...Aren't going to work. Turns out there's a SNAFU—the code for the ads doesn't survive republications of the post; the TypePad template assumes the unfamiliar code is something that needs fixing and adds some gobbledegook characters to it that cause it to disappear. That means I'd have to reload the code for the ads every time I update the posts. Since I update new posts frequently, with corrections, additional rewriting, addenda, and (mostly) Featured Comments, it makes the ads impractical for every post.
But because I think it's going to be fun and because I really need to be a little more responsible about making money (I'm not in the same league as my heroes Ken Rockwell and DigitalRev on that score), I'm going to try doing one post a day with ads attached, for the month of November, and then continue to do normal posts without them.
In any event, please consider November to be "Buy Yourself a Present Drive Month" at TOP. Here are our usual links, and don't hold back if you happen to be buying anything small or inexpensive. You don't have to buy anything big to help...as the number of items sold goes up, TOP's overall percentage for all the sales increases. So buying small things helps too. Just in a different way.
Today's ads are below. They'll appear in future days throughout November without accompanying commentary. I hope I have the discipline to keep this up for the whole month of November, although I doubt myself on that score.
There won't be Featured Comments on these ad posts, for reasons I've just explained.
Back to regular programming in a moment. In the meantime, thank you for your support!
Mike
Original contents copyright 2016 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.
(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
I see no ads on my iPad. Nor do I see an empty space.
Posted by: Kenneth Tanaka | Tuesday, 01 November 2016 at 10:45 AM
Does this promotion for November have to go through Amazon, or will using the B&H link on your site still work towards your $ goals? I plan to buy a new computer in the near future, but I much prefer B&H to Amazon.
Posted by: Ken | Tuesday, 01 November 2016 at 11:01 AM
I use Ghostery to block trackers. Ghostery by default is blocking your ads, and there isn't even an indication that the ads are missing. I've whitelisted TOP now so I'll see the ads (first time I've tried to see ads). Hopefully others will do the same to help you out. You might want to put some small text above or below the ads indicating we can help you by buying through the ads. Then we'd have an indication we were missing them for some reason.
Posted by: Larry Gebhardt | Tuesday, 01 November 2016 at 11:16 AM
Mike:
Your wryly describing Ken Rockwell and DigitalRev as your (blogger) “heroes," has lead me to create a blogging theorem which states: the quality of the blog writing and contents are inversely proportional to the revenue they generate for the blogger.
There are a few---too few--- other sites which support the idea.
Keep up the great work. It reminds me of a great Los Angeles Times writer from the past named Jack Smith. Like you, I read him first thing in the morning every day.
Best wishes.
George Andros
Posted by: George Andros | Tuesday, 01 November 2016 at 11:23 AM
Could you do a daily "TOP 5" ads on the left, below the "Patrons" but above the "Recent Posts"? Like for the printer post, links to the printer, papers, etc? Cameras, lenses, are kind of obvious, but wrist straps, or camera bags, etc? in other words, a couple of impulse buy items....
Posted by: Mark Bridgers | Tuesday, 01 November 2016 at 11:24 AM
I kept wondering what ads you were talking about. I didn't see a thing. Then I remembered that I'm using an ad blocker (uBlock) that not only blocks the ads but makes the entire ad space disappear. Your posts all looked pre-ad to me.
But I've gotten into the habit of unblocking pages that I want to support, so I've unblocked TOP. That alone doesn't help you, Mike, because you get paid when people actually buy things on Amazon, not just view the ads or merely click through. But if I see the ads, I'm surely more likely to make my next Amazon purchase through the TOP links.
All of this to remind the other ad-blocker users to whitelist TOP.
Posted by: Joe Holmes | Tuesday, 01 November 2016 at 11:51 AM
Hi Mike. OK, so unlike your sponsor badges and shopping links, I had to turn off my ad blocker to see these. Might be worth a reminder in the post.
As long as you're mucking around in the plumbing, and it being the holiday season, now might be a good time to ask if you would look into using Amazon's "Smile" URL for your links. "Smile" is Amazon's charitable shop-to-give program, and you'll want to double check, but it seems affiliate commissions work the same way, no additional paperwork required (other than modifying the URL).
Here's their FAQ on the topic:
https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/help/topic/t61
(For shoppers, we register our favorite charities to get a cut of our purchases. Clicking through our favorite affiliates still gives them their cut, but the affiliate needs to change their URL for the charity to get it's cut. At least that's my understanding.)
So, if it's not too much hassle, I hope you can look into it some time. Maybe you'd rather try it on just one or two ads/links at first. I suspect advertising the change would be an incentive at this time of year, and, obviously, you'd be helping the charities.
Thanks. And, as always, thanks for all the work you do to keep the show going. (Well, not so much a show as a clean, cozy, well-lighted gathering place, with an interesting show on.)
Posted by: robert e | Tuesday, 01 November 2016 at 11:55 AM
If Ken Rockwell is one of your heros', than copy how he makes money from his site—put up a Beg Button. No shame in that.
Posted by: c.d.embrey | Tuesday, 01 November 2016 at 12:09 PM
Either I've gotten here too early, or Chrome's built-in adblocker does a really good job. I see no ads!
Maybe I'm just so desensitized that I'm becoming ad-blind... wouldn't that be choice for an ex-advertising guy?
Posted by: MarkB | Tuesday, 01 November 2016 at 12:28 PM
Ads? What ads? Don't see any Amazon ads - just the usual B&H etc sidebar links.
Posted by: Pieter | Tuesday, 01 November 2016 at 12:58 PM
I don't often look at the side columns, so for people like me, can you have a post a day that is just adverts? There would be no reason for updates, alterations, or comments, and so no need to rewrite the code.
Posted by: Roger Bradbury | Tuesday, 01 November 2016 at 02:23 PM
It looks like this is a TypePad problem. I always run ad-blockers, but Ken Rockwell's Beg Button and all his links work. You B&H button appears, but none of your new Amazon ads do.
I read a lot of blogs, mostly non-photo, and they all seem to be able to do what you want. I'd check with both TypePad and Amazon. Amazon may have a work-around already.
Now I need to find a way to block like-me-on-FaceBook 8-)
Posted by: c.d.embrey | Tuesday, 01 November 2016 at 03:40 PM
I see your ads, but I like this archival box better:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1115891-REG/canson_infinity_400052301_archival_photo_storage_box.html
So I will click on your B&H link and order!
Posted by: Darlene | Tuesday, 01 November 2016 at 06:20 PM