Google

Google is pretty fascinating. They are the host of this blog.

I do not use Google as my homepage because it's a very scarce, empty page...just a search engine and nothing else. I like using Yahoo as my homepage because not only can I search for things but also I can get news headlines and links to sports news, etc.

But Google's search engine is uniquely strong.

More and more you'll see Google ads on web pages. I have Google ads on my blog page. Google has figured out how to scan pages and deliver ads that are related to the content of the page.

They make it appealing to web authors because web authors, like myself, can earn money when people click on ads on their pages. And they make it appealing to advertisers, because advertisers feel like their message is being delivered to their target audience.

But it's hardly perfect, at least to me. I don't think that computers are ready to replace us quite yet.

Since my blog is primarily about my cancer, most of the ads that appear on my blog pages are also about cancer. But who would want to click on those ads? Maybe other people with cancer who are looking for treatment options. But very few people who read my blog have cancer. So the ads are pretty much useless.

I can block individual advertisers, and I regularly do. But the medical ads, and attorney ads, which I find a little offensive just keep coming. It shows me that two businesses that have not struggled through this tough year are the medical and law businesses.

Even writing about this may be a breech of my "contract" with Google. But what difference would it make? Over many months I've earned a whopping $23, and I won't see any pay until I reach the $100 mark, which at this rate I estimate will be sometime in 2012.

I'm curious how the Google computers will scan this blog? Will I get all ads on advertising with Google tomorrow? I'm tempted to write three blogs in a row on chocolate fudge brownies with walnuts to see what kind of ads would appear then.

"I don't give them hell. I just tell them the truth and they think it's hell." - Harry S. Truman