I just read this post http://www.teacherslovesmartboards.com/2010/02/smartboards-and-advertisement-in-education.html
It talked about how good resource sites are overtaken by ads- and rendered unusable for the IWB or for a child. It’s either too busy or the ads make it too complicated for the user to use the resources. There wasn’t any reference to the pop-ups and what they can do to your system (especially if you have a slow system). But, I don’t think I need to say any more- I’m sure that you have experienced this for yourself.

I agree completely with what he had to say. Matter of fact, one of the reasons that I decided to make my own sites and include resources is because of ads. I don’t care what they promise, I don’t think they can control the types of ads that are displayed. I think a lot of it is based on your browsing habits- but what if you had a virus, that changed that information and the only ads that displayed were ones that aren’t appropriate for kids?

One thing, I think that educators don’t always know that it’s not expensive to purchase space for your own site and that there are plenty of inexpensive options out there for your own site, minus the ads. I paid less than $25 for a years worth of hosting- with no ads. My site even gave me a link to distribute that will allow friends to have the same features I have for $9.95. Yep, I get a free month, for anyone that uses the link.

Another thing, I think that perhaps teachers are intimidated by a site that you have to ‘make from scratch’. It USED to be a scary thing, to make a site from scratch. I learned is that most places, will install any type of management system that you need. On the RTOA.US site, I had siteground install WordPress ( http://rtoa.us/wp ) and Moodle ( http://moodle.rtoa.us ).

Here’s an FYI:
There are different web hosting solutions, which is the different way you can display you information. There’s wiki, flash, joomla, mambo, wordpress, drupal, moodle and many, many more. Wiki has several types you can choose from. I don’t know the differences between them all. I do know that I tried quite a few and I was VERY happy with wordpress. Matter of fact, my sister and I will be installing a wordpress on her domain soon. I’m also impressed by moodle. It’s used A LOT for education! You can even upload games or quizzes in a SCORM-format, have kids login, and it’ll KEEP the score. Talk about making testing easy!
One thing that I hope you realize is that no matter what you choose, there’ll be videos on youtube and communities that’ll help you along the way.
Most decent site providers will install ANY of these (as well as others)- and most will even install different ones for you. (Each one needs to be installed on a subdomain- if your hosting provider is worth their salt, you’ll be able to make these for no charge- http://subdomain.yoursite.com )

There may be some of you that scoff and say that this post is an ad- it’s not meant to be that way. I spent a LOOONG time investigating different aspects & looking for free space that offered an ftp account and no ads, as well as letting me have my OWN url. As of right now, RTOA.US is my domain- my url & no one else’s. It’s not rtoa.whatever.com os whatever.com/rtoa . That means something to me.
I can also upload FOLDERS instead of just files. When uploading some games, you have to upload folders, not just one file. So, I HAD to have ftp access.
Used to, you had to have a special program to use ftp access. But now, most places allow you to do it from your browser, which makes it a lot less scary. I also don’t have to find another program.
And, if there’s any ads that I include on my site, it’s because I deem it appropriate and I think that it’s worthy. I’m not saying I won’t include ads, but if I do, they’ll be non-invasive and worthy of you checking out for the content as well as the CHEAP price. I won’t say inexpensive, because to me,  the word inexpensive says that something costs more that I have. I like CHEAP, FREE and WORTH IT!

I’ll be glad to help any educator that decides to make their own site.
I’m easy to find on the TreasuresReadingTeachers ning & yahoo sites. I run both of them. So, it’s not hard to find.