Finally, I had it with the advertisement on my blog, and I caved and bought the ad-free Premium version, but only for a month -as a test run.
Part of me thinks it might be a waste of money, because, and that’s sadly the truth, only about 5% of my readers actually read my posts, the rest just click LIKE in the reader, which is pretty actually clever, this way you can speed through multiple posts in ten seconds, and you neither get bothered with my thoughts nor the ads on WordPress (*sarcasm off*).
Now, for one month, or perhaps longer if I might decide so, I can change my theme to one of the premium themes, which also is a waste of time because 95% of my readers and followers never make it to my WordPress page, they just click on my headline and read my post directly in the reader, even comment there. How do I know?
I do the same, which means I probably never saw your new theme or your WordPress blog page. Oh, I am a shitty follower and I know it.
Actually, I am not, I am just very honest, which is also a bit like shooting myself in the foot.
And now, dear reader and friend, here now comes your daily punishment in the form of a question, and please, be honest or sarcastic, whichever suits you best.
Did the advertisement on my blog ever bother you or was it just me (and not the ads) who might have bothered you now and then?
I know most of you actually pay for the Premium WordPress version for a long time. Is it worth it?
I took a long long time to decide to go advertisement free so I would never frown on anyone still having ads and still read their blogs, but those advertisements are very irritating and I am happy with my paid for site which also comes with more storage for photos.
I suppose if you post many pictures then it might be worth it. I learned now that most of my readers don’t even see the advertisement, because they read everything in the reader, so it’s a waste of money for me. You can’t make them all happy. 🙂
I use the reader to view almost all of posts I follow (with the exception of prompts I do), it just is less time consuming. I have seen everyone’s home pages when I first explored their sites and read past posts, but no, I have not seen any updated sites. I have considered the premium plan for the extra storage of photos, but would likely still use the current site settings as I feel it is good. Ads can be ignored… just because they are there doesn’t mean you have to pay attention to them.
So true. So far I don’t see anything that would make it worth the money.
I don’t see any ads on your blog the way I read them, Bridget and I have asked this questions of my blogging community a couple of times. Some saw no ads, some saw three, (way too many) and some one. Weird. What it did tell me is a few things. WordPress is gearing up to try to increase its revenue more and more. The free platform is decreasing in its capabilities with every update. So naturally I will rebel against that. Secondly, I didn’t bother with an ad blocker or ad blocking paid plan as none of my community indicated it would stop reading my post due to ads. Thirdly, when I follow someone the post came up in my notifications on my dashboard – as well as an email. Annoyingly, I now get emails when people comments so must try to fix that as that results in way too many emails and a larger carbon footprint. So in the format that I see your post as a notification – you see no ads! At least I don’t.
The ads only show up when you actually go to my blog, but they don’t show up when we use the WordPress-reader.
They are trying to increase their revenue and I wonder if it will stay free for all.
I do use an ad-blogger on my computer, I got tired of unwanted ads that showed me how much google, yahoo and all the others mess around with my personal information.
Indeed. Just as well we have been doing th is blogging thing for a while. Harder for WPress to kick us off here due to our followers.
I hope so because I don’t want to pay for it any longer. There is no point.
I agree. Most readers that I have a conversation with use the wpreader or comments to connect – more so than the external site itself. That’s a blessing -no ads for regular followers. For the people that do use the site – they do support the wp platform with revenue by viewing and potentially clicking on ads. I don’t have an issue about enabling some revenue for the platform that gives me a lot for free. But wp is diminishing free content. However, one point made in the book, I am reading at the moment, called Stolen Focus, was if social media was a pay to use platform and not free to use, we would not use it so much. The author believed by keeping the platforms free (or free to an extent with wordpress), they force the web designers to make features that keep us endlessly scrolling. The rationale is that maintains engagement and in turn maximises the revenue, via ads. If on the other hand it was a pay to use content, there would be less need for ads or design features that keep us death scrolling.
I am reader only, so I get it and won’t continue my premium membership because the way it looks like, it’s really not worth it.
I think sooner or later WordPress will make us all pay -may I be wrong.
I suspect that will happen. It will become a subscription type service.
I just read your thoughts in the WP reader!
I mostly read on the Reader, but I never “Like” anything I haven’t read (and often not then). I do make occasional excursions to people’s sites. As you say, some of the ads are pretty disgusting. As long as they don’t flash or try to obscure what I’m reading, I try hard to ignore them.
It’d be nice to have an ad-free site, but I don’t want to give in to the “protection racket” tactics WordPress uses, (that, and I can’t afford it right now).
I am so glad so many answered so honestly. It seems that going ad-free is a waste of money, since most of us read in the reader anyway.
Thank you, for commenting.
I am a premium blogger and I just don’t really want ads on my site. What I’ve often wondered is whether you got paid for having ads or is it just that you have a free site?
Just a free site, the ads are an unwanted side effect. 🙂
I just ignore all the ads, like on TV – I just tune them out or scroll past without paying the slightest bit of attention…. I must admit at times I find it annoying to have ads show on my own site, but not annoying enough to pay for a premium site! 🙂
I’ve been here for about 10 years or so and I am still using the free version. I simply scroll past the ads. It’s habit now. And I read through my email not on Reader. I find Reader to be too… Busy?
I read blog posts on my WP Reader where it’s easier to make a comment. Ads are now at the foot of posts which is much better than having them interspersed with our content. Some years ago, I signed up for the ‘dot blog’ option at a reasonable yearly rate when it became available, reducing some of the ads on my blog. I don’t have a premium account.
I am so glad. I really thought I am the only one who is doing it, so knowing so many do the same, makes me feel better.
I frequently visit sites and read from there. The ads can be distracting, but I do my best to focus on the blogger’s content and ignore the rest. Best to you!
I found the latest ads on my blog gross, that’s why I thought I give it a try.
Yes, they certainly can be. 😞 I hope it is a smooth transition for you.
I can’t stand the ads, and I find they often interfere with my enjoyment of the site in general. I have a paid site also because I wanted to have the live chat available.
I only noticed them on my blog and there were more and more ads and some were really disturbing.
Disturbing and aggressive.
Admit to not visiting the sites, and sometimes even reading the entire post on my Gmail inbox, since I have notifications on for everyone I follow here. At times after reading the post, I come back to the WP Reader to see images (they don’t show up on the email). Have never liked anything that I have not read fully. Using a free version of WP since 2013, and initially used to get bothered thinking that my readers will probably assume that I am affiliated with all the ads that show up on my blog and earn something out of it, but realised soon enough that perhaps they know better, since many people here use the free version.
Thank you for admitting 🙂
“Have never liked anything that I have not read fully.” I like that. I wish that would be the norm.
The adds can be annoying but I don’t mind much because I know they have to be there so you can blog for free. I have found that blogs that I recently began following, like yours, show you in my notifications and I can read and reply to them from there and I don’t have to see the adds. I don’t know if this counts as a view in your stats though.
The main reason I upgraded to an ad free plan was because I post a lot of pictures and I needed more media storage space.
The storage space is a good point. I have no idea how much space my blog takes. I need to look into that.
I have a built-in self-created psychological filter that just skips over all the ads. I kind of accepted them as a necessary evil to keep the machines running that rule our lives, so to speak, but I never look at them nor do I click on them.
I do occasionally go and look at people’s themes on their website. If they’re on WordPress, I read most of their content in Reader but every once in a while I want to see what they’ve done with their website. That’s the creative characteristic inside of me. I’m curious about that sort of thing.
And I enjoy reading your posts. I’ve never liked something I haven’t read… But that’s just me. 😊
I like your self-created-psychological filter. I can blog things out too, but some of the images they showed on my blog were disgusting to look at. Do I want to make advertisement for a toe nail fungus treatment. Not really. 🙂
I am glad you enjoy reading my posts. I appreciate this.
That fucking (sorry) ad has no place in any of our blogs. How come it’s not going away? It has zero bearing on any of our content…
And you’re welcome. 😊
I also read in reader. But I went ad free long ago because some of the ads were pretty gross. I guess that’s how they get us to upgrade.
Oh good 🙂
Congratulations, your domain is parked. ________________________________
YAY! It’s back. I don’t have many ads on my blog, because I don’t have many followers. I always go to your site to read because that’s where I feel like I’m listening to you face to face.
That’s cute and perhaps you are right and it’s more personal to go to the site…if it wouldn’t be so time consuming.
I read everything in WP reader so never see anyone’s ads or themes.