I saw your John Chow review (I'm an avid reader too) and am borrowing his idea. Since my site isn't as popular as John (yet), instead of a link I'm actually offering an 80GB iPod Video in a back-linking raffle. You don't even need to write a review. If you're interested take a look!

- Erich (sorry for the spam — nice blog by the way!)

Indeed blogging is a reward in itself and a journey towards self-discovery. Unfortunately we live in a material word where most of the things we need doesn't come for free.

Earning a few bucks here and there would do wonders for many small time bloggers, perhaps to get through the month's internet or hosting bill. Of course user experience, content emphasis and presentation must not suffer from it.

It's more like a balancing act really. Thank you for your wonderful insight.

Readers won't remember that you're making money out of their presence; some would even resent it; I've been in advertising long enough to know that.

But they'll remember you for the stories, the useful information and the dots that you connect in the process. They'll remember you for your ideas, and your capacity to contribute to the sum of human knowledge.

And most of time, the fastest and best way to get the message across is to strip your site from all those commercial diversions, or if you really have to, make the ad messgaes as inconspicuous as possible.