Readers Can Block Ads

Just when you figured out, you can make money from your blog, a plugin can be downloaded, that can block ads.

You didn’t want to hear that, did you?

But, it’s true, and something we all must consider.

Today’s Lesson

Try this for yourself.

,allows you to download “Adblock”. You will end up with a small icon/rectangle in you task bar. By left clicking it, you will see a list of all blockable items on the page. Right clicking, allows you to whitelist pages, enable or disable Adblock, set preferences, etc…

Go to a page that contains ads. Enable Adblock…..see what happens? Right click on the ads, hit “Adblock frame”…… No ads! Left click, hit O.K., and even the plugins are gone.

To reverse what you have done, right click and “disable Adblock”, and reload the page.

Will this be the wave of the future?

I would like to think not.

Some readers love ads. They love to see what’s new out there, and they click on the ads. Ads can be informational, and at times, educational. But, as we all know, ads can also be annoying.

Today’s Assignment

Try Adblock on your own site.

How does your site look without the ads? Is it still looking professional, if someone is using Adblock? Could it potentially wipe out a valuable plugin?

I tested it on my OM blog. It took out the ads on my sidebar, and moved the “recent posts” to the top of the sidebar. It also took out my Amber Alert Ticker, the plugin graphics for the feeds, Technorati, and my social networks links.

It did not remove the affiliate text ads that are in some of my posts. But, all Google ads, and affiliate graphic ads, were gone.

Unfortunately, you must consider that some readers will use Adblock, or some other type of ad blocking device.

BTW: I believe there may also be a plugin that will disallow the use of Adblock on a site, as I tested it on some sites, and nothing happened. But, that’s not the point of this post.

If your readers are using Adblock, your site should still look professional.

Does it?

Posted on October 9, 2007
Filed Under Advertising, Archives, Blogging Lessons |

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4 Responses to “Readers Can Block Ads”

SpicePuppy on October 19th, 2007 7:46 pm

This reminds me of when Tivo first came out, and it had the ability to record shows without recording commercials. Obviously, the advertisers and the TV networks went into a panic at first. In the end, Tivo made it so that commercials were left in. We still fast forward through them most of the time, but it seemed to work out OK for everyone involved, as far as I can tell.

Good point about your blog needing to look professional for people using Adblock. The same goes for people disabling JavaScript or using a different browser.
Barbara on October 20th, 2007 1:26 am

Hi SpicePuppy,

Thanks for our input, and the comparison to Tivo. It’s basically the same thing.

I have found out lots when testing my blog on different browsers. I had good intentions of using a different theme on my other blog, but when I tested it on IE, the sidebars collapsed. When I went on the authors blog, other readers were commenting about the problem, but it never did get fixed, so I found one that appears to work well on most browsers.
Can You Get Rich Blogging : Blogging Without A Blog on November 13th, 2007 1:04 pm

[...] to ad blindness, and the ability for readers to block ads, financial rewards may come slower to new [...]
Prestamos Personales on August 10th, 2008 4:29 pm

That\’s something to stretch your brain cells over! First time here. I\’ll have to thinking about adding you to my favorites Ciao!