Blog Tipz

Recently, I stated that You Shouldn’t Be Blogging for Money. Now, I want to continue that message even further. Even though I do make profit from my efforts on this site and elsewhere, I can see where some people are coming from when they throw their arms up when someone discusses making money from their blog.

If you currently do make money from your blog, this will work more for you than someone who doesn’t (your visitors are more likely to “accept” ads). There have been times in the past that I wished this worked more often, accepting donations solely for your work, although it truthfully doesn’t. Taking a step back, all advertisements and when visitors click on them could also be viewed as donations, as they are “voluntarily” helping you, even without thinking about it, most of the time.

Here’s how to do it:

First, you’ll need to be sure that you do have enough traffic to support this venture. Unlike what I said earlier, the conversion from third-party and directly-sold ads may be difficult, especially if you have to break off long-time advertisers on your site. Integrating a donation-only method into your blog can be hard to fathom, especially if you are making decent income from your paid ads.

Next, you’ll have to find a plugin or widget/button that allows you to accept donations. Some will take a percentage as a result of them having to churn out a profit from the hosting, but in most cases, you’ll make a majority of the “income.”

Finally, there are some tips that you have to remember if you do employ this method into your blog.

1. You can never promote this donation button as “donation to charity,” as it isn’t. The revenue is going into your pocket, as a result of your blogging efforts. More so, it is a “side income” – your visitors are paying you to continue producing content.
2. If you see donations increase, be sure to thank the entire community that you’ve developed, or send an email (if applicable) to the people who donated.
3. Place the widget in multiple areas of your site, and be sure to explain properly what it is to going to be used for.

When you look at donations in this sense, they aren’t so much as donations, but payments for the time put into your blog and a “thank you” from your readers.

It can be a difficult process to make ends meet (paying for hosting or other services) when online, so this is where you can generate any extra income. But remember, you have to continually produce the same level of content that your visitors were accustomed to, or it won’t work out in the long-term.