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On my site we follow a couple of the practices you mention: - No dynamic ad content (we do allow geo-ip targeting for continents and countries, but this is usi

On my site we follow a couple of the practices you mention: - No dynamic ad content (we do allow geo-ip targeting for continents and countries, but this is using a self-hosted maxmind list) - Half-month or Monthly advertising time slots In addition to those practices, we also do the following: - Self-host our ads - Sell our own ads and have direct relationship with the ad buyers - No animated advertising (only static graphics) - Advertising is tailored to the content on our website which is an indirect way of targeting users (if users enjoy our content, they will likely find value in the ads). edit: One of the benefits of the time-slot method of selling advertising is that it doesn't encourage methods of maximizing impressions (clickbait, galleries, etc) and also there is no reason to try to game clicks as with CPC.

Pick-A-Hill2019 6y ago
When you say 'on my site' would it be correct to say that you are talking about the one in your 'about' section? If so I was motivated to take a look as a way of expressing support for your design choices. However, you are using a Google-Analytics script???? Nothing wrong with that Buuuuttt.... uhm, yeah.
- stevesearer 6y ago
  Yeah, I would like to not use GA too in the ideal world too :/ That said, we do use the Anonymize IP setting and have all of the demographic / interest settings turned off for Google Analytics. We basically whittled 3rd party stuff down to GA and a Google font, so while not 100% perfect, I am pretty happy with the strides we have made.
  - Pick-A-Hill2019 6y ago
    Thanks for replying. I commented on it because I spotted the Google Ajax calls which sort of lead me to believe that you might have also been using Google for the Geo-Location stuff. When combined with the GA stuff it made me do a 'hang on a minute, something doesn't match up'. Thanks for taking the time to clarify.
  - searchableguy 6y ago
    Have you thought about moving to posthog or plausible? https://plausible.io/ https://plausible.io/ https://posthog.com/ https://posthog.com/
    - stevesearer 6y ago
      I have looked into alternatives before, but not either of those actually. Plausible looks more promising of the two and I will check it out (PostHog could also be, but I didn't really understand the features as it related to a normal WordPress website). It would be interesting to know how other Plausible users have found their traffic numbers compare vs Google Analytics. Likely that some users would be counted that weren't before, while perhaps bot filtering works differently.
      - ksec 6y ago
        Due to the privacy focused nature Plausible doesn't track returning users.
  - XCSme 6y ago
    I almost managed to remove all 3rd parties too (apart from the tawk.to chat widget, until I implement a custom contact form). If you are looking to replace Google Analytics with a self-hosted solution (to fully eliminate 3rd parties) you can check out the analytics platform I'm building: https://www.usertrack.net https://www.usertrack.net
    - stevesearer 6y ago
      I actually did try UserTrack a couple of months ago using the self-hosting option and it was easy to get going, though was missing a few metrics we use in addition to event tracking.
      - XCSme 6y ago
        Wow, that's cool that you already tried it! Could you tell me what was the most important metric missing from userTrack for you? I keep adding new features (eg. just recently added the ability to filter all sessions from a specific user), so knowing which ones are the most common requested is really helpful!
jlund-molfese 6y ago
Do you have any thoughts on the financial impact of self-hosting vs using something like Google Ads? I'd assume you mostly made that choice for ethical reasons, right? I noticed that my ad blocker doesn't block your ads, and like you mentioned, they don't interrupt the browsing experience. They're almost like those in a high-quality paper magazine!
- stevesearer 6y ago
  We initially used Google Ads, but phased them out 6-7 years ago because the ads were lower quality than we wanted and missing a big chunk of the ad sale due to Google's fees. If I remember correctly, we used Google and self-hosted for a while, but eventually it made financial sense to replace the Google Ad slots with self-hosted so we were able to capture the full ad sale. Several years on, I am really happy with the decision and it is great to not be subject to the whims of an ad marketplace we have no control over.

Pick-A-Hill2019 6y ago

When you say 'on my site' would it be correct to say that you are talking about the one in your 'about' section? If so I was motivated to take a look as a way of expressing support for your design choices. However, you are using a Google-Analytics script???? Nothing wrong with that Buuuuttt.... uhm, yeah.

stevesearer 6y ago
Yeah, I would like to not use GA too in the ideal world too :/ That said, we do use the Anonymize IP setting and have all of the demographic / interest settings turned off for Google Analytics. We basically whittled 3rd party stuff down to GA and a Google font, so while not 100% perfect, I am pretty happy with the strides we have made.
- Pick-A-Hill2019 6y ago
  Thanks for replying. I commented on it because I spotted the Google Ajax calls which sort of lead me to believe that you might have also been using Google for the Geo-Location stuff. When combined with the GA stuff it made me do a 'hang on a minute, something doesn't match up'. Thanks for taking the time to clarify.
- searchableguy 6y ago
  Have you thought about moving to posthog or plausible? https://plausible.io/ https://plausible.io/ https://posthog.com/ https://posthog.com/
  - stevesearer 6y ago
    I have looked into alternatives before, but not either of those actually. Plausible looks more promising of the two and I will check it out (PostHog could also be, but I didn't really understand the features as it related to a normal WordPress website). It would be interesting to know how other Plausible users have found their traffic numbers compare vs Google Analytics. Likely that some users would be counted that weren't before, while perhaps bot filtering works differently.
    - ksec 6y ago
      Due to the privacy focused nature Plausible doesn't track returning users.
- XCSme 6y ago
  I almost managed to remove all 3rd parties too (apart from the tawk.to chat widget, until I implement a custom contact form). If you are looking to replace Google Analytics with a self-hosted solution (to fully eliminate 3rd parties) you can check out the analytics platform I'm building: https://www.usertrack.net https://www.usertrack.net
  - stevesearer 6y ago
    I actually did try UserTrack a couple of months ago using the self-hosting option and it was easy to get going, though was missing a few metrics we use in addition to event tracking.
    - XCSme 6y ago
      Wow, that's cool that you already tried it! Could you tell me what was the most important metric missing from userTrack for you? I keep adding new features (eg. just recently added the ability to filter all sessions from a specific user), so knowing which ones are the most common requested is really helpful!

jlund-molfese 6y ago

Do you have any thoughts on the financial impact of self-hosting vs using something like Google Ads? I'd assume you mostly made that choice for ethical reasons, right? I noticed that my ad blocker doesn't block your ads, and like you mentioned, they don't interrupt the browsing experience. They're almost like those in a high-quality paper magazine!

stevesearer 6y ago
We initially used Google Ads, but phased them out 6-7 years ago because the ads were lower quality than we wanted and missing a big chunk of the ad sale due to Google's fees. If I remember correctly, we used Google and self-hosted for a while, but eventually it made financial sense to replace the Google Ad slots with self-hosted so we were able to capture the full ad sale. Several years on, I am really happy with the decision and it is great to not be subject to the whims of an ad marketplace we have no control over.