Hope everyone had a great weekend which included seeing the finest game ever invented!!!
When I write these posts to my website, I sometimes don't take the time to look at collegevolleyballcoach.com outside of the editing. Those instances when I just type in the URL address, it is to re-edit and catch small grammatical errors or to read in an effort to re-write a part which does not sound right in my mind.
On one of my 'trips' to the site, some of the advertising via Google caught my eye and not in a good way. One of the ads I saw was titled "Sexy Volleyball Photo's" - That is not anything which I want to have associated with my site.
After seeing this, I have taken a bit more time to view what the other ad spots entail. Along with the ads for educational institutions and some volleyball product/equipment ads, I also noticed recruiting service/company advertising. I guess it makes sense because I answer many questions each month about college volleyball recruiting, but some of the recruiting advertisers were companies which I would not support; in fact, I have written critically of the type of service which they provide for volleyball recruiting.
I am not a computer or software person and much of what my player's tell me is cool new technology just flies over my head - I look at their i-phones with a sense of amazement, while they look at me in a strange way when I talk about 10 cents a minute long distance rates back in the day.
In the past few months, I have been contacted about selling advertising space on the site or working with Internet consultants to maximize revenue. I was not comfortable with this line of thought simply because I wanted to avoid any conflict of interest. Part of this rational was because of my desire to remain anonymous - I believe this allows me to write and help in a much more relaxed environment.
Additionally, I don't like to view websites where you have to hunt through the aggressive and or passive advertising to find the content. So many websites have become like the big city newspapers where it is hard to find the article in the ads for Macy's, Ford or Best Buy!
To this end, I have decided to go the Wikipedia route and not have any advertising on the site - passive or else. Instead, like Wikipedia, any revenue will be a result of donations from readers. My desire is to be able to help folks work their way through the maze of recruiting, get a feel for what college volleyball is about and thus assist in the transition from high school to college athlete, and also to provide a selfish outlet for things in our great sport which can drive me nuts!!
I hope the site is a bit easier on the eyes without the advertising and if you feel like making a donation to the vacation fund (because the economy has nixed the raise anytime soon!), then I sincerely thank you.
