The Thousand Solutions Blog

How to Upsell by Creating an Ad-Free Membership on Your Website

Apr 28, 2023

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From Zero to Hero How Ad Hatred can boost your

Think back to when you last opened up a news article, or worse, a preferred recipe you found on a web site. Advertisements can be way exaggerated.

In certain industries, publishers and creators need advertisements to help monetize their work - regardless of whether viewers like them or not.

And most readers don't. So, almost all recipe websites have a "Jump to Recipe" link. I'll bet those are among the most clicked hyperlinks on the web!

There's also a silver lining of opportunity to the cloud of disdain that is hovering over your advertisements. That silver lining can be the possibility of upselling.

If you've got an WordPress website built around the concept of monetizing ads You're in a great position to take advantage of the opportunity to upsell free readers into paying members.

And you can do it without difficulty, irrespective of the way you or where you place your ads.

Low Hanging Fruit for WordPress Websites

can create an ad-free experience the people who read your blog will be grateful (and be willing to pay) for.

It is easy to hide your ads from the eyes of members who pay. Because it is so flexible it is possible to design a unique ad experience based on membership levels.

A blog about recipes could publish all its content for free, with ads everywhere. Some options for ad locations include:

  1. Sidebar Widgets
  2. Header Widgets
  3. Footer Widgets
  4. Blocks in-line
  5. Popups

So, in order to provide value to premium members, the site administrator might block some or all advertising areas for paid members.

Convert Free Visitors to Paid Members Easily

You can, for instance, block pop-up and advertisements in-line for members of the basic level.

Your basic users would still see the sidebar or others that are outside of the content area. You can then offer a plus or pro upgrade to hide all ads.

The structure could look similar to this:

  • Free Users who sign up for free will can view all advertisements in the headers, footers, sidebars along with the content and popups
  • Basic The visitors will only see ads in header, footer, and the sidebar
  • Pro - Visitors see no ads

Advertising Serving Methods for WordPress

First, let's look over the most commonly used methods to serve ads on a WordPress website - static introduction as well as dynamic introduction.

Static Insertion

This technique is ideal if you only have one image or link that you wish to publish as an advertisement. It's as simple as uploading your photo and then placing a link behind it by using an editor for blocks.

 Dynamic Insertion

It is the most common method and inserts relevant ads in predefined locations. A theme or plugin often controls where ads will show up. Most often, a third party advertising network, like Google Adsense, will determine which ads appear.

No matter if you're using dynamic or static ads, the techniques to block your ads to paid users are the identical.

How to hide advertisements on behalf of Subscribers or Paid Members on WordPress

If you're looking for the best way to give your visitors a superior, ad-free experience, it's best to begin with setting up .

It's the best option for regulating the visibility of content on WordPress. This is the way I'm referring to.

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How to Configure for an Ad-free Experience

The installation process is the same as installing any other plug-in. Once it is installed it guides you through the major steps to setup with ease.

We've written many articles about the subject in the past, and now we've put together this video tutorial that will start you off fast.

WATCH >> SETUP OVERVIEW

If you do not have a theme or plugin that provide ad management then you'll need to install the plugin. Several free and premium plugins provide dynamic ads insertion. The one I like the most, and one we use for , is AdSanity.

However, for the examples that I've included in this article I'm using the second favorite ad management plugin, Advanced Ads.

Utilizing Rules to Eliminate Ads for Members

Once you've the software installed and set up, it's time to set up your ad-free rule. From the admin panel go to -> Rules, and then create the rule. Make use of the partial rule type in this.

In my sandbox site I'm using two levels of membership: Premium and Executive. The rule I've set up is to manage content only for the Executive membership. I'm aiming to keep adverts from members who are members of my Executive membership.

In the image above, you can see example shortcodes for displaying or hide content based on the above rule. So, let's start there.

Utilizing a shortcode to hide advertisements using a Shortcode to hide ads WordPress

All the popular Ad Management plugins allow you to deliver ads with the use of a shortcode. In this case I'm employing the free plugin Advanced Ads.

This method will work with our recommended plugin, AdSanity in addition to virtually any other advertising management software.

Set your Ad Shortcode where you wish to show ads. Wrap it around your Hide shortcode. Here's what it looks like with an ad inline between paragraphs in my fictitious blog.

This technique hides the ad content from the view of my Executive members. Anyone not an Executive member is able to view the ad. For example, in my use case, the Premium members are still able to view the ad.

Notice the ad on the sidebar, too? It's a widget, I'll show you the best way to manage advertisements in widget areas later. However, first, I'll show what my Executive Members experience after reading the same post.

Utilizing Protected Blocks to block advertisements using Protected Blocks to block ads WordPress

After installing  the plugin, you'll notice a brand new block item named protected. This is a protected block. You can control nearly any component of your content within WordPress.

You can add a protected block within a blog post, course, page, lesson, or even a widget. The AdSanity plugin permits you to add an advertisement or a group of ads into widgets as well.

To hide advertisements in a widget, you must first put a protection block in the widget. This is how you would accomplish this with Divi.

Within the WordPress admin menu go to Divi->Theme Customizer. Select Widgets followed by Sidebar.

When you add the protected block, just configure it to reference your desired rule. Be sure to choose an option that allows you to block the content of members who are included within the rule.

The next step is dropping the ad/ad group in the block that is protected. Then be sure to save the configuration and test it out!

The wrapping up process

It's clear that allows for easy control of content. If you're using advertising to make money from your blog, you'll need . Imagine the possibility of generating steady, consistent income from paying users or subscribers.

This is a simple way to increase the number of your loyal readers. And it doesn't require a lot of work. The hardest part could be deliberating on the amount you'll charge for a member...

What is the cost to charge for ad-free membership

There aren't numerous paid customers for this to be worthwhile. You should set a target to determine how many repeat visitors you'd like to convert into paying members. Are you able to make just 20% of your regular users to join?

For a great illustration of how this technique is that is being used you can check out my personal favorite recipe blog, 40Aprons. They're definitely one of our top clients too.

WATCH NOW >>40 Aprons STORY OF A CUSTOMER

Are you unsure of ways to boost sales through the creation of an ad-free version? Post them in the comments section!