For quite a few years now I’ve worked to offset the hosting costs of this website via Google ads, as well as use Google analytic services for what value they bring to being a blogger and website admin.
Quite frankly, I’m tired of dealing with it all. I don’t like Google, let’s be clear on that from the get go, but I found it a necessary evil, in this case. The idea of using the metrics I’d get from their analytics seemed nice, and who doesn’t like an extra bit of change in their pocket? It just seemed right.
The other day, however, I took a look at the site from another browser other than my primary one, so no extension or anything and, well, I didn’t like it. Ads were a bit too intrusive, and things were just, well, slower than they should be. It didn’t feel right, and so on a whim I just disabled all that stuff, and wow… the change was immediate. It could have just been the ads, and I’m sure it was, but beyond that something just felt right about going more pure, which is when it hit me that I, quite simply, no longer wanted Google to be all up in my site as it was, or in my users business beyond where absolutely necessary.
Sure, this means no deep metrics data, and no more ad revenue, but fuck it, I didn’t use the metrics nearly as much as I thought I might, and the ad revenue was just a trickle, and wasn’t worth the impact it had on the user experience to maybe make a penny here or there.
That was that. I decided to just leave things as they were and let the site breath free. I need to push fan-funding options, anyway, but really at this stage I don’t care if the site is kind of a money pit. I’m loosening up and trying to have more fun blogging, like I used to, as opposed to turning this shit into a business. I’m too old to bother with that anymore and would rather not sell myself out, if that makes sense.
That all being said, Google code still exists when I embed a YouTube video, and I do have a widget that allows one to translate the site using Google Translate, and the theme I use takes advantage of Google Web Fonts, but beyond that I think most all Google tracking and metrics code is otherwise gone — I’m as “Google Free” as I can be with my skill set and desire for this sites functionality and purpose.
With that said, do enjoy the more, shall we say, streamlined, xadara.com.
More to come, as always.