Even before the pandemic hit us, the global consumer was becoming more conscious of his or her footprint. In the stock markets, there was a lot of talk of an economic recession for this very reason. You could even argue that the pandemic showed up at an ideal time for anyone who was trying to talk away the recession conversation, like political leaders and banks.

But the warning signs were all there. People suddenly realised how silly it was to buy a pair of shoes that has to be shipped across the Atlantic. People are aware of the carbon footprint, the human cost and the destruction of wild habitat that the food we buy, the clothes we wear, the makeup we buy, the bottled water we drink is leaving behind! The destruction of the Amazon is but one of these sad and dangerous stories.

We know we have more waste to clear up from the last 50 years of savage consumerism that it is killing us now. And our children will inherit this mess. We also know that, even after months at home, with 70-80% less cars on our roads, the CO2 levels have not even dropped. That is a serious red alert.

Beyond the pandemic, I believe the average consumer will want to shift. And we may actually have no choice but to stop living the way we do now, whether we like it or not. While some continue to point the fingers at politicians and lobbyists, the fact is, it’s us, the consumers, who continue to consume like its no biggie. My God, just look at the amount of plastic rubbish an average family takes to the recycling bin. And who needs a pair of shoes that needs to be shipped from across the globe??? Serious question.

No doubt people are taking their rubbish to the recycling bin more and more. That’s great. But what do we do with all that plastic???

So, recycling and upcycling is the future. In fact, I’m betting its the present already. I’ve been doing a few tests quietly – I uploaded a number of videos created by people from all over YouTube. There’s playlists for people who want to make their own soap, make diaries from leftover paper, learn to sew a new bed for their pups, revamp some old clothes into new ones.

I wanted to see if my views of modern-day consumers was correct. My findings are astounding. Whereas, before, the average visitor to OhSoGreen would visit 7-9 pages with an average visit of 5-8 minutes per visit, I now find that visitors are spending over 20 minutes on OhSoGreen with an average of 19 pageviews per unique visitor. Plus, people are likelier to subscribe to my newsletter too. Subscription rates were at a measly 1-2% before I added the new DIY section. Now, my subscription numbers have soared to over 38% of my visitors.

But the share rate has also gone way up. Before I added the DIY playlists, I was seeing 1 share in every 70+ unique visitor. Now, I’m seeing 1 share in every 12 unique visitors. That’s astounding.

Sure, OhSoGreen does attract people who are predisposed to information about recycling and upclycling because it is part of their lifestyle – they are vegans, or curious about veganism. They are already informed consumers who choose products that are eco-friendly too. They advocate for local shopping. They are conscious beings who choose to consume what they need rather than what they want.

Make no mistake about this, this market-share is rising. If you are still invested in promoting sales for Amazon, I highly recommend you consider an alternative revenue stream for your economic safety. The numbers don’t lie. Consumers are indeed consuming less. And that bodes poorly for Amazon affiliates.

>>> Check out our brand new OhSoGreen Videos.

Of course, the reason DIY has become such a phenomenon is also down to the creativity we’re seeing out there. Creators are conjuring up fun projects that make people want to try out for themselves.

But, you may ask, where is the money in that? Simple. Advertising.

Amazon will still report a billion dollars in sales this Christmas. No doubt. But the amount of affiliates making a decent earning will be so much smaller. It doesn’t help that Bezos decided to lower commissions this year. And he lowered commissions because consumerism is down and he wants to line his pockets, not your’s.

>> Learn more about Ethical Ads

So, the future for bloggers lies in advertising. As a vegan blogger, you are part of a very specific niche that is growing. Advertisers want to tap into our world and our visitors.

Given the lower sales rates that will hit the consumer market this Christmas, many, many, many bloggers have already shifted to advertising in order to make sure they have a decent revenue guaranteed for the next few hard, trying months.

If you spend time looking at what’s ticking in the affiliate blogger world, you’ll notice its advertising plugins. Of course, one serious issue they are having to work around is how to overcome the adblockers currently being used by over 500 million people. That’s half a billion people!

Astute internet surfers do not like Google ads or the likes. People are moving away from mainstream social media for the same reason – invasion of privacy. Anyone out there still yelling, I have nothing to hide, then please read this. It’s important every one of us understands the consequences.

With all this in mind, earlier this year, OhSoGreen joined forces with The Green Affiliate. Created by a long-time member at OhSoGreen, Jack is the brain behind Ethical Ads, an advertising and publisher network that is ethical – no intrusion, no abuse. In fact, it even passes adblockers because it delivers non-invasive ads to our visitors.

Here’s an ad from Ethical Ads right here on this page. If you look at your browser for cookies, you will simply find a session cookie that Ethical Ads uses to deliver this ad to this page. Once you leave this page, the cookie disappears by itself. It does not download to your computer, nor does it suck up any personal data about your location, computer, nothing. That is Ethical.

The next best thing about Ethical Ads is that it only accepts ads from ethical advertisers – eco-friendly, people-friendly and animal-friendly products and services. In other words, it is vegan! Exclusive.

Here’s a €50 coupon for you to try out Ethical Ads right now.  This new Ethical alternative to Google AdSense is already attracting lifestyle and fashion bloggers to publish Ethical Ads in their blogs, giving vegan products and services a huge global audience.

Here’s a case study showing how our long-time member Amelie has been cashing in big with Ethical Ads.

>>> How to create an alternative revenue stream for your business automatically.