I wasn't sure what topic this should go under so I put it under news. The reason I am making this post is because I have seen several postings throughout the years with people complaining about Angelfire Ads, one of which I just posted to today. I am hoping what I have to say may shed some light on the benefits of upgrading your hosting account to a paid service.
As stated in my previous post Angelfire as a business has to make money somehow when providing a free service. They do this through ad placement which generates revenue through either placement itself, ad clicks, or annoying us enough to upgrade to a paid account.
So why upgrade? Not only do you get rid of the intrusive ads on your site but if you upgrade to a hosting account with a domain name you open yourself to a whole plethora of opportunities.
You can place small ads of your own on your site that match the content of your sites topic and begin making money of your own. Lets say for example your site is about photography. You could place ads on your site for digital cameras or some other product that people interested in photography would be interested in.
Your ads don't have to be intrusive at all. In fact you can blend them right into your page to compliment your pages content adding more value to your page or site.
There are several places you can find merchants who will pay you for sales referred from an ad on your site or even a click from an ad. Below is a list of places you can sign up at to begin making money from ads on your site.
Google ad sense
Commission Junction
Kolimbo
Share A Sale
LinkShare
http://realdealjobs.myld.net/
That is just a few to get you started. These programs are free to join but you get paid for every sale, accept for Google ad sense in which case you get paid for every click and the Google ad sense ads automatically match the content of the page it is placed on.
Think about this. Angelfire's most costly hosting package is $14.95 a month. In most cases you'll get that back with just one or two sales, maybe even a few click throughs on Google ad sense. It isn't that hard.
I would also like to point out that your site does not have to be a sales oriented site. Just place ads your visitors will "thank you for" or appreciate. Ads that match and compliment the topic of your site.
I hope this will shed some light on Angelfire's ad placement on free hosting accounts and how upgrading will do you more good than harm. If you really love what your site is about, and are serious about your site then maybe it's time to stop complaining about the ads on a free hosting account, upgrade to paid, and try to make a few extra bucks in the process.
I have been a paid Angelfire member for over two years so trust me when I say you'll be much happier as an upgraded account holder than you will dealing with all of those Angelfire ads on a free hosting account.