The reason why website readers really must accept adverts

A lot of people find the adverts on my websites and other sites irritating. One visitor said that she found the website hard to read because of the adverts which was a distinct exaggeration. However, it is a point, and it needs to be discussed. I will tell you why adverts are essential and why visitors to websites 'must' accept them and even click on them.

Google Ads are a force for good in one way. The support the 'independent websites' which provide a valuable contribution to the internet. Image: Google.

On a personal level, I have spent tens of thousands of hours and spent many thousands of pounds and dollars in running PoC and ancillary websites like this one. I don't get paid a penny but if I was paid the minimum wage, I would have earned tens of thousands of pounds.

The overall cost over the 15 years of the websites would be somewhere around £250,000+ at a rough calculation if you add in the minimum wage payment. The Google adverts bring in a relatively small income. Nowadays it is around £500-£900 per month. The company which hosts the site charge £80 per month.

So those are the raw facts. Without the adverts I'd have to take a massive loss payable out of my savings or charge a visitation fee. If I charged a fee to visit the site's viewing figures would drop pretty dramatically because no one else is charging except the large news media companies. 

All PoC traffic would go elsewhere to websites like Wikipedia. So, adverts help to keep independent website alive. By 'independent' websites I mean those owned and managed by a person and not a group or a business.

Without ads there would be no websites owned and run by single individuals working alone. I think that would be a big loss to the internet. I would not continue if there were no ads. In fact, I would not have started.

Do you want the internet to be dominated by big corporations who charge for entry to their sites?

Visitors should payback what they have learned from visiting these independent sites by clicking on an advert. You don't have to buy anything. Just click on the ad and see the product. You may make a purchase and at the same time the website owner earns a tiny bit of money (around 10 pence).

It is a small price, and the inconvenience of ads are also a small price to pay for free information. The ad blocker businesses are wrong. They are predatory and damaging to the internet. I know Google and other businesses make pots of dosh from ads but that's the nature of capitalism. 

I believe that all internet users should support the independent websites as it supports free speech and it helps to provide checks and balances against the corporations who, for me. are often unconcerned about animal welfare.