Advertising on the website & a new category in the Articles… What’s it all about?

Hi All

Some of you may have noticed that I have been testing some advertisements on the website over recent months. In part, this is to cover the costs of running the site.

As a working photographer, the global pandemic has prompted me into diversifying my income streams, allowing me to earn income through the online eco-system. It's exciting and scary all at the same time.

It's very different from the online business that I have been providing to my clients for the last 20 years. As a photographer and content and hosting provider I find myself in new territory here, as a "purely online marketeer".

You'll see the changes come and go over the next few months as I test various types of adverts and advertising systems. To be clear, this should not change your experience of the content that I provide. The ads are not going to "pop up" at you.

If you find that it is not I would like to hear from you

The adverts will run alongside the body content and will always be clearly defined. Exactly like the Amazon advertisement below:

In general, I will run the advertisements at the bottom of the content in my blog and in an advert tower (grey coloured) down the right hand side of the page on the main site. In addition to this you may see links to products and services like this:

I recommend this book or this:

These types of links will take you to a retailer where you can purchase the product, in this case a book from Amazon.co.uk. If you do this I may earn a commission on the sale. (A compelling reason for us to carry ads). You pay exactly the same price you would had you gone directly to the retailer. Sometimes, retailers will offer a better deal through the links that I provide. I will always mark these special offers appropriately.

I am currently experimenting with various retailers. This list may change over time. You can see them in the grey advert block at the bottom of every blog post (including this one) The retailers will always be "context sensitive" to the content. I will not just post ads for companies, services and products that I would not recommend or use myself.

Now I realise that some of you may not want to see lots of "recommendations", so I have added an additional category to the blog that will carry these recommendations. If you don't want to see them you can filter the blog at the top of the page.

"Why are you making recommendations?"

I get so many calls and emails asking me to recommend cameras, lenses, flashes and other kit, as well as computers and web hosts etc that I feel the need to put them all in one place, so I will promote them on the blog and place them in the Online Kit Shop...

Let's see how it goes.

Be seeing you... Colin