MichaelCrawford - 4:00 am on Apr 29, 2005 (gmt 0)

momotan wrote: " Return visitors do not make you any money."

Maybe the return visitors won't be clicking the ads, but I assert they are the most valuable. Why? Because they're the folks who are likely both to link your page, and recommend it to others.

Based both on the ad revenue I've received, and the business income I've been paid from clients who found me through my website, and the effect that other people's links to my site have had on my search engine rank, I recently estimated that EACH link someone else has given me has ALREADY been worth from ONE HUNDRED to ONE THOUSAND dollars.

One drive by visitor clicking a link will earn you a dime. How much would you earn if someone is so impressed with your content that they give you a prominent link on their homepage?

You have to think in terms of the whole system. It's a lot more sustainable long-term solution to build your site in such a way that your visitors give links freely and generously, than to devote yourself to sticking yet another ad under their mouse in hopes that someone might click on it.