{"id":89157,"date":"2017-08-04T10:00:27","date_gmt":"2017-08-04T00:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/problogger.com\/?p=89157"},"modified":"2017-08-04T09:54:43","modified_gmt":"2017-08-03T23:54:43","slug":"community-discussion-should-bloggers-ask-for-donations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/problogger.com\/community-discussion-should-bloggers-ask-for-donations\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Discussion: Should Bloggers Ask For Donations?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Bloggers calling for donations or reader contributions like \u201cbuy me a beer\u201d or \u201cbuy me a coffee\u201d have been around for over ten years, as has the debate over whether they should.<\/p>\n<p>Now however, with more mainstream media putting up paywalls, the growth of subscription based content providers and the rise of crowdfunding, is it a better time for bloggers to put their hand out too?<\/p>\n<p>As an example, it appears <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/info\/2016\/jan\/25\/content-funding\">Guardian News and Media<\/a> (Guardian and Observer) is trying to monetize its content every which way. It produces a variety of content from outside parties, categorising it as either:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>\u2018Supported by\u2019<\/strong> &#8211; editorially independent content, produced by journalists, funded by foundations and the like;<\/li>\n<li><strong>\u2018Paid content\/Paid for by\u2019<\/strong> &#8211; produced by the paper\u2019s commercial department not journalists; or<\/li>\n<li><strong>\u2018Advertiser content\/from our advertisers\u2019<\/strong> &#8211; produced by the advertisers themselves.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Whilst they are earning money from advertisers and sponsors, the Guardian also asks its readers to <strong>\u2018Become a Supporter\u2019<\/strong> (subscriber) or <strong>\u2018Make a Contribution\u2019<\/strong> (donate).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/us\/webapps\/mpp\/donations\">Paypal<\/a> has long had a \u2018donate\u2019 button you can put on your blog and even set up a recurring subscription-like donation. How would this go down with your audience?<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, I\u2019ve seen many bloggers disclose affiliate referrals to their readers as a way to \u2018donate\u2019 to help them keep the lights on or pay their internet bills.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/\">Patreon<\/a> claims to have sent over $150 million to creators using its membership model whereby your fans pay you a subscription amount of their choice. This model seems to be growing in popularity for creators of all kinds, but particularly podcasters and YouTubers.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.inklpay.com\/\">Inklpay<\/a> is a new player offering $0.10 micropayments either in the form of voluntary \u2018tips\u2019 or an enforced paywall per piece of content. Would this work for you?<\/p>\n<p>At ProBlogger, we occasionally run blogging events and often receive feedback from attendees that we should charge more given the value of these events. We noticed that the event ticketing system <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eventbrite.com\">Eventbrite<\/a> now also offers a \u2018donate\u2019 option alongside its free or paid ticketing. This concept seems like those restaurants where they don\u2019t have prices on the menus and instead ask you to pay what you think the meal is worth or what you can afford.<\/p>\n<p>So, what about you? Have you ever asked for or received donations on your blog? What system do you use? Do you donate to others? Would a voluntary subscription fee, once-off contribution or a micropayment per piece of content work for you? More importantly, would your audience see value in that?<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Please contribute to the production of this content by leaving your &#8216;tip&#8217; in the comments below (see what I did there?!).\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>(Photo by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/JzpEZODZskY?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\">Thomas Malama<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\">Unsplash<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bloggers calling for donations or reader contributions like \u201cbuy me a beer\u201d or \u201cbuy me a coffee\u201d have been around for over ten years, as has the debate over whether they should. Now however, with more mainstream media putting up paywalls, the growth of subscription based content providers and the<a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/problogger.com\/community-discussion-should-bloggers-ask-for-donations\/\"> &#8230;more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":165,"featured_media":89160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,752],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Community Discussion: Should Bloggers Ask For Donations?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In a time of mainstream media paywalls, subscription based content and crowdfunding, is it time for bloggers to put their hand out for donations too?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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