WordPress: Sponsored Posts

~ beetleypete

I received this notification from WordPress when I logged on this morning. Perhaps everybody got one, but just in case you didn’t see it this is by way of information.

WordPress.com has started testing Native Sponsored Posts. This is an extension of our advertising program and will have the same controls and restrictions as our standard ad placements.
You may see these Sponsored Posts running on your sites as we expand testing. They may be promoting WordPress.com content, marketing initiatives, or brands.
Longer term, we hope to offer Sponsored Posts to our users as a way to help drive traffic and promote content discovery. For any questions or issues, see our Native Sponsored Posts FAQ.

https://wordpress.com/support/native-sponsored-posts/

It seems that WordPress is testing out its new plan to generate extra income by offering sponsored posts to users. Eventually, this will give you the opportunity, should you want it, to pay them for sending one of your posts to users. Meanwhile, they will be trialling posts containing their own content, and also that of various brand advertisers. These will appear as posts, not obviously as advertisements.

You will have no control on what you receive, or how frequently you receive them. The only option to avoid receiving them is to upgrade to one of the various paid plans offered by WordPress. If you have one of those, sponsored post will not appear on your site. (For now…)

Just so you know.

81 thoughts on “WordPress: Sponsored Posts”

    1. At the moment they are only trialling their own posts, but the plan is to allow anyone to pay for a sponsored post that will be added to blogs of free-use bloggers. You would have to contact them directly for more details.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  3. Thanks for the heads-up, Pete. I just checked my announcement sidebar, and I don’t see the notice–which doesn’t mean I didn’t receive it. I’m on the Premium plan, so hopefully, I can maintain control of my site’s content.

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    1. Yes, adding the pay button was sent to a lot of us, I think. As you and I both pay for upgrades, let’s hope we will not be seeing any sponsored posts on our blogs.
      Best wishes, Pete. x

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  10. Pingback: WordPress: Sponsored Posts — beetleypete – Ba,zanna

  11. Given that you can self host for a little over £3 a month, and have your own domain for a tenner a year I think they may be pushing people away in the long run.
    Most web hosting companies offer free migration nowadays, I just think it needs more of a push to make people aware of this. Then everyone could be ad and promotion free đŸ™‚

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    1. I think they will keep it free to attract advertisers to the countless millions who use the free platform. But I am sure that free users will have to tolerate more advertising intrusion in the future, as well as limited access to some features that will become ‘pay to use’ options.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  16. Thanks for the heads up. I haven’t seen this notification yet but the concept is certainly annoying. I have a paid site so for now I’m okay. I guess they’re trying to push bloggers to pay for their services. They may push many off their software altogether!

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    1. Yet another income generation stream for them. I am sure that most of the users are on the free site option, and therefore get no say on what is foisted on them. That’s sad, I think.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  17. Well fellows, we knew it was bound to happen. FB, Instagram and all the others, now WP. I have a premium plan and so far have not seen the notification. I will not be happy if they start inserting ads into my post. One thing that did happen a month ago. I posted a short post about rock music and how nowadays it has become so political with the likes of Springsteen, Madonna and others. Within a few hours, it was gone. Poof, vanished. My draft was also deleted. So what gives here? I contacted WP via email, but so far, no reply. Let’s hope they don’t become another FB.

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    1. Phil, I also have a Premium Plan, and according to WP, we will not have these sponsored posts added to our blogs. I have never had a post deleted so far, but I have no doubt they can do that if they want to. The platform provider has all the power, obviously!
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  18. Hmmmmmm….putting their posts on your blog, and you have no control over it? My sites are paid, so I didn’t receive this, but I’d hate to imagine some of the “posts” that I’m going to get from you, Pete – ones you know nothing about!

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      1. Good to know Pete…I hope that WordPress doesn’t alienate bloggers with this aggressive $$$ push…as it is, some of the “ads” they plaster on the bottom of posts are borderline offensive and certainly “bottom of the barrel” – hope you are in the midst of a fun, relaxed weekend!

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        1. I agree. The ads I see on other sites are ‘low-rent’, ro say the least.
          Not exactly a fun-filled weekend, but I did have a nice walk with Ollie, on a sunny but very cold afternoon. đŸ™‚
          (My wife is busy wrapping Christmas presents in the living room!)

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    1. These are in addition to the usual ads as I understand it, Maggie. Actual posts that will be ‘added’ to the free blogs and headlined ‘Sponsored Post’.
      Best wishes, Pete..

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  22. Thanks for the heads-up, Pete. I hadn’t read about that yet, but that may be because I am on paid plans. So, they have found another way to generate money. Actually, I think they should pay the bloggers because they’re using the blogs for their advertising. But I think that’s quite a vain hope. đŸ˜‰ It really is a pity that one can’ do anything about it. But, unfortunately, is the way the Internet goes nowadays. Just think of the fact the FaceBook helped the Trump campaign and that – willingly or not – all FaceBook useres supported that. So, what can we do? Return to the use of carrier pigeons?
    Have a great weekend,
    Pit

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    1. I’m on a paid plan, Pit. The Premium Plan. This appeared as a notification in my admin page sidebar. When I was on a free plan, I accepted that the advertising was paying for that option, but I feel uneasy about allowing anyone to pay a fee to have their post appear on somone else’s site. As it says in the WP blurb, those of us who pay will be spared that. At least for now. đŸ™‚
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  23. So far nothing in my panel. I’m self-hosted, so maybe it won’t affect me. Of course, if their ads are a horrible as the ones attached to emails, they will regret it.

    I’m exhausted of every day getting notices of problems with plugins. It gets so frequent that you wonder how the platform stays functional. Always a dire warning of 1 million sites vulnerable due to a plugin. Here’s a thought, have the developer fix the dang thing, then it auto updates without telling people how horribly bad your vetting process was for plugins.

    This is exactly why I run ad-blockers in my browsers.

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  24. đŸ˜® Huh? I do not want sponsored posts on my blog (And, thankfully, they have not appeared on my blog).

    So far, I have not received any email of that nature.

    I am using the free version of WordPress and I am fully aware that WordPress will place its ads on my blog.

    Sponsored posts are certainly out of the question. If I am made to endure that type of stuff, I will delete my blog!

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    1. This wasn’t an email, Renard, it was a ‘notification’ in the sidebar on my admin page. I think you will eventually receive sponsored posts placed on your blog, like it or not,.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  27. I have had a sponsored post for something or other on my blog for several months so I’m surprised that WordPress are only announcing this now. Obviously I don’t want to spam anyone, and I guess that sponsored posts wouldn’t constitute spam as they would only be sent to those who had specifically signed up to receive posts from a given blog. However, given that people sign up to get content from a given blogger (not WordPress sponsored posts sent to them), perhaps this would be construed as junk? I would be unhappy if sponsored content not pertaining to my blog’s content (poetry) where to be displayed. I.E. buy Dorothy’s tasty sausages! However nice Dorothy’s sausages may be, they do not relate to poetry! Best wishes. Kevin

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  28. I have to confess to being one of the people using the free option, Pete: I think I’ve always known that there would be advertising accompanying my posts, so apologies to all if this is annoying! đŸ˜€ Cheers, Jon.

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      1. Like the damn silly thing that tells you how many days you have posted. Whoever came up with that should be shot at dawn! I’ve been posting on a daily basis for TEN YEARS! Do they mention that fact? No!!!

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