because loads of people joined in. 

A Post I Wish I Had Written: 'How I made my first million'... oh, it has to be a real one from someone else! Gosh that's hard... [three hours later] This is where I wish I'd somehow bookmarked my faves as I'm sure there are ones I've forgotten... don't make me choooooooose! But I am especially envious of Fran's lists & literary rewrites in Being Me - like this one on 'cyber lit, Moptop's National Euphemism Week and #Banned lists. Oh and pretty well anything by the erudite Dogberry at The Inky Fool, a fine example of which is: Snarling Snobs and Sniggering Sneaks

A Post With a Title I'm Proud Of: This one, of course!

My Most Helpful Post: Probably Twitter - 7 Steps to Getting Started because I know a lot of people find Twitter as confusing as I did when I started out, but I do think I've got the hang of what it is and what it's for now

A Post I Wish More People Had Read: I'd have De-motivational Posters because no-one has ever commented but StatCounter it's one of my most often-viewed posts, but with random surfers not followers, because no-one had ever commented. So instead I'll say Making Headlines 

I've probably missed some cracking posts from you all, I'm keen for followers to take this challenge* or at least to leave a link in the comments to your best post or the one you wish more people had read.  Pleeeeeease... it is my 100th!

You know how to put a link in comments don't you? You just put your lips together and ... no, that was something else. Here's how: put the html code below into your normal comment - the parts between the <>brackets won't show but have to be exactly right.  Notice how I've spelled/spelt 'website' wrong deliberately to show you how easy it is to bugger this up - but have a go!:

*If you choose to do your own 7-link challenge, please do say so in the comments (and on  ProBlogger comments too!)