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How to increase sales by creating an Ad-Free Membership on Your Website

Apr 28, 2023

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From Zero to Hero: How Ad Hatred Can Boost Your

Think back to the last time you opened up a news article or, perhaps, your favourite recipe on a site. The ads can be over the top.

In certain industries, publishers and creators need advertisements to help monetize their content - whether readers like them or not.

And most readers don't. So, almost every recipe website has the jump to recipe link. You can bet that these are the most popular hyperlinks on the web!

There's also an opportunity to make a profit to the cloud of disdain that is hovering over your advertisements. That silver lining can be selling up.

If you've got an WordPress website built around an ad-based monetization strategy You're in a great position to take advantage of the opportunity to upsell free readers into paid members.

And you can do it easily, regardless of how or where you show the ads.

Low Hanging Fruit for WordPress Websites

It is possible to create an experience that is ad-free that your customers will appreciate (and be willing to pay) for.

You are able to easily block your ads from the view of members who pay. And because is so flexible, you can make custom ads that are based on the membership level.

For example, a recipe blog could make the content on its website for free including ads throughout. A few options for ads are:

  1. Sidebar Widgets
  2. Header Widgets
  3. Footer Widgets
  4. In-line Blocks
  5. Popups

So, in order to provide value to paying members, the site owner may block certain or all advertising areas for paid members.

Convert Free Visitors to Paid Members easily

As an example, you could hide pop-up ads and on-line advertisements for the members who are basic.

So, your basic members will still be able to see the sidebar, or other ads located outside the content section. In addition, you could provide a pro or plus upgrade that will block all advertisements.

The structure could look similar to this:

  • Free - Free visitors get all ads displayed in headers, footers, sidebars, in-line with content, and popups
  • Basic visitors only see advertisements in the headers, footers, and in the sidebar
  • Pro - Visitors see no ads

Strategies for Serving Ads on WordPress

We'll first look at the two most common methods for serving advertisements on a WordPress website: static insert as well as dynamic insertion.

Static Insertion

This method is great if you only have just one picture or link that you wish to publish as an advertisement. The process is as easy as adding your image and placing a link behind it using the block editor.

 Dynamic Insertion

This is a more common technique that inserts pertinent ads within specific areas. A theme or plugin often decides when ads should show up. Often, a third party ad network, such as Google Adsense, will determine which ads appear.

Whether you're using dynamic or static ad insertion, the methods to hide your advertisements from paid members will be the identical.

How to Hide Ads for Paid Members or Subscribers on WordPress

If you're searching for the best way to give your users a top-quality free of ads, it's best to begin with installing .

It's the most trusted solution for controlling content visibility in WordPress. I'll show you what I mean.

cta character

Start today!

Begin to earn money for the content you create.

How do you configure the system to provide the best possible experience with no ads

Installation is just as simple as installing any other plugin. After installation it guides you through the main setup activities with ease.

We've written many articles about the subject as well as the following video tutorial for you to get you up and running very quickly.

Watch >> Setup OVERVIEW

The best Ad Management plugin for WordPress

If you do not have a theme or plugin which can manage ads then you'll need to download a plugin. Several free and premium plugins allow for dynamic ad placement. My personal favorite, as well as the one we use with a is AdSanity.

However, for the examples of this blog post I'm using the second favorite ad management plugin, Advanced Ads.

Utilizing Rules to remove ads for Members

Once you've installed and configured, it's time to set up your ad-free rule. In the admin panel, select Rules and add an entirely new rule. Make use of the partial rule type for this.

In my sandbox site I'm using two membership levels named Premium and Executive. And I've configured my rule to control content for the Executive membership. I intend to hide ads from people who are members of my Executive membership.

In the screenshot above, you can see example shortcodes that show or conceal content in accordance with this principle. So, let's start there.

Using a Shortcode for Hiding advertisements using a Shortcode to hide ads WordPress

Each of the most popular Ad Management plugins allow you to deliver ads with shortcodes. In this example, I'm using the Free Advanced Ads plugin.

This method will work with our recommended AdSanity, a plugin and virtually every other advertising management software.

Set your Ad Shortcode where you wish to show advertisements. It is then wrapped with it with the Hide shortcode. The following is what it will look like using an in-line ad spot between paragraphs in my fictitious blog.

This technique hides the ad content from view of my executive level members. Anyone who is not an Executive member will view the ad. For example, in my particular case, Premium members still get the ad.

Do you see the advertisement on the sidebar, too? It's a widget I'll teach you how to handle advertisements in widget areas later. However, first, I'll show the experience my Executive members have when they read the same article.

Use Protected Blocks to hide Ads by hiding ads WordPress

After installing , you'll see a newly created block item that is called Protected. This is a secured block. It gives you control over virtually any content element in WordPress.

You may add a secure block inside a post, webpage, course lessons, or the form of a widget. The AdSanity plugin allows you to include an ad or group of ads into the widget.

In order to block ads within a widget, first add a protected block to the widget. That's how you can use Divi.

Within the WordPress admin menu Navigate to Divi > Theme Customizer. Select Widgets followed by Sidebar.

When you add the protected block, just set it up to refer to the rule you want to reference. Make sure you select an option that allows you to hide the content of members who are included within the rule.

The following step is to insert your ad or ad group in the block that is protected. Then be sure to save the configuration and test it out!

The wrapping up process

It's clear that allows for easy control of content. If you're using ads for monetizing your blog, you'll need . Imagine generating consistent, reliable income from paying users or subscribers.

It's a great way to upsell those who are your faithful readers. And it doesn't require an enormous amount of effort. The most difficult part may be deliberating on the amount to charge for a subscription...

How Much to Charge for ad-free membership

And it doesn't take several paid members for this to be worthwhile. You should set a target to determine how many repeat customers you'd like to convert into paid members. Are you able to make just 10% of regular customers to sign up?

For a great example of this strategy using it check out my personal most-read recipe blog, 40Aprons. They're definitely one of our top clients too.

Watch NOW >>> 40 Aprons CUSTOMER STORY

Are you unsure of ways to boost sales through the creation of an advertisement-free version? Ask away in the comments section!