Earlier this year my ad revenue increased nearly tenfold. This obviously led me to conclude that it’s probably time to stop relying on ad revenue, and try moving to a model based on reader support. If you’d like to understand how I came to that contradictory conclusion, read on; otherwise the tl;dr is that you can now support The Map Room via monthly payments at both Ko-fi and Patreon. When monthly payments reach a certain level (see below), I will discontinue ads on this site.

In March my ad revenue basically quadrupled, and in April it nearly doubled again. This appears to have been the result of Google AdSense running some experiments with its Auto Ads system. I paid it little mind because I use an ad blocker and don’t see the ads that appear on my websites unless I make a point of doing so. At some point I realized that this was not a good practice, that I ought to turn off my ad blocker and see what Google had done to generate such returns. Oh. Wow. Ads thick on the ground, with interstitial ads that popped up when you clicked on a link. Sorry about that. I turned off the more obnoxious methods, blocked out some areas to keep ads out of the content area as much as possible, and dialed back the number of ads per page to Auto Ads’ minimum. Daily ad revenues dropped by roughly two-thirds, but are still several times what they were at the start of the year.

Now, if I don’t like the ad experience on my own website, that’s a problem. To say the least! I’d actually prefer it if The Map Room could go ad-free even for visitors who don’t use ad blockers. But, on the other hand, I do need to generate revenue. I’m not a map professional: this site isn’t a loss leader to drum up business for the day job. I don’t necessarily need it to provide a living on its own, but I’d like for it to pay its own way (I very nearly ran a loss last year) and maybe just maybe also pay me for my time and effort.

Since The Map Room restarted in 2016, display ads (i.e. Google) have provided slightly less than half of my website revenues, with affiliate links (mostly Amazon) also making up slightly less than half. The remaining few percentage points came from occasional contributions to the Ko-fi tip jar. So far this year, with the uptick in AdSense revenue, and fewer book-related posts, the breakdown is more like 70 percent Google, 20 percent Amazon, and 10 percent Ko-fi. If I can generate enough revenue from recurring contributions, I can retire the ads.

So for the first time, readers who would like to support The Map Room can now do so via monthly payments. You can sign up at either Ko-fi and Patreon. Each has three tiers of support (you can specify a different amount at Ko-fi). Ko-fi is priced in CAD, Patreon in USD. The highest tiers do not have additional bonus material, at least at the moment (I’m still working that out); they’re mainly there for those who want a higher rate to support the site at.

I’ve set a goal of $400 CAD per month (just under $300 USD): When monthly payments across the various platforms reach $400 CAD, I will turn off ads for everyone. (That number represents a low-end estimate of The Map Room’s ad revenues if I were to go full Dark Side and let Auto Ads just rip.)

There may be other announcements and enticements as this gets a bit further along. I don’t want to promise members-only content at this point—as an old-school blogger whose longstanding M.O. is to point to content elsewhere, I don’t have a whole lot of my own material to hold back for paying customers—but I can say that I’m thinking about something. Watch this space.

If you’re more comfortable making a single one-off contribution, you can still do that via Ko-fi. I appreciate any level of support, and am deeply thankful to everyone who has contributed over the years.

In the meantime, until this funding goal is reached, you can have an ad-free experience on The Map Room by using the ad-blocker of your choice—I will never, ever prevent you from using an ad blocker on my websites—or by subscribing to the RSS feed in your preferred feed reader.