How To Fight Adblock On Your Website

Ad blockers are becoming more popular and this is hurting publishers’ monetization efforts. But don’t worry. If you run your own site, there are a few things you can do to tackle the impact ad blockers have on your site’s revenue.

But first…

An Adblock Introduction

Ad blockers are software tools that detect and block advertising from being displayed on websites. Usage has been growing significantly in recent years, rising by 41% globally between 2014 – 2015. And that increased usage translates to a whole load of money: $21.8 billion in ad revenue last year, to be precise. And that’s likely to double by the end of this year.

So, why do people use ad blockers? Well, there are a few reasons, but the two main ones are privacy and improved user experience. Also, many corporate networks have ad blockers installed by default, meaning users couldn’t turn off their ad blockers, even if they wanted to.

So. How do we fight this? With sites losing, potentially, up to 50% of their revenue, it’s a pressing problem, but there are a few techniques you can try out.

Ask The Audience

Ad blockers have kind of become an “elephant in the room” type scenario. Everyone’s trying to ignore it, hoping it’ll go away. But this isn’t likely to be the case.

The first thing to try then is to ask your users to disable their ad blockers. Try experimenting with different content or phrasing and see if there’s a certain tone that works best for you. What works will vary depending on your audience, with Millennials typically going for more humorous, irreverent copy.

And, if you are going to be displaying ads to this target audience, make sure they’re as relevant as possible. The more relevant your ads, the less likely your readers are to block them after they’ve whitelisted you.

Access Denied

More and more big, online publishers, like 4OD in the UK will deny you access to certain content if you have an ad blocker enabled. Forbes will block you entirely if they detect an adblocker.

The way Forbes has gone about doing this is quite original. Rather than just asking users to whitelist their site for access, they’ll reduce the number of ads displayed on their site (for 30 days) in exchange for what they call the Forbes “ad-light” experience.

If you don’t want to go as far as completely blocking access to your site, you could try asking your site visitors to subscribe to your newsletter. That way you have access to their email address. After you get their address, you won’t be serving them ads, but you can still send them affiliated promotional offers that can potentially earn you money.

Paywall for premium content

Another solution is to ask all users to pay a nominal fee in exchange for access to your content. There are many ways you can do this. You could, for example, ask for a monthly subscription, a one-off payment, or even a “pay per article” system, using microtransactions.

As an example, the online edition of Wired has given readers the option of paying $1 per week for an ad-free version of the site, while, at the same time, asking that readers turn off their ad blockers when they log in.

Don’t Ignore Adblock

All said and done, the key takeaway is that you, as a site owner, shouldn’t be ignoring the ad-block issue. How you choose to go about addressing it will largely be dictated by your audience.  Ask them to turn off their adblocker. If that doesn’t work, ask them what they would be willing to do in order to access the site.

If that doesn’t work, you can also get in touch with various ad blocking software companies and ask to be whitelisted from their database. Some of them will do this for nothing, provided your site meets certain criteria, while others will ask for a fee.

If you want to try and gather some data on how Adblock is impacting your site, there are some useful articles out there to show you how to do just that. Although tackling adblockers are a challenge, this certainly isn’t the death of online advertising. Just remember to reach out to your audience, keep them engaged, and keep them happy. That is the key to success.

For more tips and tricks to increase your bottom line and make the most from your website traffic, check out How to Make Money with Adcash. A  Monetization Guide for Publishers

Also, be sure to check out our Publisher Program where you can refer new publishers to the Adcash platform and earn 5% of their lifetime revenue.

What are your experiences with ad blocking on your site? What have you tried to tackle the issue? Let us know in the comments below!