Like I’ve been writing about lately, I’ve been deleting software programs and removing online services that are, essentially, unnecessary to me at this point. I’ve removed my MySpace account, Yahoo! Messenger, LinkedIn, Plaxo Pulse, Microsoft Money Plus, Quicken, a bunch of games that I installed a few years ago but don’t use any more, TaxCut 2006 and 2007, Google Chrome, Norton 360, (by the way, removing this particular piece of software generated the greatest increase in speed and performance for my system) and some other programs. It’s all about simplification, really. Just like the rest of you, my life is too busy to have any mental space to process random programs, pieces of software, or really old online profiles that almost no one looks at these days. You get the picture.

As a part of this simplification process, I’ve also begun reviewing the advertising programs that I use on my suite of websites (this one included). The truth is that the only advertising program that I currently use that has ever generated sustained income over a number of years is Google Adsense. However, like any good webmaster I’ve tried to increase earnings by utilizing other program such as Amazon.com Associates, LinkShare, and Text-Link-Ads. Which brings me to this entry on the blog…

I’ve decided to cancel my LinkShare account. The truth is that this program doesn’t really generate any income for those websites that aren’t bringing in a massive amount of hits. I don’t want to talk inside baseball, but if JerseySmarts.com brings in 250 – 500 hits, then that’s a good day. LinkShare really isn’t made for a website like this one. Heck, even combining a bunch of different websites into my account didn’t help. My suite of websites brings in a few thousand hits per day – tens of thousands of hits per month – and the program still didn’t generate a dime.

So, instead of clogging up my websites with advertisements that don’t really generate any income for me, I’ve decided to cancel my LinkShare account and do some de-cluttering for your viewing pleasure! Actually, the LinkShare advertisements came off of this particular account about a month ago; they came off of my other websites a few weeks ago.

The next on my list to take a look at is this Amazon.com Associates program. Yes, I’ve had some people purchase items by using the Amazon.com Associates links that I embed in my entries and that I advertise around these and my other sites. However, I still haven’t seen a check from this program so I’m not sure if I want to continue using it. Anyway, I’d say that Amazon.com Associates has at least another 6 to 12 months for me to make any decision.

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