David Condon Finds

Is Putting Ads on Your Website Worth It? The Harsh Truth From My Own Experience I used to think that connecting Google AdSense to my website would be an easy way to earn a bit of passive income. You know the thinking,  if people from all over the world are visiting anyway, why not make a few euro from ads? And technically, yes, I did make money. But here’s the part nobody tells you: I made it painfully slowly , over months and not days & weeks like I expected. And every cent came at the cost of my website’s credibility, user experience and overall performance which I only found out after the fact. If you’re thinking about adding third-party ads to your site, especially if it’s something you’ve poured time, effort and pride into, here’s my honest advice after learning the hard way. The “Income” Looks Good — Until You Do the Maths At the peak of my AdSense phase, I was convinced I was doing well. The dashboard showed little bits of revenue trickling in and I could see count...

Selling online has been part of my life for over a decade. Like many people, I started with eBay but quickly discovered how much the fees eat into your earnings. Listing costs, final value fees, and PayPal charges all stacked up and by the time I shipped an item, I was often left wondering if it was even worth the hassle. That’s when I first came across eBid.net . The difference? I paid once for a lifetime membership right from the start, so I knew exactly where I stood. No recurring costs, no monthly pressure — just the freedom to sell when I wanted and only a small final value fee when you sell a product.  That decision still pays off today. Notes: I’m writing this post now as I reactivate my stores once again, and I thought it might be useful to share my experience for anyone considering giving eBid a try. This post contains an affiliate link  at the end — if you sign up, I may receive a small commission, at no cost to you. 👉 You might also be interested in a related p...

I’ve been prompted for the longest time by Google to set up a proper cookie consent banner (CMP) that meets their requirements. For a while I got by with the basic one my Wix website offered, but eventually Google’s persistent reminders — and the reality of GDPR, GA4, and Ads — made it clear I needed to upgrade. I’ll be honest: price was the biggest factor in choosing a CMP. Most of them are in the same ballpark cost-wise, but the monthly visit allowances can vary wildly. As a small business, you need to know your estimated daily traffic all year round before looking for a CMP and always allow for growth when choosing a CMP platform.

Why Buy Me a Coffee Works – and How You Can Support This Blog Running a small business is a major juggling act, there's a good reason why self employed people have bags under their eyes and a caffeinated nervous energy look to them on a semi-permanent basis. There’s the work you do, the admin you planned for — and the admin that snuck up on you. Then there’s the website you maintain, the content you write, the ads you try to make sense of — all while figuring out how to keep the lights on, the wheels turning, and the bills paid. And all of this on a narrow budget of both time and money in a life that ain't getting any longer. Even when things go well, small businesses rarely have the luxury of a cushion. That’s where Buy Me a Coffee comes in — a simple, no-fuss way to support what I do here on this blog and behind the scenes in my business. And you can do it too!

Why I'm Going to Spend Less on Google Ads — Thanks to AI Overviews You’ve probably seen the advice flying around: “Increase your ad spend to stay competitive on Google.” With AI Overviews taking over the top of search results and organic clicks becoming harder to earn, many large businesses, small business owners and bloggers are pouring more money into Google Ads just to stay visible. I'm doing the opposite.

I’ve been using a basic cookie notice on my website for years and, to be honest, I never really paid much attention to it. But recently, there’s been a big push from Google for website owners like me to upgrade to a proper Cookie Management Platform (CMP) — the more advanced (and paid) kind that meets stricter compliance requirements for things like Google Ads and GDPR. So I did it. I installed Cookiebot, and now I have a full breakdown of how people interact with that little pop-up. And here’s what I found: a lot of people — at least a third — choose to reject all cookies.

What Went Wrong With My WordPress Blog Setup (And Why I Went Back to Blogger) When I decided to upgrade my blog to a shiny new WordPress site, I expected a bit of a learning curve — but not a full-blown disaster. What was supposed to be a simple migration from Blogger turned into a frustrating mess of DNS issues, vanished menus, broken templates, and a lot of wasted time. In this post, I’ll share exactly what went wrong with no fluff, how it snowballed into a full retreat, and why I’m back on Blogger for now. If you’re thinking of switching platforms, this might save you a few headaches. Be sure to read my post  Is Amazon Prime Worth it? after you finish here! Plain speak only!

Why Isn’t Google Indexing Your New Blog? You’re Not Alone Have you set up a new blog recently? Are you struggling to figure out why Google hasn't crawled or indexed your new pages yet? You're not alone. I went through this same issue myself, and I decided to write this post to help and advise anyone else in the same boat. This post also applies to new website owners and has some helpful tips. Check out my other post  Blogging for Your Small Business: A Practical Guide  for tips and practical suggestions after you finish here!

Here’s what I learned when my entire blog urls disappeared from Google Search overnight and how I’m trying to fix it. I woke up one morning, logged into Google Search Console, and saw something that made my stomach drop, there were  ZERO pages indexed . My new Blogger blog wasn’t even a week old, but just the day before, 11 of my posts were indexed and starting to show impressions. Now? Gone. No warnings. No explanations. The only faint silver lining? GSC was now for the first time detecting all 26 URLs on my blog but none of them were indexed. Check out my other post  Blogging for Your Small Business: A Practical Guide for tips and practical suggestions after you finish here!

Dear Google Ads, I’m writing this post, not as a digital marketing expert, but as a small business owner who’s genuinely trying to use your platform and to be honest, I'm struggling. I’ve worked in IT, built and maintained websites, written blog posts, learned SEO basics, and made countless improvements to my online presence over the years. But when it comes to Google Ads? It feels like I’m trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube blindfolded. I’m not a luddite, I’m not afraid of tech. But your platform seems designed for ad agencies and highly advanced individuals, not small business owners like myself trying to promote handcrafted products, services, or local offerings. There’s so much potential here but the interface, terminology, and campaign setup make it feel like I need a degree in advanced computing just to run a simple ad.  Red Mist Loading! Explained below. You might also like this post on easy SEO for beginners  — I put together a simple, step-by-step guide after figuring i...

 SEO felt like a tangled mess when I first started my website. Every article said something different, every tool gave mixed signals, and I was left more confused than before I’d begun. If that sounds familiar, this post is for you. I'm not here to sell an expensive strategy — just to show you how I simplified my own SEO approach using a few basic strategies and a little common sense. This updated version first appeared on my original blog at davidcondonwoodcraft.ie. (linked below) While you're here, I’ve shared exactly why Google Ads can be so frustrating for small businesses in this open letter — worth a read if you’ve ever felt the same.