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What can you do to upsell? Create an Ad-Free Membership on your website

Apr 28, 2023

Contents

Reader Disclosure

From Zero to Hero: How Ad Hatred Can Boost Your

Recall when you last browsed through a newspaper article or, even more importantly, a preferred recipe you found on a web site. Advertisements can be way exaggerated.

In certain industries authors and publishers need advertisements to help monetize their products - no matter if readers are a fan or not.

And most readers don't. So, almost every website with recipes has the "Jump to Recipe" hyperlink. It's likely that those are among the most clicked websites!

But there's a silver lining of opportunity to the cloud of disdain hovering over your ads. And that silver lining is upselling.

If you've got your own WordPress site built on an ad monetization model there's an amazing chance to convert free users into paying members.

And you can do it quickly, no matter how you or where you place your advertisements.

Low Hanging Fruits to use on WordPress Websites

can create an ad-free experience your readers will thank you (and be willing to pay) for.

It is easy to hide your ads from the eyes of paying members. Since it's so adaptable, you can design a unique ad experience that are based on the membership level.

A blog about recipes could publish all the content on its website for free and then have ads all over the place. A few options for ads include:

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

To create value for premium members, the website owner may block certain or all of the ad spaces from paid members.

Change Free Visitors into Paid Members Easily

As an example, you could block pop-up and advertisements in-line for members of the basic level.

So, your basic members would still see the sidebar or others located outside the content section. In addition, you could offer a plus or pro upgrade in order to block ads.

The structure could look similar to this:

  • Free Visitors who are free see all ads in headers, footers, sidebars along with the content and popups
  • Basic visitors only see ads in header, footer, and sidebar
  • Pro - Visitors see no ads

Strategies for Serving Ads on WordPress

First, let's look over the most popular methods of serving advertisements on the WordPress site - static insertion as well as dynamic insertion.

Static Insertion

This method is great for those with just one picture or link to share as an advertisement. It's as simple as uploading your photo and then inserting a link by using the block editor.

 Dynamic Insertion

This is the more popular approach and allows ads to be placed in predefined locations. The theme or plugin typically decides when ads should show up. Often, a third party ad network, such as Google Adsense, will determine which ads appear.

No matter if you're using static or dynamic advertising, the strategies to hide your advertisements from paying members are exactly the identical.

How do you hide ads to Subscribers and Paid Members on WordPress

If you're searching for the best way to give your readers a premium level and ad-free experience, then you'll want to start by setting up .

It's the most trusted solution for controlling content visibility in WordPress. This is the way I'm referring to.

cta character

Get today!

Start getting paid for your content.

How to Configure for an Ad-free Experience

The installation process is the same as installing any other plugin. Once installed it guides you through the main tasks of setting up without difficulty.

We've written many articles about the subject, and we've got this video tutorial that will start you off very quickly.

WATCH >> SETUP OVERVIEW

The best Ad Management plugin for WordPress

If you don't already have a plugin or theme that provide ad management it is recommended to install a plugin. A number of premium and free plugins provide dynamic ads insertion. My personal favorite, as well as the one we use with a is AdSanity.

For the example in this post I'm using my 2nd most used ad management tool, Advanced Ads.

Utilizing Rules to remove ads for Members

After you've been installed and configured now, you're ready to set up your ad-free rule. From the admin panel navigate to Rules and create an entirely new rule. You can use the Partial rule type to create this.

In my sandbox site I've got two levels of membership, Premium and Executive. The rule I've set up is to manage content only for my Executive members. I'm planning to block adverts from members who join the Executive membership.

In the screenshot above there are examples of shortcodes to either show or hide content based on the above rule. So, let's start there.

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

Each of the most popular Ad Management plugins allow you to deliver ads with shortcodes. For this instance I'm employing the paid plugin Advanced Ads..

But, it will work with our recommended plugin, AdSanity and virtually every other ad-management plugin.

Place your ad shortcode wherever you wish to show ads. Wrap it around the Hide shortcode. Here's what it looks like using an in-line ad spot within my fictional blog.

The method is designed to hide the advertisement's contents from my Executive level members. Anybody who's not an Executive member is able to be able to see the advertisement. As an example, in my particular case, Premium members still get the advertisement.

You can see ads in the sidebar as well? It's a widget and I'll explain the best way to manage ads in widget areas next. But first, here is what my Executive members experience after reading the same post.

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

When you install , you'll see a new block item named Protected. This is a protected block. gives you granular control of nearly any component of your content within WordPress.

It is possible to add a secured block to a webpage, course lessons, or a widget. The AdSanity plugin permits you to add an advertisement or a an entire group of ads in the widget.

In order to block ads within a widget, first create a block that is protected to the widget. That's how you can do it with Divi.

The WordPress admin menu Navigate to Divi->Theme Customizer. Then select Widgets followed by Sidebar.

When you add the protected block, just set it up to refer to your desired rule. Be sure to choose an option that allows you to hide content from members included within the rule.

The next step is to drop your ad or ad group into the protected block. Make sure you save your configuration, and then test the configuration!

Wrapping UP

You can see that it makes controlling content a breeze. If you're using ads to monetize your blog, you'll need . Imagine generating consistent, reliable revenues from paid subscribers or members.

It's an easy upsell for those who are your faithful readers. It doesn't take a lot of work. The hardest part could be deliberating on the amount to charge for subscription...

What is the cost to charge for ad-free membership

There aren't many paid subscribers for this to be worthwhile. Set a goal to determine how many repeat customers you'd like to convert into paying members. Are you able to convert just 20percent of your frequent users to join?

To see a fantastic illustration of how this technique is using it you can check out my personal favorite recipe blog, 40Aprons. They're definitely one of our top customers as well.

WATCH NOW >>> 40 Aprons CUSTOMER STORY

Have any questions about how to upsell by creating an advertisement-free version? Ask away in the comments section!