Blogosphere Experiments, Part 1

I’m contemplating removing the Google Ads from this blog (the three just to the right, if you’re reading this on the main page). I'm not sure I'm running them effectively. And they are pretty ugly.

From what I understand, I receive a few cents every time someone clicks on those ads. Google will send me my first check after the total reaches $100.00. Last time I checked, I had a balance of $17.21.

The ads are a blogosphere experiment. I'm not so interested in the cash. (I have another blog that receives 4x the traffic this one does, but I don't want to advertise on it.)

Here are the options I'm considering:

1. Remove the ads because they're unattractive.
2. Do a little research to see if I'm maximizing my Google AdSense account and continue the experiment.
3. Update my Facebook status to say, "Greg wants you to visit www.greatcreativeneutralcountry.com and click on at least one ad" to see what kind of spike I get.

If you're viewing via Google Reader, I've included a poll on the main page to see what you think. Please click on a Google Ad while you're there.