I want to take a moment today to address some advertising changes that happened on my site as of this past month, which you may have noticed. I signed an exclusive content creator contract with Glam Media as part of their Foodie and Bliss sub brands, to provide innovative and quality advertising services to my readers that will not only complement my content but in turn this will also provide some small financial benefits to me.  This will hopefully allow me to continue growing Tasty Yummies by providing quality content to you my readers. In entering into this agreement I am still able to work with select networks as well as directly with sponsors on advertising campaigns, sponsorships, features, giveaways, etc.

Glam has allowed me to get pretty specific with what I will allow for ads, so although it could potentially mean more money, I have personally opted out of any campaigns that I feel do not compliment the vision of Tasty Yummies. For example, I opted out of any campaigns promoting processed foods, fast food, meat, soda, etc. That being said it will likely take some time to get it to exactly where I want it. You will see in addition to banner ads in the right side bar, occasionally there are some campaigns that will actually take over the top half of my site with a full banner across the top and a custom background. It shouldn’t appear at all times and if you were to refresh it would likely be gone. This in particular is definitely something I am getting used to, but for now I am trying it out. Additionally, the ads towards the bottom of the page on the right hand side are brought in via Google Adsense, which sadly doesn’t allow me to get quite as specific when opting in and out, so I try to keep a careful eye on those.

It is a really hard decision to make, monetizing your website. First off, it definitely changes the overall aesthetic and design of the site and as a designer this is a very, very hard thing for me to get over. In some ways I hate it, in other ways I like that if the small financial benefits, allow me the freedom to buy even just a few more ingredients that I think will benefit my recipes and spend just a little more time in the kitchen on said recipes, than it is worth it. Secondly, I don’t ever want the ads to offend anyone or make them feel put-off in any way when they visit my site. So please, if you ever see something offensive on the site, do not hesitate to email me along with a screenshot of the ad. tastyummies [at] me.com  This is very important and I thank you in advance for your help! It is hard to stay on top of when it’s basically just me monitoring it and I do take this very seriously.

Tasty Yummies has always been a hobby / passion project of mine. For the last 3 years, I have taken pride and really enjoyed sharing my recipes and ideas with all of you, my wonderful readers. Watching this site grow and mature has been so gratifying to me. That being said, my husband Mark and I do own a small business that also requires a great deal of my time and energy. As Tasty Yummies grows and ultimately requires more of my attention, this has obviously pulled me away from our business, a bit. In order for me to justify this shift, I do have to make sure that the time spent on TY doesn’t hurt our family financially and is in some ways if all of the time I do spend on Tasty Yummies can be supported by some amount of return on my time and actual dollars invested, even better.

Tasty Yummies is not and never will be about the money.  If you know anyone that keeps a blog, even full time, they would likely agree with me and tell you how challenging making a living just off a blog would be. However for me, if all of the time it takes to keep a blog can be offset even a little bit, it justifies the time I spend in the kitchen some work days, when I should really be sitting at my computer or with my sketchbook working on a new design project.

All of this being said, just because you see a banner ad on my site, this doesn’t mean I personally back the brand or support them by buying their products, these are simply placed advertisements from within the network I am a part of, many of which are targeted directly and uniquely to each of you, based on your recent web searches and usage. So often times other people are seeing very different ads than you. Anything within the “sponsors” section are brands I support and I am happy to promote.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and of course for letting me know if you ever see something on the site that you don’t feel should be there. This is so important. And obviously, thank you so much for visiting my site, trying my recipes, sharing TY with your friends and family, leaving comments about your experiences, etc. It truly means the world to me.

** EDIT: Additionally I meant to mention in this post, in regards to direct sponsorships, features, reviews, giveaways, etc. – I will never feature or promote a product within a post that I don’t believe in and wouldn’t purchase myself. Regardless of compensation. I will always disclose when a post is being sponsored, if I am being compensated or if I am only just reviewing a product that I have come across on my own, without partnership or sponsorship from the company. If a company sends me a product to review that I don’t have favorable things to say about, I may not even waste my time and yours, talking about it. Either way, the opinions on this blog are always my own and NEVER influenced or “bought”. I have turned away many direct paid sponsorship opportunities by companies whose products I don’t support. Again as with above, please feel free to contact me with any questions regarding this, my partnerships with companies, sponsored posts, etc. Thank you.