The Goodness of Google

About a month ago, I decided to look into monetizing my blog. I've always wanted to get paid for my writing, so I thought why not try the Google AdSense program. Google, in all its glorious fortune, provides Blogger.com at no cost. I've been in the internet game long enough to know that nothing comes for free, and to support their efforts, they allow companies to purchase AdWords. AdWords allows companies to spend small amounts of money to generate traffic to their site. For those who allow those ads on their blog, we reap the benefit, albeit small.

Some may find it an annoying banner for my blog, but it blends well with my color scheme so it's not too bad. I'll be honest, the money "reaped" so far wouldn't even buy a coke from our coke machine. But, I figure if I can support Google's business model, my blog will remain free forever...or at least a little bit longer. And, using the Google name everywhere in this blog ought to up my search results, therefore increasing my impressions, clicks, and moo-la.

All this sounds very corporate and profit hungry, but something rather incredible happened after my recent post on When the North Pole Meets Bethlehem. All Google ads are contextual, meaning their bots scan my posts to see what ads would most appeal to the reader based on the content. Much to my surprise, an ad "God Loves You" appeared shortly after my posting. I was intrigued enough to click through to see what it said. Lo and behold, it was the plan of salvation....explaining how we can know Jesus as our Savior.

For all the hype and hoopla around Google, their fortune, and their domination of search, I found that little contextual miracle impressive. There is nothing I'd love more than having someone read my viewpoints on Jesus' Birth, then having them learn exactly how they can benefit from that birth. Google spreads the Gospel. Obviously, God is in their alogorithm.