Yes, I’m from California. No, I don’t surf…unless you count your blog as a wave.

Speaking of, I think you and Web Career Girl are a few shakes ahead of me, I’m super excited to be getting my first Google check, but it only took 3 lousy months to do so. Hopefully, the next 3 won’t be so bad.

I’ve made most of my money as a result of article marketing my own blogs, etc., and have back-ended myself as a freelancer on Elance. Through that site, I’ve doubled my income for last December and have some high-paying clients.

Do I make money online? Not much more than you, if at all, but thanks to my silly sites I’ve found a secondary way making money online as a second job, doing what I love.

Which means…I need to get back to it…I’m distracted by your blog. That really sucks…

At least now I know this is a stage that all new starters go through! I hope things have picked up steadily for you since you wrote this.

Des.

Keep writing and more people will show up to the party. Personally, I find your writing extremely funny, well thought out, and worthy of natural backlinks (from one of your other posts). I can definitely see why someone would ask for your advice.

Hello Web Career Girl. Sorry to hear that you are in the same boat as me. Hopefully one day we will both be successful and out of the Galley. But at least for now we can keep each other company and be comforted by the fact that we are not the only ones rowing to an ever increasing drum beat with nothing to show for it but whip scars on our backs.

Thank your for your commitment of continued readership.

About the ads on the blog. It is a little strange, but I do not want to put ads on the blog. I want to keep the blog ‘pure’ – strictly a place for information. I do not like ads, and I feel they ‘cheapen’ the content.

It is just my bias, and probably not true for most cases. But when I see ads on other websites/blogs I feel like I am being used. The author is acting like my friend, like he/she wants to help me, but they really do not, they want me to click on the ads. They see me as a means to financial gains. They give with the intent of taking. It rubs me the wrong way.

Of course I am doing the same thing with the website. It was created with the hope of a future gain. I did not spend a single hour of work without hoping that I get the money back someday. Expecting that while people are reading the content they will stray over and click on an ad. I admit – with the website I am giving only because I expect to take back. The blog, on the other hand, I only want to give. I want it to be a free exchange of information with no other agenda.

When I see a blog with no ads then I instantly trust the author a lot more then an blog with ads. So for now I hope to keep ads off the blog – just because I like it that way. Probably not the best thing financially, but fortunately this website site is called how this WEBSITE makes money so I can keep the ads on the website and leave the blog alone.

But I make no promises. One day I might just say, “screw it” and put ads on the blog.