Forum Ad Blocking Crisis: What YOU can do about it!

[we_are_borg]

The article is just a rant without a solution.

How so, Shawn's sollution is to make money with out ads. What would your solution be.

 

[Oldsmoboi]

How so, Shawn's sollution is to make money with out ads. What would your solution be.

Step 1: Remove ads
......
Step 3: Profit!

Most of the reasons he gives for removing ads apply to other forms of making money too. Asking for donations? You might do okay the first round, but after that it will dwindle. Charge for subscriptions? Unless you have a niche within a niche within a niche that people can't get enough of, you'll have too much free competition for that. Sell merchandise? That's just a whole new level of overhead... and how many people really want a logo T-shirt that says "HorseForums.com.net.co.uk"?

 

[davert]

I sometimes get “Why don’t you do what Wikipedia does and have fundraisers?” and the answer is, “When you actually develop your own content and don’t rely on 100,000 volunteers, and when you aren’t the #1 search item that comes up, and when you didn’t start with millions in capital, that’s not as practical as it sounds.”

 

[we_are_borg]

Step 1: Remove ads
......
Step 3: Profit!

Most of the reasons he gives for removing ads apply to other forms of making money too. Asking for donations? You might do okay the first round, but after that it will dwindle. Charge for subscriptions? Unless you have a niche within a niche within a niche that people can't get enough of, you'll have too much free competition for that. Sell merchandise? That's just a whole new level of overhead... and how many people really want a logo T-shirt that says "HorseForums.com.net.co.uk"?

But i still have no idea what you would do. Ads are getting less and less people getting used to ad blockers and how to install. You only need a few geeks that learn people to install ad blockers and you block many ads.

 

[SGT Oddball]

I was at a Google event a few weeks back, they showed us an anti adblock product that they said could come out this year where adblock users are allowed to visit a site X times and then have the option to pay a fee for X days/months of access or the site will be blocked.

 

[Oldsmoboi]

I was at a Google event a few weeks back, they showed us an anti adblock product that they said could come out this year where adblock users are allowed to visit a site X times and then have the option to pay a fee for X days/months of access or the site will be blocked.

That doesn't sound like a google product.

 

[SGT Oddball]

I think it was the updated version of google contributor.

 

[Sal Collaziano]

One of the main reasons ad blockers exist is because of video ads that play automatically or when you roll over them, ads that play sound automatically or when you roll over them, or ad systems like Taboola that just generally piss everybody off. Ad networks need to stop dealing with these kinds of ads. I know they make a lot of money - but who cares when you're business is going to close as a result (of ad blockers).

Stop pissing off viewers with annoying ads and just let static ads do their thing.

 

[Mouth]

I do reasonably well with having a Premium Member upgrade, payable annually, that removes banner ads from the site for all users in the user group. I only charge $10 for it, which is probably close to, or more, than the amount I'd earn through ad networks from the user.

 

[kontrabass]

Had to give this a 'disagree'. We have run relevant ads for 12 years (top and bottom for registered; top, side, bottom and after post x for guests). We also run a premium member subscription program with a good number of users. Both revenue streams are equally valuable. IMHE.

We used to run a "Please disable your popup blocker or become a premium member" notice, but have taken that down for 2 months now... and no change in ad revenue.

 

[Sal Collaziano]

Just an FYI but I have a fresh copy of Ubuntu installed on an old Dell and the standard web browser, Opera, has their adblocker turned on by default. So any website I visit has no ads - even the completely reasonable ones...

 

[KimmiKat]

Sometimes those notice fail. I've been to sites that were white listed to show their ads and got that message.

We used to run a "Please disable your popup blocker or become a premium member" notice, but have taken that down for 2 months now... and no change in ad revenue.

 

[CyberJoe]

I have no clue how many people uses Adblock on my site.
To me the key is:
1) No animation
2) No video
3) No ads between content
4) Fixed positions
5) No popups or popunders.

Keep is simple. Basic image ads.

 

[bossArch]

Im using (and always will be using) ad blockers of any sort. I will not stop. Now we are in the process of writing our anti-adblockers' blocker.
Until ad agencies disappear = not going to happen; so uninstalling adblocks will not happen also

Good product does not need advertising; so - going further - ad agencies are for loosers with crappy product.

 

[mysiteguy]

Good product does not need advertising;

There is so much data out there over the course of decades that shows otherwise, especially in crowded markets. Many big brands were built through great advertising campaigns, and these companies have growth data from ad campaigns to prove it. For example, Dos Equis beer, whose market was stagnant in the USA, grew their USA sales by 34% after launching the "Most Interesting Man in the World" campaign.

so - going further - ad agencies are for loosers with crappy product.

Sour grapes

 

[Jim McClain]

Good product does not need advertising; so - going further - ad agencies are for loosers with crappy product.

Are you trolling for an argument, or just horribly naïve about business?

 

[Sal Collaziano]

Don't feed it.

 

[iamarealtor]

Im using (and always will be using) ad blockers of any sort. I will not stop. Now we are in the process of writing our anti-adblockers' blocker.
Until ad agencies disappear = not going to happen; so uninstalling adblocks will not happen also

Good product does not need advertising; so - going further - ad agencies are for loosers with crappy product.

I don´t think so. You can have a good product, but how are you going to sell it if people doesn´t know it exists?

 

[Sal Collaziano]

There is no crisis. Everybody lost a little money. Nobody cares.

 

[bossArch]

I don´t think so. You can have a good product, but how are you going to sell it if people doesn´t know it exists?

word about it will go from mounth to mounth. Would take more time for the product to spread but will do the trick in long-term. Believe me.
Look - the more crappy product, the more adverts there are out there concerning said product.....