Sunday 10 September 2017

Crossing the Red Sea


It's Sunday. A day of rest. You might go to church. Or temple. You might clean the car. You might even mow the lawn. For what it's worth I'm a lapsed Catholic, I take the wheels to the car wash down the road apiece and I let my next door neighbour cut what little grass we have 'as it's no bother' to him. Thank you Sat.

Sunday is also the day when British Rail decide to do their 'engineering' works. This will inevitably mean the network operates a reduced service, resulting in (even) slower trains and, worse still, no porters to carry your matching luggage from carriage to cab. Hang on a minute, about those porters...

This little outpost on the digital network has had some minor engineering works of its own carried out today. Hopefully, without any disruption whatsoever. Can you see what's been going on? This question doesn't have a right or wrong answer by the way. Because if you said 'yes', it means you can see the (subtle) advertising placed beneath each of my posts. If you had said 'no', then you probably haven't been offended by the serendipitous ads that, I think, are quite in-keeping with the look and, dare I say it, style of my blog.

Let me explain (whilst at the same time assure you that I have neither sold out or part exchanged my soul with the Devil*).

Even Monkeys Fall Out Of Trees has been going nearly eight years. Back in 2010 it started life as nothing more than a weekly diet of pop ephemera - stuff that had been cluttering my brain for far too long and needed expunging. Putting it 'out there' (in the nefarious world commonly known as social media) was cathartic. I enjoyed writing it (and still do, tremendously) and my 'readership' for want of a better word seemed to get it. And throughout its life it has transmogrified into a cross between a social & cultural documentary from the standpoint of a white middle class male of a certain age, and the ramblings of a mad man.
This is where you will find out who invented the Venn Diagram, what makes chips and curry sauce a meal of Kings and why the Sweet (and not the Beatles) were probably the best rock and roll band in the world.

My modest two up two down blog now gets just shy of 30,000 page views a month. Every month. Incredible isn't it? I think so anyway. And that was the thing that made me think (and I know I'm not the first blogger to think this, or the last) "Can I earn some pin money doing this and, at he same time, keep the look and feel of the blog and not piss my readers off?"

Of course it's way too early to begin to answer that question. The ads only went live at midnight.

What you will see, I think you'll agree, are ads that fit. So far I've seen ads for audiobooks, tee shirts and guitars. Stuff I have no problem with. I'm not selling arms, tobacco or cars here. Or washing powder. I'll leave that to Danny Baker, and James Hunt before him. These messages will, I'm hoping, slot in nicely - font, colours etc. with the rest of the blog. Tell me if I'm wrong, but I think it works. Whether or not I actually see any pounds, shillings and pence out of this is another thing. That would, quite literally, be a bonus.

I look forward to writing each and every post on tis blog like you wouldn't believe. The buzz of the blank screen suddenly filling up with words, my words, is just as big a thrill now as its always been. And that's because, nine times out of ten I write from the hip. Yes, there's an element of fact checking going on - I was a professional writer in another life - but, and I hope this comes across,  I try not to get too bogged down with timetables, regular features, and lists - content that can turn writing for pleasure into a chore. That said, nobody likes a list more than me. But I'm far more likely to present it like this, than in a chart rundown sort of way. Themes are great too, but as a lover of words, you're far more likely to encounter this sort of thing, than a bunch of misfit songs with a tenuous link. OK, I've done the odd tenuous link too, guilty as charged.

Will it last, I hear you cry. The blogs - definitely. This advertising malarkey - who knows? Will it make me a fortune? No, of course it won't. I've read testimonies from fellow bloggers who basically see two bob and a conker from it. But as I said earlier, money is not the driver here. And if at anytime the ads take over or distract from the main event, then, to paraphrase Jim Reeves, they'll have to go.

* Actually, I've already sold my soul to the Devil.

8 comments:

  1. I see no ads at all at the mo', but I'll keep you posted. I just checked my own stats (for only the third time ever) which tell me that I had 4,678 page views last month, most of which appear to be courtesy of Russian / Asian bots. I don't know how to look further than the last 30 days, but I'm absolutely certain that I'll still be lagging 25,000 or so hits behind Even Monkeys Fall Out Of Trees, even on a good month.

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    1. That's interesting, they appear on my iPad, but not my Mac. Or phone. Ah well, in the words of Mick Jagger, It's Only Rock'n'Roll.

      In a world full of stats I'm usually cautious around them. But I operate two independent Stat Counters and they both, for the most part, corroborate each other.

      What is interesting is how people find me, and where they come from. I get a lot of visitors from the US. But what is fascinating is the keywords folks use which then throws up a hit at my place: bizarre!

      Also, and ripe for another blog, maybe when I've done 1000 posts (I'm up to 800 odd at the moment), is the content that gets most hits. You'll see a post in my left hand margin that's appeared in My Top Ten most popular ever since it was written: 'Somethings are over, somethings go on' is still being viewed 50+ times a day since it was posted in December last year. And a post I wrote about Bob the Street Cat is still Pick of the Pops - from four years ago. Until recently it was being viewed by every man and his dog and that piece alone has had over 5,000 hits. Cats, eh?

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  2. Just seeing one ad for Free Pictures Download below this comment box, not too obtrusive at all so I hope it brings you a little extra!
    Only 3500 hits for me last month, so I'm lagging way behind you and also TS. I did only put out three posts, but even with more in a month I doubt I'll ever make 30,000... I get some interesting countries listed though, which always intrigues me, would love to think there are real people at the other end of them but suspect probably not!

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    1. Ooh... but now the ad has changed to a bright yellow dating site declaring that it is not a typical one, with an illustration of a luscious redhead licking her lips! (Sorry luv, you're not my type)

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  3. Mmm...I'm gonna let this thing find its feet and review it in a month. Apologies in advance if you're seeing images of luscious readheads liking their lips...

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  4. It's an ad for LinkedIn for me - Think they're tailored for the individual reading the post (sadly no luscious redheads for me). No problem with ads from me but not sure what happens with content - Once you make some money from this fun pastime all of a sudden copyright becomes as issue so got to be careful it's all your own, or copyright-free images you use.

    As a relative newbie I'm just at 2k plus per month but have noticed that as the pool of posts increases so do the stats as the target is getting bigger - Having 800 posts increases the odds of a hit so to speak. Love seeing which countries appear in the lists though and last week got a view from Greenland and one from Guam which chuffed me no end!

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    2. Had my eyes on your blog for a while now; I've watched it grow up and I've watched you mature as a writer - and always look to my margin on the RHS to see if you've got a new issue out.
      I'm guessing a lot of people do the same Alyson. You write from the heart, not to a timetable. Your new issues hit the street when they're good and ready. So do mine. And adverts won't change that. In fact, they won't change a thing. I promise.

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