Catavino, Ad-Free Since last Friday – A 3 Year Anniversary Surprise!
Ever since Catavino first became a full fledged member of the wine blogging community 3 years ago, we’ve always run ads on our site. Google adsense is the most obvious, and for most bloggers, the easiest solution to “monetize” your site, and thus, has been with us since the beginning. And since our inception, Google adsense has earned us a whopping grand total of $300. We’ve also worked with a few text link ads, and have been fortunate enough to have part of our travels in Rioja sponsored. All in all, this has added up to around $500, a car rental and a hotel room. Not bad, but not really worth our time, nor worth the clutter.
So today, we are officially declaring Catavino as an ad-free website. No blinking ads. No flashing signs. No “targeted ads”. Instead, we’re doing something novel: dedicating ourselves to publishing good, comprehensive content.
That said, we are not adverse to sponsorships, and if someone wants to help us to do our job better, we are all ears. Sponsorships from people in and around the world of Iberian wine who want to reach approximately 15,000+ unique visitors each month(a number that is growing), is something we will continue to be open to. Though from here on out, we’ll do more to integrate these sponsorships into the site in a way that does not clutter up the sidebars and headers. We know that advertising on sites like this is a numbers game, and while we have loyal readers from diverse backgrounds, Google ads will never do much for us, and we rather save space for sponsors who we actually believe in and for whom we can recommend as solid businesses.
As far as being an ad-free site, we intend to use this space more effectively with the space we save. Over the coming weeks, you may notice subtle changes to the layout and navigation, so keep your eye’s open! And, if your reading this from a feed reader, please take a moment to click over to our site and see what has changed!
Thanks to every one of you who continue to support us! And if you want to Sponsor Catavino, please contact us at sponsor {at} catavino {dot} net. We look forward to hearing from you.
Cheers,
Ryan and Gabriella Opaz
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Best of luck with the new set-up. I'm sure that if there is a workable model for monetising wine blogs out there you will be the first to find it and you deserve the success!
Good luck my friends!
The site looks great. As a new blogger, I appreciate you detailing your experience with monetizing your blog.
Many hearty congratulations on making it to 3 years! That's quite an accomplishment! Best of luck in year four.
Best of luck with the new set-up. I’m sure that if there is a workable model for monetising wine blogs out there you will be the first to find it and you deserve the success!
Good luck my friends!
Congratulations on your Anniversary and hope you continue to thrive for years to come.
Congratulations on three years! I love your site and enjoy getting your daily email newsletter.
You're both doing a terrific job and I hope you have much success in the future!
The site looks great. As a new blogger, I appreciate you detailing your experience with monetizing your blog.
Many hearty congratulations on making it to 3 years! That’s quite an accomplishment! Best of luck in year four.
Congratulations on your Anniversary and hope you continue to thrive for years to come.
Congratulations on the 3 years! What are you drinking to celebrate?
Blogging without ads is a long-term bet that I'm you'll win. It's also a way to show that you're not dependent on page views and that you believe in being relevant and having credibility. I'm sure you'll find a way to charge for those.
Cheers,
Congratulations on three years! I love your site and enjoy getting your daily email newsletter.
You’re both doing a terrific job and I hope you have much success in the future!
Gabriella and Ryan – congrats on 3 years. Ad free is an interesting move – interested to hear how it works out.
Looks great! And good luck!
Congratulations on the 3 years! What are you drinking to celebrate?
Blogging without ads is a long-term bet that I’m you’ll win. It’s also a way to show that you’re not dependent on page views and that you believe in being relevant and having credibility. I’m sure you’ll find a way to charge for those.
Cheers,
Gabriella and Ryan – congrats on 3 years. Ad free is an interesting move – interested to hear how it works out.
Looks great! And good luck!
Ad-Free is the way to be
Honestly, for the amount of money they bring in, most ad services are too much work and clutter up the site. They also tend to dristract from creating good content, to creating ad worthy content.
Congrats on 3 years too, you guys have done so much in just 3 years…
Ad-Free is the way to be
Honestly, for the amount of money they bring in, most ad services are too much work and clutter up the site. They also tend to dristract from creating good content, to creating ad worthy content.
Congrats on 3 years too, you guys have done so much in just 3 years…
Thanks to everyone for your warm wishes. Our goal is to have you enjoy your experience on Catavino, rather than be bogged down with ads that clearly don't pertain to your interests. And if there is any other way we can make this site better, please let us know, because although we've made it three years, we don't want to bomb it in the fourth
Thanks to everyone for your warm wishes. Our goal is to have you enjoy your experience on Catavino, rather than be bogged down with ads that clearly don’t pertain to your interests. And if there is any other way we can make this site better, please let us know, because although we’ve made it three years, we don’t want to bomb it in the fourth
Thanks to all for the kind wishes…we'll keep plugging away!
Thanks to all for the kind wishes…we’ll keep plugging away!
I always thought AdSense would not be lucrative…thank you for confirming it for me – I will continue you to be ad free as well. Congrats on your important milestone, and please keep writing about Iberian wines!
Cheers,
Joe
I always suspected AdSense only made money for Google, thanks for the confirmation – I will remain ad-free. Congrats on your important milestone – Cheers!
Joe
I always thought AdSense would not be lucrative…thank you for confirming it for me – I will continue you to be ad free as well. Congrats on your important milestone, and please keep writing about Iberian wines!
Cheers,
Joe
I always suspected AdSense only made money for Google, thanks for the confirmation – I will remain ad-free. Congrats on your important milestone – Cheers!
Joe