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Jeff Chandler

No More Ad Free WPCandy

pressed ads logoWPCandy has announced that they have launched a new service called Pressed Ads. While WPCandy was initially surviving ad free thanks to their Powered By System, reality has sunk in. Their powered by system will now be going in two directions, one for their readers and one for businesses. The unique advertising network will be centered around WordPress centric products and services while also being invite only for advertisers and publishers. It looks like the goal is to have Pressed Ads show up on the most influential WordPress sites which will provide extremely high relevancy with regards to the type of advertising that will be displayed on those sites through the network. Since the beginning of the year, the powered by system, has enabled Ryan to work on WPCandy full time which is amazing in and of itself.

I for one wish Ryan the best of luck. If he can manage to find a way to get paid enough money to live a semi decent life while putting food on the table not made of Ramen noodles which also allows him to work on WPCandy full-time, more power to him. He would then be accomplishing everything I didn’t. I tried advertising and managing that myself, affiliate programs, the botched VIP section in the forum and in fact, donations. None of the revenue was guaranteed and at times, I would go a few weeks without receiving a dime. I think my downfall in the advertising was that I was not a salesman and for the most part, didn’t want to be one. The best situation that could have happened for me was if I could find someone willing to pay me a flat fee on a weekly basis. Sort of like an investment, an investment in ME and the content I publish. That way, WPTavern ended up more like a job for me that I knew I was going to get paid for versus busting my ass and sometimes reaping no rewards. But I could never figure out how I’d convince anyone to go through with that type of investment, at least not anyone with the kind of income that would even consider it valuable to do so. I just wanted to concentrate on generating the content I and my readers/listeners enjoyed without going broke.

Right now, WPCandy is the place to be. It’s the hip spot when it comes to WordPress news and community. Ryan knows the people he needs to know and it’s obvious he has the support of some great companies that are backing him on his work with WPCandy and now, Pressed Ads. Now it’s time to see if his passion and desire along with all that support are enough to get him and the site up to the next level.

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12 responses to “No More Ad Free WPCandy”

  1. I think it’s a great move too. Tasteful advertising just as before. Before? Yes, in fact, WPCandy had ads before (in my view). They were just called “powered by [insert advertiser here]”. Some people are actually freaking out because WPCandy replaced an ad with… an ad. So yeah, Ryan has actually been good salesman in his own kind of way.

    I’ll be looking forward to seeing Pressed Ads popping up here and there. If anybody can screen worthy advertisers and publishers it’s Mr. Imel.

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  2. WPCandy consists of a very active and dedicated team, no doubt about that. But there’s always been this little something that bugs me about them.. I don’t know what it is exactly, yet I’m sure the one who removed them from the WordPress news feeds and I have the same feeling.

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  6. Ryan is a really cool guy, I met him at WordCamp SF. Turns out he lives right around the corner from my parents! (A long way from San Fran)

    I recall (i.e., IIRC) when he started out he was going to give ad-free a shot, which influenced how I was thinking about monetizing myself as our content (at that time) overlapped a little bit. It was a little distressing as his costs (rent, etc) are a lot lower and the business environment in Indiana is a lot friendlier to small businesses than in California (Hey, Jerry Brown, are listening?). But that’s business, and it’s a good thing.

    I have no doubt Ryan is going to continue to knock it out of the ball park. And truth be told, The Summit City (Fort Wayne) is an excellent place to build exactly what he is building.

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  7. @jeffro, I’m in a similar position with Website In A Weekend as you are with WP Tavern. I actually have made some coin, but it turns out the site was better at establishing my credibility and expertise than it was at moving product. Likewise, I’m not that interested in low-margin, high-volume sales, and as it turns out, I prefer the authorship end of publication over the publishing end of publication.

    However, I’m both winding down and ramping up.

    On the winding down side, not going to post myself on a frequent schedule. Perhaps monthly with articles going into far greater depth than the usual dreck found in Blogistan. On the ramping up side, going to overall the presentation of all the material, and continue to publish guest posts. (Expect an email from me at some point.)

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  9. Thanks for the coverage Jeff. Just wanted to point out a couple of things.

    You mention that WPCandy was “surviving ad free” via the Powered By system, and then “reality has sunk in” and now there are ads. That’s not quite how it went; the site was doing well, beyond “surviving.” I might not have made it clear enough in my announcement post, so that’s likely my mistake.

    The site was doing well — like you said, I’ve been working on it full time since January. But the way the old system was structured left little room for growth. I’d like WPCandy to be a full time team rather than just a full time me. This puts the site on track for that.

    @Steven Gliebe – Thanks for the support Steven, I appreciate it.

    @Kevin Paquet – Sorry to hear that. If you figure out what bugs you about the site/me, let me know.

    @Dave Doolin – Thanks Dave, it was nice meeting you.

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  10. @Ryan Imel – It might not be how it went, but reality did sink in when the realization came about that “donations” were not going to be the way to move up the next level and that advertising is what needed to happen.

    I’d like WPCandy to be a full time team rather than just a full time me.

    An admirable goal, something that I wanted but didn’t have the cash to hire the people to make that a reality. In my case, I didn’t want to be the boss or the marketer. I just wanted to be the content producer without limits. A (you pay me and I’ll produce) kind of relationship. Life sucks when you have to wear all those hats without doing what it is you really want to do. I’ll be watching how you progress with the team approach, you already know what I think in terms of what would be the best, kick ass type of site dedicated to WordPress and the projects surrounding it. Maybe your the guy to make it a reality.

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  11. Jeffro, I don’t quite understand how you are not able to monetize this blog. It seems like you have an awesome fan base and you keep pumping out great content. This site seems like it would be a great candidate for BuySellAds, where you could be paid monthly and not have to be a “salesman” of any sort. Additionally, with your traffic, it also seems like you could make a killing with Google’s Adsense, I’m not sure if either of these go against your vision for the blog but they seem like they would make you quite a bit of money.

    I love your site and wish you all the best.

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