Ad blockers are stealing ad revenue from your blog. If you are a content marketer and you rely on ad clicks for income, then you need a strategy to defeat ad blockers.
The use of ad blockers is increasing at a rapid pace. Internet users, annoyed with all the ads on news sites and blogs, are installing ad stopping software like never before.
Simply put, internet surfers do not like pop-up ads, mobile ads, and online banners. They believe these ads are intrusive and disruptive, and they ruin the experience. Ads can also make a website load slower, which often leads to a person clicking somewhere else.
Ad blocking software has been around for almost 20 years, and new blocking technology is being developed and improved every day. In response, media companies such as Facebook, are looking into software that counteracts the growing ad blocking movement. As a content marketer, you must do the same and adjust to the trend.
How can content marketers defeat ad blockers?
Advertise inside videos
One easy and very effective way to get avoid ad blockers is to present your content in videos. In this way, you are not reliant on a website visitor clicking on an ad. You can advertise, much like traditional television, right inside the video. You see this whenever you watch a YouTube video, as many content creators mention a sponsor or product. The person consuming your content will get what they came for and you get an opportunity to sell something.
Put up content gateways
Ditch the ads on your site and collect information, such as an email address, before granting access to your content. With additional information, content marketers can target prospects another way, i.e., email or social media.
A content gateway is as simple as adding a plugin that hides most of the content until the user enters an email address. Many large publications, such as National Geographic, use this method. Another way to make up for the lost income from ad blockers is to make website visitors pay for your content. You can set up a payment gateway and charge a nominal monthly fee to subscribe to your content.
Ideally, the content you are restricting is something unique, relevant, and valuable to your website visitor. It will only work if your content answers the question the user is seeking, and they come away feeling satisfied.
Encourage a relationship
Instead of ads, build authority and rapport with a visitor by providing great content and then asking them for an email address or telephone by way of a sign-up form. Also, encourage them to like and share your content on social media. Similar to the content gateway strategy, your increased influence will make it easier to market to visitors in other ways – email, social media, YouTube videos.
If your content is well-written and professional, blog visitors will like and trust you. This brings repeat traffic as they get to know you.
Fortunately, marketers and publishers can still monetize their content. Ad blockers have not yet killed the ad click business model. However, they do significantly reduce the amount of revenue your blog can generate. Now, more than ever, content marketers need to transition away from the traditional ad click revenue model and move toward quality content that builds trust and authority.
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