I use this button to indicate that:
- I do not accept money in return for advertising space on this blog.
- To do so would be against WordPress.com policy, and hence against the agreement I made when I created this blog.
- I think it’s a really cool icon.
If you follow the owl in the image, you’ll see a three-item list with some overlap with my three-item list. I’m not as implacably opposed to ads on blogs as is Laura, the owl artist and ad-free activist.
In fact, I’d like this blog to be a little more commercial than it is now. I miss the WP-Amazon plugin I used elsewhere. It’s not because I made much money as an Amazon affiliate. It’s because I think that product-related posts can be enhanced with an image and a link to specifications and reviews. Consider, for example, this review of a book on blogging.
Thanks so much for the link. Sorry to say, I’m not the owl artist. I’m just one of many people who post the ad-free logo.
I feel really oppressed by the constant presence of advertising in our world. Everywhere I turn, people are trying to sell me something. No surface is too small (the back of a metrocard) or too large (a blimp, the sky) to stick an ad on. I find it depressing.
Also, as a journalist I know what the constant quest for advertising does to integrity in the media: it destroys it.
Re WordPress, I think it’s dishonest of them to put ads on blogs, not share the revenue with the blogger, but not allow individual bloggers to post their own ads.
Anyway, that’s my view, and I thank you for the link. Peace.
Thanks for dropping by to clear up the owl artistry attribution.
One tool any affiliate should not be without is an affiliate link cloaker. Affiliate link cloakers will mask and disguise your affiliate links to help prevent affiliate link hijacking. Anyone who has done affiliate marketing before knows about this.
There is a free service at http://www.urlfreeze.com that you can use to help fight against affiliate link hijacking. Hope that helps.
Chris