44 thoughts on “the future has a valley and a shortcut”

1. I love the google ads – you never know what is going to come up – I have linked to some great sites from those
   I have got 69 outside here – sorry I don’t have thingy for checking the rest & I have to get back to sewing
   Reddy

2. Wil,
   Why not try something like “Sketchstock” or something else? For what it’s worth, maybe you could do a show – get a few volunteers – or a signing, or maybe even host a concert with a handful of local area bands, to help raise some money. Most guys use their celebrity status to whore themselves out for no reason other than they want to eak every penny out there. You, you’ve been cool, you’re socially conscious, and you’re a good guy. If you used your celebrity to pick up a couple of thousand dollars to help keep your pets alive, I fail to see the horror in that aspect. Hell, if you want to try to do multiple regional shows, I’d be happy to help you organize a concert or a show in the Hudson Valley region of NY (we’d get them Manhattan types too). Man, I’d even gladly offer my services to play for a bit (unless you hated my music, in which case, hey, I’ll beg off). If you lost the email addy, it’s [email protected] – I would be happy to help. Hell, I’m trying to organize a charity 5k in memory of my grams… I might as well get used to this charity event stuff!

3. Well la-dee-da. It’s a nice balmy 39 degrees and falling in MY backyard right now.

4. Hey Wil, don’t forget the nifty update to your ‘Fear’ image: http://www.geekandproud.net/terror2/

5. Wil,
   I always click the Amazon links in your RSS feeds. I figure you’ll earn a click thru for it.

6. Google Ads rule. Do it. Definitely.

7. I think google ads is a great idea. I don’t think anyone will mind knowing that it will go to help out the precious kitties. 🙂

8. I agree with the Google Ads….let’s help out Felix and Sketch!!!!

9. we use google ads on my company’s site, they are pure profit. totally do it. and with the interesting things you write about, the things that pop up will be really funny.

10. I feel your pain about the vet bills. Sunny’s last bout of illnesses cost us several thousand – to say nothing of a year of IV chemo and expensive onocologists! I’m glad you’re doing what you can for your kitties though! Good luck with googleads…

11. $5000 dollars in vet bills? wow. They dont charge like that over here, some vets even do it for free when its an ongoing thing cos they treat it as a noble profession rather than a business. (I know it was serious what they had but still it’d be a lot cheaper over here). Cool that your spending so much to take care of em. (how is felix this week by the way?)
    Add whatever you want to the site bud. Once the website remains primarily driven by your personal blog entries and doesn’t become a “commercialised” site, I don’t think any of your readers would mind seeing a few ads.
    I’m new to blogging, How do google ads work in terms of making money for ya? Number of hits or what? Can they mess up the design of a blog etc?
    Click here for my blog

12. Google Ads will in no way decrease the integrity of your blog. As long as you don’t charge us a membership fee, go nuts.

13. Google Ads will in no way decrease the integrity of your blog. As long as you don’t charge us a membership fee, go nuts.

14. P.S
    The weather right now in Cork Ireland is:
    Partly Cloudy
    Temperature: 48

15. Crap, I didn’t mean to post that twice.

16. DieselSweeties has always been a fave! Good move. Have you ever considered WordPress instead of MT? I found that switching killed my comment spam (no more work by me).

17. Location: Anchorage, AK
    Sky: Mostly Sunny
    Temperature: 47F
    Motorcycle: Purring like two fat happy kittens.
    Work: Taking time away from ‘cycling.
    Theatre: Fight rehearsal time. woot!

18. Wil… Google’s *AdSense* is good from what I hear, but I’ve never made anything from it yet…
    Considering the amount of traffic you get it should work good for you…
    I can set you up to sell Video Gaming Accessories if you’d like.. hehe
    Keith (Xgaming) Dick

19. Hey Will, I can’t see your Buzznet pictures spliced in your feed. Have you turned the Buzznet splicing on after entering your Buzznet ID (wilwheaton) in your FeedBurner dashboard ?
    Let us know if you need help (jeff at buzznet dot com).

20. Hey Wil,
    I think it’s cool if you want to ad some ads to your site. I’m not a bit animated GIFs fan but Google ads have never seemeed like they’re that obtrusive to me. I know pets can be expensive…if I ever get a dog I’m seriously going to look at pet insurance. Right now, if I had to pay the kind of money you did, it would have been a rather grim decision. Hope your kitties are doing well.

21. I got my ads last August I now have $10, but the ads are fun. I did a cat story and got Litter Box ads.

22. felix and sketch are more than worth an addition of a few nonobtrusive $ generators. google ads have a nice high-brow sensibility to them. just think of all the erudite things i could be hunting down and learning about thanks to whatever your blogging relates to. ;} and yay – diesel sweeties.

23. Hey, if all I gotta do is sit here and click links to put some vet money in your wallet, I’ll do it. It’s another way to avoid housework!
    There also always the Autographed Photo For A Few Bucks thing…I know someone who would get spastic on command if I got her one….

24. Does anyone here use Mozilla Thunderbird for RSS reading? Does Wil’s feed actually show up for you? I’ve tried everything I know to try and it always just shows up completely blank. I have to open a browser and go to http://www.wilwheaton.net to see anything beyond the title… 🙁
    Anyhow – great blog, Wil!

25. Hey Wil;
    A comment that doesn’t really fit anywhere else – you’ve now been linked by the Dark Side, m’man.
    Who knew what all would happen after you touched the nether regions of the force by guesting on CSI? 🙂
    That said, this IS relevant to your entry – I will be very interested to see how you feel about Google ads if’n you do it. Hope you’ll let us know.

26. Adding Google ads != selling your soul. The cats are more than worth it anyway.
    And I imagine you’ll make a lot more money off of yours than I do on mine, as your immediate family doesn’t represent 15% of your average daily traffic.
    (please also consider this a major thumbs-up for updating the FAQ…)

27. Google ads are wonderful. I’ve been using them on my site for a year, and I’m consistently amazed with the profits.

28. If you like indy comics, you might like my current favorite, http://snipehunting.rydia.net/index.php
    As for ads, for my favorite sites I try to click at least one a week, and if there is something I’m going to buy anyways, I try to click-through to do it. It seems like the least I can do.
    I know a lot of web businesses have affiliate programs. I buy from Powells.com via Tom Tomorrow’s site, for example, because they throw a few nickles his way. Have you considered that?
    (PS to Thumper- Try downloading the Sage plugin and using Firefox.)

29. Wil put something up soon. I know what the bills cost for a cat, let alone two. I’d be super happy to help. I’d help anyone who’d ask. Cyke.

30. Hey,
    if you are writing an update to the FAQ, I think you should solicit new questions… it may interest you what people want to know these days and that may make the writing a lot easier… plus, people who have read your blog for a long time, may be curious about different things than the average teen-beat-fan-chick. This would also be a great time to lay the groundwork for, “If you see me in a bar, buying me a Guinness is a great way to say hello.” (or something like that.)

31. Google ads are great. I use them on my blog http://markshields.com as unobtrusively as possible and try to get the color scheme to always play nice with my look and feel. I only get around 3,000 visitors a day on average and my site makes around $40 a month, so do the math. Of course, you’ll have to be as witty as me. Sign up! https://google.com/adsense/
    Commercial over. Everyone please return to your seats.

32. Go for the ads, Wil! I love your blog. Anything to help keep it managable for you sounds good to me.
    However, you might want to scout around for options in addition to Google’s AdAware. Most of the AdAware links I’ve seen have been “start your own blog” or “sexy girls and sexy guys.”
    You get paid by the number of clicks, so your audience probably won’t be paying the vet bills based on finding cheap “blogging solutions.”
    Best of luck!

33. Hey Wil, I think you should link to 1001 Insomniac Nights. It’s a short-story web serial. I think you’d LOVE it, it’s sarcastic and hilarious.
    The URL hotlink is next to my name!

34. If you put up a little Sketch and Felix donation box, I’d donate. I’d be much happier to support you that way than by clicking a bunch of ads. Honestly, I’d be willing to pay a membership to see an ad-free version of your site, as well. I’m guessing that I’m not the only one, either.

35. I am probably in the minority here, but I would rather not have pictures in the RSS feed. I like the stripped-down, fast-loading content-driven format.
    If RSS ends up with advertisements and photographs, then what is the advantage over html?

36. “plus, people who have read your blog for a long time, may be curious about different things than the average teen-beat-fan-chick.”
    Hey! I take offense at that! I am interested in EXACTLY the same things as the average teen-beat-fan-chick!

37. If you don’t want the full Google Adsence block, they also have adsense enabled search boxes and a mini form called “ad links” – 4 or 5 lines, each a link.
    Who knows how many paid hits you’ll have, but as it only costs a tiny bit bandwidth and a small amount of work, if you aren’t doing anything else with that space…

38. Wil, were you aware that the picture of the dog (“100% more cute”, I think, was the title) has a nice long ad for Verizon after it?
    The reason I’m mentioning it is because it looks like the sort of auto-generated thing that pops in without telling anyone. If you wanted that ad there, then [Gilda] never mind[/Gilda].

39. I worked for a vet for four years, I know all about vet bills. But when you love your pets, you do what you gotta do! I would take no offense to ads, not when it means a little extra time with your furry four legged family members. Hell, there will be a time soon that I am gonna have to scrape up the cash to keep my kitties going too. And I will have no shame about doing it!!!
    As for your weather, you SUCK!! I gotta move to a better climate. North Carolina winters are too long! I hate cold weather!

40. Hi, Wil,
    Since you took down your Amazon link, you can do what I did and guide people to the ASPCA’s Amazon link. When people buy their books through that link, the ASPCA gets up to 15% of the purchases. It’s awesome!
    Here’s the link if you’re interested: http://www.cafepress.com/aspca
    And I hope everything works out with the pets!

41. Wil,
    Something to consider – I signed up for Amazon Associates (free!) for my website and earn a bit of money each quarter. What it does is it allows you to have “official?” Amazon links, both generic and specific, whichever suits your fancy, and if people go to Amazon from your site using those links and purchase anything, you get a kick-back. I usually make about $30-$100/quarter, and that’s just with the pathetic traffic on my site (read: my mom (AOL is the devil) and 2 friends). I bet it would help subsidize your feline financial woes. Thanks for the website – it is a breath of fresh air!
    –bryarly
    (Associates sign-up is right off the main Welcome page, bottom left today.)

42. Sorry about the pets! I’ve always been a firm believer that if the procedures to keep your companion animal do not negatively impact that animal’s quality of life, and can actually enchance it, then they’re worth whatever the cost. Just be sure all the money you’re spending on them isn’t to keep them alive for your sake. When it’s time to let them go, be strong and let them go in peace.

43. Like others said, go for the Google ads! They seem to be the best bet right now.
    Btw, this is a great guide to making extra money with your blog. 🙂

44. Do the Google AdSense ads. The text ads are unobtrusive and would fit into one of your sidebars quite well.
    A small blog with a few hundred visitors a day easily pulls in a few dollars per day in AdSense revenue. A high traffic site like this… well, let’s just say AdSense scales linearly with volume. ;>
    p.s. The earlier comment about AdSense always showing blog or dating ads is primarily a result of using a blog server domain name, like blogspot. Your domain name and the article title weigh heavily in which ads AdSense selects for your pages. A blogging domain name is going to get blogging ads, even if the content on the page is not about blogging.

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