I don’t write this blog to make money off it. Very few bloggers do. They have something to say, or just feel like writing, and that’s that. Financial reward just isn’t part of the equation.

When I began this particular blog, it had no ads at all. Then a couple of people told me to sign up for the basic Google ad service (“Hey, what have you got to lose?”), telling me Google would sprinkle in some ads and pay some tiny amount of money (it’s no wonder newspapers can’t begin to live on internet ad revenue!) … and when it reaches $100, Google writes a check.

Well, I’m on the cusp … all these months later … of that first $100!

You (yes, you) could be the person who puts this site over the top for that first C-note.

Not saying you should; I rarely click on anyone’s ads, myself. Even on sites I like and look at. (Sorry, Luis!) But now I’m close.

Leah checked out the numbers (which is something I never, ever do; honest) and here is where we were, as of about an hour ago:

At $99.05 in revenue. That is, I am 95 cents away from getting that $100!

According to Google (and who makes sure they’re honest, anyway?) … while receiving 106,000 “page impressions” since signing up for Google’s ads … I have had 369 clicks on ads.

That comes out to a rate of 0.3 percent of you clicking on an ad while you’re looking at this site. Which, in a sense, I almost appreciate (and certainly understand), because during my print career the ads were practically invisible to me; it was the journalism that I focused on, 99.9 percent of the time.

I have no idea how much a click is worth. Apparently, it varies, depending on the ad.

I’m going to guess and say that the big one, that drops into the middle of my entries, is the most lucrative. It gets the best display, right? So it ought to be worth more. But I don’t actually know.

So, yeah, humor me and click on the big ad once. Don’t buy anything. Just click on the ad, then get back out.

I don’t know what I will do when that $100 shows up. Maybe get a photocopy of it and frame it.

Either way, I plan to continue on with this. Even if I stall at $99 and that $100 never comes in.