Blogcritics Comments on An Open Letter to Google

Comment by chris on An Open Letter to Google

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 18:54:10 EST

me again. is it me or does this always happen to someone when Google is close to paying them, like they've earned $99.50 or something, i've heard others complain about Google when they were in a similiar situation. ]]>

Comment by Chris on An Open Letter to Google

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 18:46:19 EST

at least you were close to your $100. as far as ads, I'm not sure that telling people to click on them is of any help anyway as the ads through adsense are only relevant when you stick to the handful of keywords that will trigger the right ads, of which there are perhaps like ten or twenty, i don't know. I should use text ads as well but i find them a bit boring, and am unsure why anyone else would click on them if i wouldn't if i saw them on someone elses site. right now i'm using everything, including search and referrals for firefox and the service itself. why aren't personal attacks allowed? i welcome negative criticism of my own site it's the only way you'll know how to get it right. ]]>

Comment by deano on An Open Letter to Google

Sat, 25 Feb 2006 19:30:28 EST

I know that Yahoo is running a beta of a similar service, and I've heard of a few other ad distribution systems that you can sign up for but I have never investigated the details. The downside is they are not as well-known as Google but they may have lower payout thresholds, so you might actually see some return on your adspace. The alternative to doing business with Google in my case is just not to do business. I'm not likely to see much return for the ads anyway, so uncluttering my site or using that ad sapce for something like Amazon, might be a better alternative. ]]>

Comment by Ruvy in Jerusalem on An Open Letter to Google

Sat, 25 Feb 2006 14:10:41 EST

So, Deano, I have a stupid question for you. Do you have somewhere other than Google to go? Can you ditch them, in other words, and do business with someone else? ]]>

Comment by Deano on An Open Letter to Google

Sat, 25 Feb 2006 11:46:53 EST

Thanks Aaman! ]]>

Comment by Aaman on An Open Letter to Google

Sat, 25 Feb 2006 10:30:25 EST

Interesting - this post has been cross-posted to Desicritics.org for further appreciation - check out the comments there too ]]>

Comment by Deano on An Open Letter to Google

Fri, 24 Feb 2006 16:57:36 EST

I've been an admirer of Google, their services and their business approach for a long time but their recent kowtow to the Chinese government has left a bad taste in my mouth. Receiving the email letter asking me to remove references to their ads from my site (a grand total of three references, none of which cite Google specifically) was just the final nudge. I don't need their ads, I don't need the miniscule trickle of revenue it brings in - realistically given the traffic levels that most blogs receive, given that Google draws the line at $100 worth of click-thrus as the minimum level to reach to actually receive payment, the vast majority of blogs that participate in the Adwords program are essentially giving Google free ad space, unless they reach that magic $100 level. At a 2% click-thru rate and an average of about $0.4 per click, a site with 5,000 visitors annually would generate about $4....Thus Google does not matter, not to me and it probably, bluntly shouldn't matter to 90% of the Blogosphere, which sits there and relentlessly provides Google with essentially "free" ad space that they will, in all probability, never have to pay out for. ]]>

Comment by ryan on An Open Letter to Google

Fri, 24 Feb 2006 12:33:34 EST

Chutzpah? How did some worthless little blogger take the world's most popular company down a notch? Its rather ironic that he's post his article here as well, considering Blog Critic is a major Adsense user. ]]>

Comment by Nathaniel Winn on An Open Letter to Google

Fri, 24 Feb 2006 10:48:52 EST

I'm confused! I admire the chutzpah displayed by Deano. (Taking Google down a notch is somewhat counter-cultural.) I find Chris's comments odd, to say the least. (With the exception--and it's a big one--of the whole China debacle, I think Google is kicking butt, and I love their scraping, copyright infringing, opting-in ways!) And then Ryan defends Google so vehemently and venomously that i want to hate Google all over again. (And wonder if Ryan might be an employee?) I'm so confused! ]]>

Comment by ryan on An Open Letter to Google

Fri, 24 Feb 2006 00:10:33 EST

Amazing. You join THEIR service and then have the balls to complain when they ask that you follow some simply fucking rules? Good Lord. And then you act like the unimportant thing is Google, and not whatever worthless site you currently run. Click-through rates are pretty standard at 2-4%, if you can't muster enough traffic, the only one at fault is you. How could you honestly feel that blog post was worth anyone's time? Count your blessings that they sent an email instead of just cutting your dumbass loose. ]]>

Comment by chris on An Open Letter to Google

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 22:46:13 EST

Way to go. So many people online are afraid of speaking out against Google because it could perhaps bias their indexing at Google.com. Hey everybody, FEAR IS EVIL. FEAR NOT! And hey, Google is the biggest scraping technology (and copyright infringer) on the planet. They make people 'opt out' of their programs (e.g. their attempt at indexing the worlds books). THATS EVIL! They really walk the line of double standards every day. Thanks for speaking up. ]]>