6 days after removing ads off my website and replaced with BTC donations.

[halfawake]

There are also Bitcoin advertising tools too that you can use, though I suspect that's probably not what you want since you mention that you're wanting to remove ads from your site, and this would just switch them to a different kind of ad.

[1715044993]

1715044993

[astrowilliam]

There are also Bitcoin advertising tools too that you can use, though I suspect that's probably not what you want since you mention that you're wanting to remove ads from your site, and this would just switch them to a different kind of ad.

I weighed a lot of different ad options. Some were lucrative, some were awful. I always went back to the fact that some times a user doesn't want ads. It's funny how that works, it's refreshing NOT to see ads.

[Blinken]

Create the following Venn diagram:

Circle A - people who visit your web site

Circle B - people who see an ad

Circle C - people who have 1 or more bitcoins

I think you will discover the problem.

[halfawake]

There are also Bitcoin advertising tools too that you can use, though I suspect that's probably not what you want since you mention that you're wanting to remove ads from your site, and this would just switch them to a different kind of ad.

I weighed a lot of different ad options. Some were lucrative, some were awful. I always went back to the fact that some times a user doesn't want ads. It's funny how that works, it's refreshing NOT to see ads.

I think it's a balancing act.  Some websites put up ads and make them annoying, others put them up in a non-annoying way.  Facebook was the only site that was annoying enough with ads (for me, anyway) that it prompted me to install AdBlock.  But you're right, it is refreshing not to see ads.

[astrowilliam]

There are also Bitcoin advertising tools too that you can use, though I suspect that's probably not what you want since you mention that you're wanting to remove ads from your site, and this would just switch them to a different kind of ad.

I weighed a lot of different ad options. Some were lucrative, some were awful. I always went back to the fact that some times a user doesn't want ads. It's funny how that works, it's refreshing NOT to see ads.

I think it's a balancing act.  Some websites put up ads and make them annoying, others put them up in a non-annoying way.  Facebook was the only site that was annoying enough with ads (for me, anyway) that it prompted me to install AdBlock.  But you're right, it is refreshing not to see ads.

Glad to know that it's refreshing to look at FB is pretty annoying. Instead of using AdBlock I just don't go there as much anymore.

[farlack]

Why not put bitcoin ads on it? Earn cash and let people know about bitcoin.

[CryptoPanda]

What you do is great case study, congrats on making the switch and please keep doing it.

[btcxyzzz]

There is no donation button on your front page and not even a Bitcoin address, and you expect donations? No wonder you have such low support.

[fengshu]

There is no donation button on your front page and not even a Bitcoin address, and you expect donations? No wonder you have such low support.

agree, i see no bitcoin address in your website,too

[superresistant]

Do you get money from ads nowadays with all the ad-blockers ?

[CoinMode]

6 days ago I posted http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/202pts/im_taking_the_ads_off_my_popular_website_and/ about taking all the ads off my website http://www.spaceindustrynews.com and replacing them with donation links for BTC. I plan on doing this for 6 months and at that time if I'm not making enough money to keep the servers up I'll have to switch back to a traditional model.

Here's a recap of what has happened and what I've learned so far from my experience.

I've received some very positive feedback about my move away from traditional advertising to a donation based format. I've been contacted by numerous people in the industry ( NASA, etc. ) about this. They are truly intrigued and didn't really understand how I was going to keep the lights on.

The BTC community has been overwhelmingly supportive through this transition as well. I've gotten so many messages from people that have built systems for easier BTC integration and I'm truly grateful for that.

Mind you, this is all still very much an experiment and will continue until I run out of money for hosting.

I know what you're thinking, how much BTC has been donated so far?
Day 1: I received 0.0125 BTC which equals ~ $8.00 USD.
Day 2: 0.0015 BTC = ~ $0.95 USD
Day 3: 0.00 BTC = $0.00USD
Day 4: 0.00 BTC = $0.00USD
Day 5: 0.00 BTC = $0.00USD
Day 6: 0.00 BTC = $0.00USD

There are probably a few reasons for this. One is that after the initial post moved down the page less BTC influencers were coming to the site. My normal audience comes from links and Google so who knows if they user BTC at all.

This news doesn't halt me one bit. I'm in this for a while and will continue doing what is right and what is good.
Like I said before, this is still only a few days old so there will be design changes, traffic changes. I'm 100% behind BTC and believe it is the future of currency.

I'd like to get your feedback on this move away from traditional ads to BTC only donations. What do you think?

To those that have donated, thank you. I really do appreciate it.

According to your website, you are lying. I see plenty of ads for Gyft/Verizon and nothing at all about bitcoin donations.

[Calhil]

How exactly can I donate? I was looking for some kind of a button or donation link but so far I found nothing. People wont donate if there is no easy way to do it.

[poblico]

You got my donation sir 

[5thStreetResearch]

I placed a donate Bitcoin button on my stock market analysis site http://5thstreetresearch.com/ about a month ago.  Granted I haven't had a chance to publish many new articles the past month or two but I have yet to receive one donation.  Its more than prominently enough placed in my opinion, maybe its the wrong crowd to expect btc's from.

[halfawake]

There is no donation button on your front page and not even a Bitcoin address, and you expect donations? No wonder you have such low support.

There was a donation button on his site yesterday when I posted my comment, but yes, it's not there now.  Presumably, he's working on the functionality.

[Brangdon]

I'd like to get your feedback on this move away from traditional ads to BTC only donations. What do you think?

I think Bitcoin isn't suitable for micro-transactions. I might be willing to spend £1/month on a site I use a lot, and for a casual donation to a site I visit casually I wouldn't want to spend more than 4p. That's 0.1 mBTC, so I'd have to double it to cover transaction fees.

So getting casual/spontaneous donations in bitcoin won't work, and you need to aim for larger donations, which probably means identifying the users you provide most value for and getting donations from them, which probably means offering some kind of subscription model.

[astrowilliam]

There is no donation button on your front page and not even a Bitcoin address, and you expect donations? No wonder you have such low support.

There was a donation button on his site yesterday when I posted my comment, but yes, it's not there now.  Presumably, he's working on the functionality.

Exactly, thank you for posting this as I was away and couldn't respond. I was working on getting everything set up with some layout changes. All is back to normal again, donations are back up.

[BitCoinDream]

There is no donation button on your front page and not even a Bitcoin address, and you expect donations? No wonder you have such low support.

There was a donation button on his site yesterday when I posted my comment, but yes, it's not there now.  Presumably, he's working on the functionality.

Exactly, thank you for posting this as I was away and couldn't respond. I was working on getting everything set up with some layout changes. All is back to normal again, donations are back up.

My suggestion :-

Dont kick out the ads, but change the approach...

1. Accept BTC ads. Use bitcoin ad networks. a-ads is a good option IMO.

2. Use freemium model. Look at Newsweek and u'll know what I mean. Make the site fundamentally free, but charge for interesting articles. Integrate the BTC payment option instead of FIAT.

3. Most important for long run - Have a link that'll tell your non-bitcoiner audience, what is Bitcoin. Tell them how Bitcoin can be easily implemented on Mars or even outside solar system. We can transact with aliens with Bitcoin, because they may not like to accept FIAT.

[astrowilliam]

You got my donation sir 

Thank you, I appreciate it. Your contribution will help pay for the servers. Not only that, but we are both helping promote BTC.

[astrowilliam]

There is no donation button on your front page and not even a Bitcoin address, and you expect donations? No wonder you have such low support.

There was a donation button on his site yesterday when I posted my comment, but yes, it's not there now.  Presumably, he's working on the functionality.

Exactly, thank you for posting this as I was away and couldn't respond. I was working on getting everything set up with some layout changes. All is back to normal again, donations are back up.

My suggestion :-

Dont kick out the ads, but change the approach...

1. Accept BTC ads. Use bitcoin ad networks. a-ads is a good option IMO.

2. Use freemium model. Look at Newsweek and u'll know what I mean. Make the site fundamentally free, but charge for interesting articles. Integrate the BTC payment option instead of FIAT.

3. Most important for long run - Have a link that'll tell your non-bitcoiner audience, what is Bitcoin. Tell them how Bitcoin can be easily implemented on Mars or even outside solar system. We can transact with aliens with Bitcoin, because they may not like to accept FIAT.

Thank you for the suggestions. Newsweek does a great job at this. It's all about education and promotion of BTC at this point.