You may have noticed something different about Sweet Tater today. I finally took the plunge and partnered with Foodbuzz for advertising. Whether or not to monetize the blog is something I’ve wrestled with for the nearly two years I’ve been writing it, and within just 12 hours of getting started I can tell you I am happy with my decision to work with Foodbuzz. They have been super responsive, patient and understanding as I’ve fumbled through the steps to free up a 728×90 rectangle of my blog baby for their use.

My concerns about advertising were:

• Cluttering up the design
• Not know how to handle the tech side of implementation
• Compromising the integrity of the blog and its mission

And here’s how I feel about it so far: I am happy with how the banner ad looks at the top of the page. As readers, I’ll hope you’ll share your feedback if you agree/disagree. The “tech side,” I have found, is little more than copying and pasting code, which I can handle. As for integrity… the very first ad displayed was for Tyson chicken, which sent me into a frenzy of passive aggressive social media updates. But I reacted before even asking Foodbuzz to take it down. When I did, they told me that they “never want any of our Featured Publishers to be unhappy with the ads that run on their personal space” and that I can opt out of any ad at any time. Very cool.

Please bear with me as I work out any kinks in design/function in the next couple of weeks. My intent is not to change much of anything.

Thanks for continuing to stop by, comment, email and feed my twitter habit. This blog will continue to change and grow as I do. I hope you’ll stick around for the ride.

Katie