Stripe Ads - Make even more money from blogging
If you are a reader of John Chow you might have seen that he has inplented a new adspot on his blog. A little bar on top of the site with a text-link. Just days (even hours) after he put this ad spot up a lot of other bloggers started serving this type of advertising.
The thing is, even if you scroll down the bar will follow down, and staying on top all the time. I’m unsure of the CTR of this placement, but it does not take up much space and it could mean easy money for you. (John Chow charges $250 per month and got 5 rotating!)
What it does
Basically you can add unlimited number of links which will rotate. You can also weight them differently, and customize your ad with colors and such.
How to get it
Alright - so you want this on your blog? Well, thats no problem. MaxBlogPress have made this plugin - which means one click installation for you. The plugin is called “MaxBlogPress Stripe Ad” and can be downloaded for free by clicking here.
The annoying “Powered by” -line.
The thing that makes this plugin bad is the frikkin’ “Powered By”-line which you can’t remove. This made me not to use the plugin, and I’m still waiting for a paid pro version which they have said should be released soon. Then without the “Powered by”-line. Btw, I’m not the only one that doesn’ like the line. Over at mr. Chow the debate is going crazy with over 150 replays.
The alternative
If you don’t need it to be a plugin, and can handle a little coding and lack of options I got a solution for you you. This “mod” is written by Max @ Zedomax.com. (Where you can see the actually mod in work).
Here’s how to make that ad strip on top of your blog using simple HTML and CSS:
Copy the following code into the top of your <body> tag in your header file.
<div id="adbar"><center><a href="http://www.thesitelink.tld">Your link text</a></center></div>
Then open up style.css or the main css file you are using and add the following anywhere:
#adbar {
height: 20px;
width: 100%;
margin: 0 auto;
background-color: #666666;
color: #fff;
font-family: Arial;
font-size: 18px;
border-bottom: solid #000;
}
#adbar a {
text-decoration:none;
color: #fff;
}
#adbar a:hover {
text-decoration:none;
color: #666666;
background-color: #fff;
}
You can do changes with the colors and width to customize it to your site.
If you want to bar to be fixed
If you want the bar to be fixed, and be there even when you scroll down do the following:
Add this right after the first adbar div:
<div id="adbar-spacer"></div>
Then add this to your css:
#adbar-spacer {
height:25px;
}
Also add this line:
#adbar {
position:fixed;
}
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This is an interesting concept. I have seen more and more blogs using stripe ads. As to how effective it is as money maker, that I dont know. One thing that I thought of when I first came across them is that they may annoy a few people. I dotn have a problem with them though, it isnt too intrusive.
[Reply]
I think they can be good moneymakers. JohnChow makes $1250 more per month only by introducing the little stripe.
But as you are saying, it could be annoying for readers, and I have decided not to use it.
[Reply]
This ad’s are allso known as “click magnets” and are nothing new in internet advertising. If you are not afraid of some core code hacking i am pretty sure you can find something like this at dynamicdrive.com (not as a plugin though).
[Reply]
#adbar {
position:fixed;
}
Seems like IE6 does not recognize
position:fixed. Irritating, huh?[Reply]