Recently I received some criticism for the fact that I feature advertisements on this website.
Quite frankly I was taken aback as I have taken care to ensure that the ads are unobtrusive while still being visible. I feel that I have struck a good balance between aesthetics, function, and the necessary evil of advertisements.
Furthermore, I am bothered by the expectation some people have that everything should be free. I put a lot of effort into this site, I strive to provide content that is of value to my visitors. I make an effort to minimize anything that might be considered excessively self-indulgent (in spite of the blogging be self-indulgent by nature). I believe the content of this site is of high quality, whether it comes in the form of the written word, a photograph, or, soon, audio and video. In return for all of this free content, I ask only that people view a few ads that they don’t even have to click on (though it would be nice if you did).
Apart from creativity, this website requires only two things to run: time and money. At the present time I already trade a significant percentage of my time for money elsewhere, which leaves precious little leftover for In the Limelight. Therefore, the more money this website makes, the less time I will have to trade elsewhere, and the more time I will have to create more and more top quality, free content. Ads, I am afraid, are a big part of that.