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| HOW TO PREVENT ADBLOCKER FROM HARMING YOUR BLOG INCOME |
Have you noticed a drop in your AdSense or other ad revenue even though your traffic is the same or has improved?
Well, you are not alone as this happens to all bloggers around the world. In this article, you will learn why this happens and how to fix it.
Ad blocking technology (which blocks ads from showing) makes life difficult for aspiring and existing bloggers (including yours) by impacting the blog's overall earnings. It is true that adblocker makes web surfing faster and more pleasant experience, but at the expense of income for bloggers and web publishers.
Many bloggers, like us, understand that by not blocking ads, we support bloggers and encourage them to produce more compelling content. Still, the majority of internet users use ad blockers to have a smooth web experience. I don't even blame them as it's annoying when you open a website and it shows multiple pop-up ads and is full of ads. But how are those innocent bloggers like you and me whose blog earnings are falling due to increasing use of adblockers?
You may have been talking a lot about ad blockers on iPhone lately since Apple allows ad blocking apps to be part of the App Store and one can also block ads on Apple devices. Today you will learn how to prevent Adblock from affecting your earnings and not have to shut down your blog because of low or almost negligible earnings.
I can't think of a better platform than ShoutMeLoud to talk about adblockers where a majority of us are bloggers and interested in making money online. Here I'm sharing tips I've researched, used and enjoyed reading your blog on how to tackle this serious adblocking problem.
When it comes to monetization, we can divide blogs into three main categories.
The first are blogs based on affiliate marketing to make money.
The second is blogs managed by a brand.
The last are the blogs that rely on third-party advertising (like AdSense) to make money.
Many of us who start blogging fall into the third category. We use AdSense or other advertising networks to generate revenue from our blog. Harsh has done a great job of covering AdSense and other ad networks in the past.
Basically, ad networks work like this: you log into their service and enter the code they provide into your theme or widgets. When a visitor loads your page, the ads will load and be displayed to the visitor. When the visitor clicks on an ad, you get paid. All these steps are crucial for you to make money. If any of the above steps fail, you will not get paid. Now Adblocker is the culprit that doesn't allow the ads to load on your page.
If you are from the third category, your blogging business is at high risk. Before we talk about solving the problem, let's first clarify what AdBlocking is and how it works.
CONTENT
- What the heck are adblockers?
- How to save your blog from adblockers
- WordPress plugins to disable adblocker:
- What the heck are adblockers?
In simple terms, an ad blocker is a software, browser extension, or mobile app that blocks ads from loading on a page. If your web browser has an adblocker extension installed, you'll see a space instead of ads. This removes the clutter (sometimes hassle) from a webpage and speeds up the loading time for a visitor. For a publisher (in this case, you) this just stops any ad impression and you will not make any money from such views.
If you want to know more about it I recommend reading this masterpiece by Nilay Patel where he gave great insights into the future implications of AdBlocking for Web & Publishers.
How can you tell if your blog is affected by adblockers?
Well, all blogs that use third-party advertising like AdSense are already affected by ad blockers. To know how much your blog is affected, you can simply compare your Google Analytics pages and Google Adsense page views. If you see a difference, you know it.
Adblocking software mainly affects blogs with tech-savvy readers as most visitors are smart and prefer adblocking software.
How to save your blog from adblockers
Since AdBlocking is growing fast, it's a good idea to follow the steps below. There are many levels, where you can work. Start by requesting or blocking a user from browsing a page.
Switch to native advertising
Native advertising is the surest way to prevent ad blockers from eating your blog. The AdBlocking software reads the page code and compares it to a list of ads. If they find a match, they stop loading that object. In the case of native advertising, all advertising media (images, videos) are stored on your own host and can therefore not be blocked.
Harsh has already covered more on this topic here. You can create a page related to advertising (popularly known as a media kit) on your blog. Make sure to include your page views, social media followers, and subscribers so the potential advertiser can understand your impact on the web.
Rely more on affiliate marketing
We often talk about affiliate marketing on ShoutMeLoud. It's a way of making money by recommending a service/product to our visitors. Just like native advertising, the resources used in it (e.g. banners) are stored on our own hosting and therefore cannot be removed by ad blockers.
Master the art of affiliate marketing with this exclusive eBook.
Create a mobile app
Create a mobile app to prevent ad blocking
More than 50% of Google searches are done on mobile phones. If you have a mobile app for your blog, it's difficult for a user to block ads. Quality apps run by themselves and don't rely on the web browser. Therefore, they cannot be affected by Adblock plugins installed on the phone.
I am sure that creating a good app for Android or iOS will cost you quite a bit, but once everything is set you can be sure that your hosting resources will not be wasted on someone using Adblock.
WordPress plugins to disable adblocker:
Notify and prompt users to whitelist your site or disable adblock
Many free WordPress plugins are available for this in the WordPress plugin repository. You can display a message or notification to a visitor asking them to whitelist your blog. The message is only shown to users using an AdBlocking plugin. So you don't have to worry about it distracting your loyal readers. If the visitor refreshes the page after disabling your site's AdBlocking plugin or whitelist, the message will no longer appear.
Here's what I use on Getting Geek:
Whitelist Getting Geek at Adblock
We know advertising sucks, but at Getting Geek we tried not to let that happen. Blocking ads is a good idea to get rid of stupid "Download Now" buttons on the web. This is not the case in our case. We think you will not find any terrible ads on our site. Support us by including Getting Geek in your AdBlocking plugin or by disabling your AdBlocking software.
AdBlock warning
If you use this tactic, please try to make your message effective. A nice request (or warning) will definitely make them good for the blog.
The best WordPress plugins that can do this are: Ad-block Notify by B*web or Simple Adblock Detector
Prevent Ad-blockers from seeing your post
This is a very aggressive approach where you can prevent ad-blocking visitors from seeing your content in full. Personally, I don't recommend using it, but it's an option that's good to know. If you want to do this, you can easily do it with the Adblock Notify by B* Web plugin. (Link shared in point above).
After installing the plugin, you need to create a page stating why the visitors can't access the post and how to do it. After publishing the page, set your plugin to redirect all users with adblock to the new page.
Find new earning opportunities on your blog
Advertising isn't the only way to make money off the internet. There's a lot more you can do to make money from your blogs. The notable things you can try are paid reviews, sponsored posts and setting up a merchandise store on your blog. We should remember that we are also a reason for the ad blocking software becoming so popular that we adapt new possibilities.
