How Does WordPress Make Money?

#1

Post by powertower » Sat, Oct 29, 2011, 7:17 PM UTC

How Does WordPress Make Money?
labnol.org

Re: How Does WordPress Make Money?

#2

Post by rick888 » Sat, Oct 29, 2011, 7:48 PM UTC

It also explains why they wanted the thesis theme to be GNU: so they can add it to their services and not have to pay for it, giving them more potential value at less cost to them.

Evil, but brilliant.

Re: How Does WordPress Make Money?

#3

Post by kristenlee » Sat, Oct 29, 2011, 8:40 PM UTC

Such a fascinating article, I guess there is money in open source software, provided you execute as well as the Automaticc team.

Re: How Does WordPress Make Money?

#4

Post by tzs » Sat, Oct 29, 2011, 8:46 PM UTC

It says they serve ads sometimes on free blogs, but if the visitor is using Firefox, they will not serve ads.

Anyone know why not?

Re: How Does WordPress Make Money?

#5

Post by n2linux » Sat, Oct 29, 2011, 9:03 PM UTC

tzs wrote: post #4

It says they serve ads sometimes on free blogs, but if the visitor is using Firefox, they will not serve ads. Anyone know why not?

WordPress.com serves ads to everyone unless you are logged in to a WordPress.com account or are running some kind of ad blocking plugin in your browser. This bit about not serving ads simply because you are running Firefox is simply untrue.

Re: How Does WordPress Make Money?

#6

Post by rachelbaker » Sat, Oct 29, 2011, 9:41 PM UTC

Missing from the article is mention of VaultPress, the WordPress backup and support service http://vaultpress.com/

Re: How Does WordPress Make Money?

#7

Post by dotBen » Sat, Oct 29, 2011, 10:16 PM UTC

n2linux wrote: post #5

tzs wrote: post #4

It says they serve ads sometimes on free blogs, but if the visitor is using Firefox, they will not serve ads. Anyone know why not?

WordPress.com serves ads to everyone unless you are logged in to a WordPress.com account or are running some kind of ad blocking plugin in your browser. This bit about not serving ads simply because you are running Firefox is simply untrue.

Actually, it is true.

I'm not sure the exact history of it all, but I know that at a State of the Word presentation at a WordCamp many years ago, Matt M said that they were serving ads to Internet Explorer users to try to convince them to switch.

Re: How Does WordPress Make Money?

#8

Post by thmzlt » Sat, Oct 29, 2011, 10:30 PM UTC

dotBen wrote: post #7

n2linux wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WordPress.com serves ads to everyone unless you are logged in to a WordPress.com account or are running some kind of ad blocking plugin in your browser. This bit about not serving ads simply because you are running Firefox is simply untrue.

Actually, it is true. I'm not sure the exact history of it all, but I know that at a State of the Word presentation at a WordCamp many years ago, Matt M said that they were serving ads to Internet Explorer users to try to convince them to switch.

It sounds like an effective way to force users to update/upgrade their software.

Re: How Does WordPress Make Money?

#9

Post by powertower » Sat, Oct 29, 2011, 10:42 PM UTC

thmzlt wrote: post #8

dotBen wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, it is true. I'm not sure the exact history of it all, but I know that at a State of the Word presentation at a WordCamp many years ago, Matt M said that they were serving ads to Internet Explorer users to try to convince them to switch.

It sounds like an effective way to force users to update/upgrade their software.

It's much more likely that their Firefox user-base had extremely low click-throughs on ads, so they turned it off for them, and in turn increased the overall click-through numbers ... which can influence how much they get per click.

Re: How Does WordPress Make Money?

#10

Post by n2linux » Sat, Oct 29, 2011, 10:53 PM UTC

dotBen wrote: post #7

n2linux wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WordPress.com serves ads to everyone unless you are logged in to a WordPress.com account or are running some kind of ad blocking plugin in your browser. This bit about not serving ads simply because you are running Firefox is simply untrue.

Actually, it is true. I'm not sure the exact history of it all, but I know that at a State of the Word presentation at a WordCamp many years ago, Matt M said that they were serving ads to Internet Explorer users to try to convince them to switch.

I am an Automattic employee.

We do serve ads equally to all browser types. :)

[edited to note that I am talking about ads that can potentially generate revenue, not any other ads we may have run in the past to convince people to upgrade their browsers]