Jerry’s Ham Radio Blog

As you know, my successful relationship between Amazon (and their Amazon Associates Program) came to a grinding halt back in March.  You can read why this happened in my blog post titled “Gee Thanks Colorado”.  The revenue from the Amazon Associates program covered approx. 30-40% of my total web hosting costs for hosting MyAmateurRadio.com and the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast.  It was even picking up steam as more and more listeners were using the links to order from Amazon.  After all, Amazon usually has the best prices on ARRL books.  It was a good thing.  But like they say, even some good things must end. 

Now let me clarify.  The Practical Amateur Radio Podcast and MyAmateurRadio.com (and even this blog) is not about making money.  The podcast and the website supporting it (and again, even this blog) is about giving back to the hobby and helping others.  While I’ve been relaxed in my record keeping, I know my podcast has helped several earn their tech license and several others have been motivated to upgrade.  Would they have done this anyway?  Sure….Maybe….I don’t know. 

As I openly discussed during episode 37 of The Practical Amateur Radio Podcast and also documented in a new FAQon MyAmateurRadio.com, there are some costs associated with making my podcast and the website available.  These annual costs (again as discussed in episode 37 and documented in the FAQ) total $489.69.  Please refer to the FAQ for the cost breakdown.  But I say again….it isn’t about the money.

So enter stage right is Google AdSense.  I first setup my Google AdSense account over a year ago.  I installed a widget on MyAmateurRadio.com and watched it display ads about topics far removed from anything to do with amateur radio or just radio in general.  Of course, part of this was my fault and I’ll get to that in a minute.   After about 5 minutes or so, I decided Google AdSense wasn’t right for me.  Wait…let me rephrase that.  Google AdSense wasn’t right for my listeners and visitors to the website. 

This reminds me of a story.  Back in early 2009 I was contacted by a new media hosting/distribution company.  I won’t mention names…but they are well known in the new media/podcasting community.  The email really played into my ego.  It stated they had reviewed The Practical Amateur Radio Podcast and LOVED it.  They loved it so much they wanted to help me promote it and also monetize it.  WOW…WOW…WOW!  Perhaps I had finally hit the big time!

I replied to their email and asked for more information.  They were quick to respond and they assured me I would remain 100% in control and I could pull the plug at anytime.  I would always be the owner of the content etc.  For them to help me monetize the podcast, I would have to allow them to distribute it on their website/network.  They would interject advertising into the podcast and based on the number of times the podcast was listened to or downloaded, would mean how much revenue I would earn.  I replied back and asked them a simple question. What type of advertising content will you add to my show?  Their response back was it could vary.  It could vary based on the advertisers signing up to advertise. 

I thought about this for a long time.  My goal has always been to work very hard to reach a larger audience….to be “out there” so new hams or those wanting to get their license could find me.  This new media company was wanting to help me do this.  They also wanted to help me earn a few $ in return.  This could be a good thing.  So I continued to think about this.  I even discussed this with my wife.  She was the one that really helped me see the big picture. 

You see…I was able to step back for a minute and step away from the ego etc and look at the BIG PICTURE!  As a fellow amateur, if I visit a amateur radio related website I don’t have an issue with viewing advertisements.  If I listen to a amateur radio related podcast, I wouldn’t mind hearing advertising related to amateur radio.  After all, what is drawing me to a website or to a podcast is the subject of amateur radio.  But what I wouldn’t want to hear is a commercial for McDonalds, Viagra or God forbid some type of political campaign message.  OK..perhaps the political campaign message is a stretch…would they really let that happen?  The bottom line…I couldn’t be certain.  So I kindly thanked them for their time and told them I would continue to manage all this myself.

Part of the Google AdSense functionality is it displays advertisements based on the content on a website.  If you create a website and provide blogs about McDonalds and Big Macs, then you can expect a lot of the Google AdSense content to be about Big Macs.  See, this is where I made my mistake last time.  No…I wasn’t talking about McDonalds. But I failed to provide enough amateur radio content on the website.

If you are still with me (I hope you are), the way Google or any of the web advertisers operate is they pay the web hosts (me in this example) a small commission based on a couple of factors.  First, Google knows the number of times their advertising banner has been loaded on the page.  This is called page impressions.  Second, Google of course also knows the number of times a particular had has been clicked on.  The commission I earn is based on the number of actual clicks as compared to the page impressions.  I know it is confusing.   

So here is the deal I’ve turned on the Google AdSense banners on both MyAmateurRadio.com and this blog site.  I’m going to closely monitor what sort of content I see displayed.  My hope is as I provide better content, the type of ads will reflect amateur radio and/or radio and technology in general.  If this gets out of hand, I will pull the plug. 

So how can you help?  Well, if you see an ad that interests you and you want to know more about the content in that ad and even perhaps wanting to purchase what ever the ad is about….then please consider doing so.  Clicking a Google AdSense ad is perfectly safe.  All it’s going to do is take you to that advertisers website.  Over the last 24 hours or so, I’ve seen ads from GigaParts, hamexam and Heathkit items on ebay.  Again, revenue earned from Google Adsense will go directly for offsetting the cost of the website.

Finally, if you own an amateur radio website and would like to earn a little commission to help offset your costs, check out the Google AdSense program. 

Well….until next time. 

73,

Jerry
KD0BIK

Like many other bloggers and podcasters, both my blog and my podcast are a labor of love.  I use these as a way to give back to a hobby that I care deeply for.  I do incur monthly costs in the form of web hosting to make both available to anyone who is interested in the content.  The content is and always will be free.

This blog has really been an on again, off again project.  My main web presence comes in the form of my podcast website MyAmateurRadio.com.  Through MyAmateurRadio.com I produce a monthly podcast (sometimes more frequently) titled The Practical Amateur Radio Podcast.  The Practical Amateur Radio Podcast will soon be two years old and to date I’ve produced over 35 episodes.  Over the two year period, the podcast began gaining in popularity and as a result the website receives on average of over 15,000 hits per month and podcast downloads ranging 6,500 – 7,000 per month.   This type of bandwidth demand is just not possible using an inexpensive hosting provider. 

To help offset the web hosting costs I’ve used the Amazon Associates program with much success.  The Amazon Associates program allows me to place Amazon advertising banners on my website and create web stores to fill with various types of product.  In my Amazon Associates Store I had dozens of amateur radio books to choose from.  Many of these books I own myself.  In podcast episodes I discussed some of the books and recommended listeners to visit my Amazon Associates Store and make the purchase.  The listener pays the exact same price they would if purchasing direct from Amazon, but (and this is the important part) the podcast earns a small commission.  This commission is used to offset my increased costs to make the podcast available. 

This morning I received an email from Amazon informing me that due to Colorado law, Amazon was forced to close my Amazon Associates Store effective immediately.   Here is the content of that email.

Dear Colorado-based Amazon Associate:

We are writing from the Amazon Associates Program to inform you that the Colorado government recently enacted a law to impose sales tax regulations on online retailers. The regulations are burdensome and no other state has similar rules. The new regulations do not require online retailers to collect sales tax. Instead, they are clearly intended to increase the compliance burden to a point where online retailers will be induced to “voluntarily” collect Colorado sales tax — a course we won’t take.

We and many others strongly opposed this legislation, known as HB 10-1193, but it was enacted anyway. Regrettably, as a result of the new law, we have decided to stop advertising through Associates based in Colorado. We plan to continue to sell to Colorado residents, however, and will advertise through other channels, including through Associates based in other states.

There is a right way for Colorado to pursue its revenue goals, but this new law is a wrong way. As we repeatedly communicated to Colorado legislators, including those who sponsored and supported the new law, we are not opposed to collecting sales tax within a constitutionally-permissible system applied even-handedly. The US Supreme Court has defined what would be constitutional, and if Colorado would repeal the current law or follow the constitutional approach to collection, we would welcome the opportunity to reinstate Colorado-based Associates.

You may express your views of Colorado’s new law to members of the General Assembly and to Governor Ritter, who signed the bill.

Your Associates account has been closed as of March 8, 2010, and we will no longer pay advertising fees for customers you refer to Amazon.com after that date. Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned prior to March 8, 2010, will be processed and paid in accordance with our regular payment schedule. Based on your account closure date of March 8, any final payments will be paid by May 31, 2010.

We have enjoyed working with you and other Colorado-based participants in the Amazon Associates Program, and wish you all the best in your future.
Best Regards,

The Amazon Associates Team 

So what am I going to do?  Well, I’ll write letters, send emails an make telephone calls.  However, I’m not optimistic these letters, emails and telephone calls will make a difference.  I’ve never used this blog or my podcast as a loudspeaker to air my differences and I’m not about to change. 

To quote a song title from one of my favorite rock bands, The Show Must Go On.  This blog and my podcast will continue….there will be no changes.  It was never my intention to get rich using the Amazon program and now Colorado Law has helped make sure that will never happen. 

Thank you for listening.

Jerry