Tag: site news

Site News: It’s that time of year again

This is that time of year once again where I appeal to your sensibilities for cold, hard cash. Once again my yearly Flywheel bill has come to pass, and that $1,300 charge has been made to my credit card that keeps the servers running for Touch the Banner.

So if you are willing and able to send a few dollars my way via Paypal, that would be greatly appreciated. For a reference point, I made $350.17 from AdSense during the month of January, so that $1,300 generally eats up about two to four months of blog income.

There are other ways you can support the blog. One is by turning off your AdBlocker, at least for this site, and clicking on those ads whenever you see something that interests you. Another is to use the Amazon affiliate ads here at the site to make your purchases, for which I generally get a 4% to 8% cut.

Thanks for visiting the site, and for anything you can do to keep it financially viable.

Site News: Attractive Women Might Not Exist Anymore

Look at those abs! (image via GCGme)

In addition to today’s bad news of Greg Mattison going to Ohio State and other potential bad things, I have something to add:

The attractive women feature on TTB appears to be going the way of the dodo, as Google has started to hit me with a bunch of violations of their AdSense policy. This happened at MGoBlog to get rid of the “sexybits,” as they like to call them, and Google must have finally got around to checking out a smaller site like mine. Over the span of a few days, Google notified me of 19 violations, and they are creeping ever closer to my current timeline. (The most recent post they flagged was from December 28, 2018).

Considering that AdSense is typically over 70% of my monthly income from the blog, I literally can’t afford to push the limits of their tolerance.

I know some people will be disappointed by this development, but at the same time, I have had some comments indicating that certain people avoid my site because of the “sexybits.” Those people will be welcome to come back without fear of their boss or wife walking past.

At this point I’m not sure what, if anything, will fill the 10:00 p.m. slot on the site. I had been using it for interesting links and breaking news, but without the eye candy, I’m not sure if that will still be worth the effort. I generally don’t have the time to write two posts per day, so this may just limit my posts to 6:30 a.m. and then any worthwhile breaking news throughout the day.

What would you do if you were me? Is there anything you would like to see at 10:00 p.m. (or as an easy second post each day) to fill the void? Would you still read and discuss the links I have been providing at that time, or would the absence of the eye candy send you elsewhere?

Top 10 Most Viewed Posts of 2018

It’s been another great year here at Touch the Banner, even though there are still six days to go. As of Christmas Eve morning, there have been 258,529 unique users and 3,293,015 page views since January 1, 2018.

Since today is a light traffic day here at the blog, I thought I would just do a rundown of TTB’s most viewed blog posts during the year. Maybe you’ll visit one, revisit one, or skip them altogether.

1. Visitors: 2018 BBQ at the Big House
2. 2018 Scholarship Count
3. Ex-Wolverine Update: Post-2017 Recap
4. Welcome to the Weekend
5. Visitors: February 16-18, 2018
6. Visitors: Michigan vs. Indiana
7. Visitors: December 7-9, 2018
8. Michigan 56, Nebraska 10
9. Visitors: Michigan vs. Wisconsin
10. Outback Bowl: South Carolina 26, Michigan 19

It’s always an interesting endeavor for me to review the year and see which posts got the most attention. With five of the top ten posts being visitor lists, I guess I must be hitting on something that readers want to see. Otherwise, it’s a smattering of content. I guess people must have enjoyed Michigan beating up on Scott Frost, and people really must have hated that loss to South Carolina in the Outback Bowl.

I hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas!

Happy Black Friday!

As you start (or continue) your holiday shopping, please consider using the banners and links (like this one) here at TTB to make your purchases. Thanks for your support!

Happy 10th Anniversary!

On August 16, 2008, just before Michigan embarked on its worst season ever, this here blog was born with a preview of the quarterback position (LINK).

Since then the blog migrated from Blogspot to WordPress, I’ve picked up 5,679 Twitter followers, and the websites have hosted over 31 million visits from readers like you. There have been lots of other milestones along the way, of course, but it’s a little surreal to think I’ve been doing this blogging thing for a decade.

Thanks for reading and being a part of something that has become a huge part of my life. Go Blue!