Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on Twitter.
You might or might not have noticed recently that Zen Habits has become much less cluttered, especially in the sidebar.
I decided to start practicing the minimalism I preach.
First, I dropped the Google ads, because they weren’t making much money and were serving up a lot of ads I didn’t like. I’d gotten a bunch of reader complaints, and I figured they weren’t worth it.
Second, I got out of three fairly large ad networks I’d been a part of for more than a year. They each brought in decent income, but it was just too much clutter. I’m taking a big drop in income from this, but I’m hoping it’ll help bring about a nicer reader experience for all of you.
Third, I stopped selling the 125×125 pixel ads you see in the sidebar. Right now you’ll still see a few over there (under the search box in the right sidebar), but the top two will stop running in the next week. The bottom two are for my ebooks, and I’ll probably keep them for now.
Fourth, I started selling a single 250×250 ad. Just one per month. This will be an exclusive ad — no other ads will run on Zen Habits. Right now, it’s for Frugal Site Design, and it will always be for sites or companies I feel comfortable with. I think one ad per month is much better than the dozen or two that have been running on Zen Habits for the last couple of years, don’t you agree?
Anyway, all of this means a much more ad-free reading experience for all of you. It also means, of course, a drop of several thousand dollars in revenue for me. So I’m hoping to supplement that with other forms of income.
I’d be grateful to all of you if you could help support this site. You are not obligated to do so, and I won’t be begging for money every week or month. But there are links, and here’s how you can support Zen Habits:
- The Books link is the new Zen Habits bookstore on Amazon. I get a small cut from each sale made there. In fact, if you click through and buy other products from Amazon (not just the books I recommend), I will get a cut. So feel free to click through and buy anything you like from Amazon, if you were planning to buy it anyway. Don’t buy a bunch of useless products just for me. :)
- You can now Hire me as a consultant. I will just take on one client a month. I do consulting for businesses and bloggers, as well as for personal development.
- The Power of Less. My print book is still selling well, and I’d love it if you bought a copy if you haven’t yet. In fact, buy copies for friends, relatives, co-workers, all the people in your company! And of course, recommend it to everyone. :)
- Zen Habits ebooks. My ebooks, Zen To Done and the Zen Habits Handbook for Life, have always sold fairly well, and if you haven’t bought a copy yet I think you’d enjoy them. I hope to write another or two this year, and will let you know more.
- Donations. I’ve received many, many donations from many, many kind people. Your generosity have kept this site alive! Thank you, all of you.
There are a few other announcements that will come out in the coming months — seminars and other cool things you could buy if you like.
Again, I won’t keep bothering all of you with pleas for money. But do know that I am very grateful to all of you, for reading Zen Habits, for buying my book and ebooks, for making donations, and especially for your encouragement and comments. You make this site what it is, and I am humbled by all of you. Thank you.
Leo