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Revenue Sharing Advertising Arrives On WordPress.Com

Revenue Sharing Advertising Arrives On WordPress.Com

By Jeffro on November 30, 2011

Some users of WordPress.com will now be able to partake in revenue sharing display advertising thanks to the launch of WordAds. I say some users because it’s available only if your application is accepted. This quote by Jon Burke sums up the story of how bad advertising had been for WordPress.com users over the past few years.

Over the years one of the most frequent requests on WordPress.com has been to allow bloggers to earn money from their blog through ads. We’ve resisted advertising so far because most of it we had seen wasn’t terribly tasteful, and it seemed like Google’s AdSense was the state-of-the-art, which was sad. You pour a lot of time and effort into your blog and you deserve better than AdSense.

It’s indeed sad that Adsense can be considered the best that WordPress.com can do however, it’s about time they broadened their horizons and provided an alternate means of display advertising. Just a few weeks ago, I linked to a story that described just how bad the display advertising was on WP.com and the news of WordAds couldn’t come at a better time, despite being late.

I’m looking forward to seeing how this all comes together. The type of advertising, the sites content, and the actual products being advertised. If everything can mesh together well, this should be a success.

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No More Ad Free WPCandy

No More Ad Free WPCandy

By Jeffro on September 2, 2011

pressed ads logoWPCandy has announced that they have launched a new service called Pressed Ads. While WPCandy was initially surviving ad free thanks to their Powered By System, reality has sunk in. Their powered by system will now be going in two directions, one for their readers and one for businesses. The unique advertising network will be centered around WordPress centric products and services while also being invite only for advertisers and publishers. It looks like the goal is to have Pressed Ads show up on the most influential WordPress sites which will provide extremely high relevancy with regards to the type of advertising that will be displayed on those sites through the network. Since the beginning of the year, the powered by system, has enabled Ryan to work on WPCandy full time which is amazing in and of itself.

I for one wish Ryan the best of luck. If he can manage to find a way to get paid enough money to live a semi decent life while putting food on the table not made of Ramen noodles which also allows him to work on WPCandy full-time, more power to him. He would then be accomplishing everything I didn’t. I tried advertising and managing that myself, affiliate programs, the botched VIP section in the forum and in fact, donations. None of the revenue was guaranteed and at times, I would go a few weeks without receiving a dime. I think my downfall in the advertising was that I was not a salesman and for the most part, didn’t want to be one. The best situation that could have happened for me was if I could find someone willing to pay me a flat fee on a weekly basis. Sort of like an investment, an investment in ME and the content I publish. That way, WPTavern ended up more like a job for me that I knew I was going to get paid for versus busting my ass and sometimes reaping no rewards. But I could never figure out how I’d convince anyone to go through with that type of investment, at least not anyone with the kind of income that would even consider it valuable to do so. I just wanted to concentrate on generating the content I and my readers/listeners enjoyed without going broke.

Right now, WPCandy is the place to be. It’s the hip spot when it comes to WordPress news and community. Ryan knows the people he needs to know and it’s obvious he has the support of some great companies that are backing him on his work with WPCandy and now, Pressed Ads. Now it’s time to see if his passion and desire along with all that support are enough to get him and the site up to the next level.

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Save 25 Percent On WPTavern Display Advertising

Save 25 Percent On WPTavern Display Advertising

By Jeffro on March 5, 2011

Thanks to a recent upgrade to the advertising management system I use, I’m now able to create and offer coupons to advertisers. I’m working my way back into generating a consistent stream of content on the site and to get things back in gear, I’m offering a coupon code for advertisers that will save them 25% on the following ad zones, Site Header, Site Sidebar and Forum Header. After your display ad has been approved, enter the following coupon code into the coupon box, 25PERCENT as this will deduct the cost immediately. The coupon is good for any length of purchase e.g. 30,60, or 90 days. This coupon code will expire on Friday, March 11th.

Here is something to consider. The money I make at the grocery store during the week is being put away for a desperately needed new roof and the money I generate from WPTavern.com is what will keep me fed as well as pay for minimal expenses. Needless to say, I definitely have an incentive to keep things going around here.

ADVERTISER TIP: Based on experience, users are more likely to both click and spend their money if the display banner offers a coupon code to save a percentage of money.

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Paying For Ad Free

Paying For Ad Free

By Jeffro on February 15, 2010

Not only has Michael Torbert taken some heat with the commercial version of All In One SEO Pro but I’ve also taken some myself thanks to the podcast advertisement and the banner in the sidebar. The biggest argument I hear from everyone is that it does exactly the same thing the free version does except it has no ads. So where is the value? Why is it worth paying for? The answer is easy. To remove the ads and donate link, the support is only part of the package. But I’ve been thinking, what is the difference between software that is ad-supported which provides an option to pay to have the ads removed and AIOSEP Pro? I did this with FeedDemon and the program is exactly the same before I paid to have the ads removed. I don’t see anyone lining up with pitchforks to go after them. If what FeedDemon does is acceptable, why is a WordPress plugin so different?

I think that the switch from being free to commercial is what has people in a fit but that’s just the nature of plugins this year. It’s his choice to make as it is for all plugin authors. There are two easy ways of solving this problem. Pay to have the ads removed or use the ad-supported version.

The other complaint I’ve heard is that the $39.00 (sale price) is a monthly fee. I can not verify if this is true but if it is, I would complain as well. I think that has to do with the system WPPlugins.com has setup and hopefully, they build in a way for plugin authors to be more flexible with the types of models/payments that can be received.

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Ad Block Plus Not Needed Here

Ad Block Plus Not Needed Here

By Jeffro on July 3, 2009

adblockplusThis blog post has been on the tip of my tongue ever since I introduced display advertising. Here on the Tavern, I use a plugin called OIO Publisher to handle my advertising needs and it’s been the best $48.00 I’ve ever spent. In the sidebar as well as the blog header, I use a block of javascript to display the advertising zones. Unfortunately, these advertising zones are not displayed for those running Ad Block Plus in FireFox or alternate ad blocking software.

Back on May 11th, 2009 the creator of the Ad Block Plus extension proposed a change to his user base where occasionally, a new version of the software would suggest users to whitelist frequently visited sites. He has published the responses to the initial proposal in a follow up blog post along with his take on the feedback.

As an Ad Block Plus user myself, I actually wouldn’t mind a notification every now and then asking me if I’d like to whitelist a site URL since I visit it so much. I thoroughly enjoy browsing the web without having to deal with blinking ads, flashbased annoyances, etc. However, I can certainly understand the other side of the argument in that these advertisements are there to generate revenue for the site to exist.

I’ve been down that road of annoying advertising on sites so with that in mind, I am asking you to instill trust in me and whitelist WPTavern.com if you’re using Ad Block Plus or any other ad blocking software. As it stands, this site only displays images for advertising, nothing is flash based and there are no popups. I don’t plan on adding popups, popunders, flash advertising, surprise forms for you to fill out to give me your details, etc.

I am this websites advertising manager and since I have access to all the stats, I feel I can make a pretty good judgment on whether a piece of advertising will be relevant to most of the audience that visits this site.

The bottom line is, not every site on the net is filled with advertising evil, WPTavern being one of those sites. So I ask again that if you enjoy what is happening with WPTavern.com, to allow the advertisements to be displayed and hell, even check a few of them out as all of them are pretty much WordPress related. If you have any questions or concerns related to advertising, you can contact me here.

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Advertising Now An Option On WPTavern

Advertising Now An Option On WPTavern

By Jeffro on April 8, 2009

Over this past weekend, I finally spent some time on the advertising side of things for the site. I mustered up the courage and dove right into OIO Publisher. Thankfully, this plugin made it VERY easy to create advertising zones as well as different forms of advertising. On top of that, it provides a system that makes it easy for advertisers to upload their own image and go through the display advertising purchasing process.

I’ve created the standard Advertising page which contains just about all of the information you’ll need to make your purchase. If not, get in touch with me via the contact form located at the top of this site and I’ll answer any questions you have. In total, there are four methods of display advertising to choose from with the fifth option being a combination of the podcast and the shownotes.

I know there have been a few of you interested in knowing when I would have the advertising system in place and since it’s finished, lets see if I can find a few people willing to help me keep the lights on around these parts.

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