I haven’t blogged lately because I’m just too damn busy.
In between recovering from a car accident and taking care of all the usual stuff life throws at you, there are a ton of press releases and news items to dig through, and I’ve been writing reviews for a bicycle website. But those reviews help sell bikes. And the sale of those bikes is what keeps the site free for its users. As a member of about a dozen bicycle, motorcycle, and fitness forums, there’s no way I would consider paying for any of them. Yes, I’ll support the advertisers. But an annual fee on one site for something that other sites give away makes no sense. It’s a bad model, just like accepting ads for products or services that are in no way related to cycling is inappropriate.
Cycling websites should be free to users. Advertising can cover the expenses involved with maintaining a site, and return a profit too. The most effective way to do this is with relevant ads. If the ads are not relevant, then the site users are going to ignore them, and the advertiser is wasting money. This is of no benefit to our industry, and damages the site brand as well.
I hate to start the year off with a rant, but that’s the way it goes. I will now get back to writing reviews, in order to support the industry I hold so near and dear.