How Anna Duggar’s Words Are Making Money For Jim Bob And Michelle Duggar
Anna Duggar recently released a short statement updating fans on how she’s doing in the wake of her husband’s cheating scandal, and her in-laws really want to make sure you see it. So is there a reason Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are pushing fans to go to their family website and read Anna’s words?
On Saturday, January 23, the Duggars shared a link to Anna Duggar’s statement on the Duggar Family Official Facebook page. Their Facebook preview included the first few sentences of Anna’s update, but fans had to click through to the Duggar Family website to read the rest of her words. The short statement was published on Michelle Duggar’s blog, but it definitely wasn’t the length of an average blog post—it was just a one-paragraph update.
Two days later, the Duggars posted another link to Anna Duggar’s statement on their Facebook page. Even though Anna’s words have also been shared on major websites like Us Weekly, People, and Cosmopolitan, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar wrote that they were re-sharing her statement in case anyone missed it.
“Uhhh..missed what?” Mary Myers Mikalayunas wrote in response to the second link. “Wasn’t the 900+ comments enough? Is there some sort of underlying message you think people have missed?”
The original post also garnered over 240 shares and 13,000 likes.
Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar could have easily shared Anna Duggar’s full statement directly on their family’s Facebook page, but they posted it on their website instead. The reason they most likely did this might raise a few eyebrows: They can make money off of Anna’s words if people read her statement on their website. If they simply shared it on Facebook, this wouldn’t be a possibility.
Two ad blocks show up on the same page as Anna Duggar’s statement, and there are two ways the Duggars can make money from these ad spaces: CPC (Cost-Per-Click) advertising and CPM (Cost-Per-Mille, or “thousand”) advertising. According to the Grow Traffic blog, websites don’t earn money from CPC ads unless they’re clicked. The Duggars have placed one ad at the bottom of the page where it’s unlikely to get clicked on, but this doesn’t mean that they aren’t making money off of it—CPM ads can earn a website owner money simply by sitting there. The cost for these ads is set per thousand impressions, or page views. Some of the ads on the Duggar Family website are Google ads, and Google uses a combination of CPM and CPC advertising.
Even though the Duggars are really pushing their fans to read Anna Duggar’s update, she doesn’t divulge much new information in it.
“Many have asked how I am doing. So many have asked that its [sic] actually humbling and touching,” Anna wrote. “[The year 2015] was the most difficult year of my life. Yet, amazingly I’ve found that in my own life crisis God has drawn near to me (‘He’s near to the brokenhearted’ Psalms 34:18) and my faith has been more precious to me than ever before.”
These words shouldn’t shock those who have been following the Duggar family’s multiple scandals. As The Inquisitr previously reported, Anna had already talked about how Josh’s cheating brought her closer to God during the three-part TLC special, Jill & Jessa: Counting On. Her in-laws, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, also said that Josh Duggar’s sexual molestation scandal strengthened the faith of every member of their family.
Anna’s statement does include a bit of info that some Duggar fans will actually find interesting.
“Just recently I visited Josh. It was an important step on a long difficult road,” Anna writes.
However, this information also isn’t very surprising. Last month, Radar Online reported that a few members of the Duggar family paid Josh a visit on Christmas Eve. In her short update, Anna Duggar leaves out all the juicy details of her visit with Josh, who is currently staying at the faith-based Reformers Unanimous treatment center in Rockford, Illinois. He checked into the facility after he admitted to cheating on Anna, and he’s been spending his days praying and studying the Bible ever since.
Staying at Reformers for the last few months has kept Josh out of the public eye, but his family members certainly aren’t shying away from the spotlight – the Duggars talked about Josh’s many troubles on the Jill & Jessa: Counting On special, and the family recently began filming a new TLC special or series. Anna didn’t mention this is her update.
“I want to thank all of you for your prayers and your messages of hope,” Anna wrote. “I can never express how your kindness and prayers have brought encouragement when I needed it most—outpacing the grief and discouragement at every turn. I trust that God will continue to show His love and tenderness toward us and bring beauty from ashes—somehow—as only He can do. Please continue to pray for me, Josh and our children.”
Do you think it’s okay for the Duggar family to use Anna Duggar’s words to make money, or would it have been more tasteful to share her update directly on their Facebook page?
[Image via Josh Duggar/Instagram]
