An amazing thing happened yesterday. In between the pesky bills and peskier junk mail stood out a large square envelope with an unfamiliar return address. I knew it was probably one of two things: my membership to The International Federation of Trekkers (IFT) Star Trek Fan Club had arrived or the board at the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association had finally come around to my repeated requests to judge this year’s World Champion Cheese Contest.As it turns out, it was even better – a check from Google (yes, that Google) in the amount of $108.47… ladies and gentlemen, the Ranter has officially hit the bigtime!
Now this check was literally the result of hundreds of people clicking ads on the Ranter but in the bigger picture, the check represented two years, 170 (original/sweet) Rants and hundreds of hours of brainstorming and writing by Franklin Hillside and myself. All in all, that averages out to just over .60 cents per Rant and/or mere pennies per hour.
And it’s the hardest money I’ve ever had to earn in my life. Bar none. So much that I don’t know whether we should cash the check and party or just frame and admire it.
With seemingly such little rewards, a lot of people have asked me if it’s worth it (well, no one has yet, but play along anyway). Blogging is not easy, my friends. It takes dedication, consistency and passion. Obviously, you will get paid little if any (seriously, most five-year-olds make multiple times more on allowance and quarters from grandma alone). And it can be a serious chore at times (just ask Alex). But if you can keep plugging away and have fun doing it, it is a rewarding experience. Oh yeah, be sure to be cool to your fellow bloggers, too. It’s a community, after all.
So while those ads that appear around the site may seem annoying or out of place at times, please keep in mind it is likely the only way we’ll ever get a bone thrown our way for what we do. To us, it’s worth it.
To all the wonderful Packer people around the world (seriously, they're everywhere) who make the Ranter part of their interwebs browsings, thank you and keep coming back. And hey, while you’re at it, maybe you’ll click on an ad or two! Just kidding, but not really.
