Instead of donations
I see a lot of donation buttons on peoples blogs. I’m thinking that most bloggers don’t make much with that option. The ones i’ve conversed with have told me that they usually don’t make anything from people donating. So i was thinking that they should get rid of it. Why put up a donation button when no body in their right mind will donate to your blog. I’ve never donated my hard earned cash to a blogger, and i’m guessing that none of you have either. If i’m going to donate, it’ll be to save the whales or fight polutions, not pay some make money blogger. Honestly, have you ever donated your cash to a blogger? Didn’t think so.
Instead of the tired ass donating method, why not implement another way to monetize your site. Basically, you’re asking for a donation. A tip. Well, let’s think about this for a moment. Who do you give tips to. Waitresses, taxi drivers, the sax player on Michigan Blvd. Tips costs money. If i was walking down the street and some guy performed a cool magic trick and i had some loose change in my pocket, i might consider giving that to him as a tip. But online, i’m not going to paypal a dollar to a blogger for writing a good post. No way. I don’t expect any of you to do that either. I think i work hard at writing quality posts, but i’m not ever going to ask you to hand over a few dollars to show your appreciation. That’s kinda cheap. Low class if you ask me.
Instead, why not set up something where your readers can pay you without paying you. Huh? Confused? Let me explain. There are affiliate commissions where you get paid for signups. If someone click on your link and signup for a dating site, or new social networking site, you’ll get paid for it. So i was thinking that this could replace the old donation method of monetization. Why not? Better then having your readers pay out of their pockets. Let the affiliate advertiser pay. Your readers show you some appreciation for a job well done, and you get paid, and it didn’t cost your reader a dime. Win win situation. Even the advertiser wins. They get a new signup.
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BloggerNoob is all about
February 29th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
I’m surprised noones actually thought of that one before. How would that approach fit in with most affiliates terms and conditions though?
February 29th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
This method already exists. Its called incentivizing offers.
Sites like cashninja.com already use this but your offers have to be incentive-allowed for that. Cpastorm have many signups like that.
February 29th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Hey Noob,
I’ve never tried the donating thing so can’t say whether it has worked for me or not, I understand where you’re coming from though it does seem kinda cheeky/ desperate to ask for money for writing a good post.
As bobzilla stated above I don’t think the advertisers would like your idea (even though I do lol), yes the advertiser gets a signup but as you know in this game a useless signup is as good as no signup.
Anyway I thought digg, stumble etc was a way of showing appreciation sending a blogger more traffic can be the next best thing to cold hard cash
Thanks
Pete Moore
February 29th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
How about some middle ground?
Tell your readers something like: “buy something on ebay through my link to help support this site.”
That way, the reader actually buys something so the blogger is happy, the reader is happy, and the affiliate (in this case ebay) is happy.
AL
February 29th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
bobzilla- people use incentivized affiliate links. just not in the form of donations. we see a lot of the incentivized stuff on coupon and deal sites. fatwalletc etc. just need to find the affiliates that accept incentivized ads.
neotrepreneur- yup. never been to cashninja. must check them out.
pete- digging, stumbling, and stuff like that also works. great comment. i think i will test this out one of these days. ask my readers to signup. it won’t cost anyting just a few mins. and see how many actually do it for me.
al- you mean like lord of the rings? middle ground? i see what you mean, but my point was spending money. donation costs money. buying something costs money. but a free affiliate signup doesn’t. just a few mins. i think it’s an easier sell for readers.
February 29th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
yeah, I agree with you. I dont see the donation thing as something that works well when monetising a blog. getting paid for signups is so simple and easy and as you said, everyone wins.
February 29th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
gerri- thank you. have you tired this out? i did with another blog of mine, didn’t make much but i did make like 8 dollars. i think 8 dollars still a lot more then what the average blogger makes with donations.
February 29th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
I have a button to help buy witchypoo a decent camera. I got $20 from another blogger towards that fund.
March 1st, 2008 at 12:21 am
witchypoo- someone actually donated 20 bucks? wow, that’s amazing. But your blog is different. your readers are loyal and you’ve build up friendships. Most blogs that make money don’t have such a loyal base of readers. you are the exception to the rule
March 1st, 2008 at 9:33 am
Interesting… although most CPL (that doesn’t cost the end user anything) isn’t allowed to be incentivized otherwise it would be open to a lot of gaming.
I don’t like blind donations; I do think you should offer people that donate something other than just good blog posts, as you should be putting up good ones anyways. I’m thinking of using Scratchback(.com) soon as they give those that donate a link on your blog, which is a lot better than getting jack all.
March 2nd, 2008 at 12:50 am
jason- good point. i guess this depends on how you look at blackhat or bluehat tactics for monetization with affiliates. the guys that make a lot of money with affiliates usually don’t always follow the rules. i think the big make money bloggers all cheat the system.
June 30th, 2009 at 4:20 am
As a Newbie, I am always searching online for articles that can help me. Thank you
August 30th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
I liked reading your blog…keep up the good work.
September 19th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Bitte, k?nnen Sie PM mich und sage mir, noch einige denkt
June 10th, 2010 at 5:35 am
i love your blog,really nice