Accept Donations on Your Site Via PayPal

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3 Responses

  1. Aneesa says:

    I’ve contemplated putting a donation button on my hockey blog but I could not think of a reason why readers would want to donate. I donate if the money raises defrays the costs of something humanitarian, i.e. funds go to autism research. If a blogger is trying to make money to buy a latte or as income that would not benefit the blog, then I wouldn’t donate.

    As I write this comment, I now think I would have a donation button and let readers know that their donation will legitimately help either fund a hockey scholarship for a minority student, purchase hockey equipment for a low-income program, or advance my blog’s online store. I think with these three reasons, more people will be likely to donate than if they thought they were buying me coffee daily.

  2. Dustin says:

    Aneesa: I think a lot of people who read blogs get that it’s far more a labor of love than a money-making proposition, and are happy to toss a couple dollars now and again to a writer for their hard work. The same way you might toss a buck or two into a street musician’s guitar case.

    There are a few bloggers who have managed to make a living that way; I wouldn’t count on it in any way, though.

    Of course, raising money for some charity or related venture is another good thing to use donations for. I remember a few years ago, when the “Star Wars Kid” video was everywhere and Andy at Waxy.org found out that the kid in the video was really hurt by it, he accepted donations to raise money to buy the SW Kid an iPod — and ended up raising a couple thousand dollars, all of which went to SW Kid. People like to get behind a good cause.

  3. Paul says:

    Besides travel pictures, I’ve also got a lot of “how to” guides on my site for repairing or maintaining cars, motorcycles, computers, etc.

    I think I’ll try putting a donate button on those pages. It might be worth while. I’ve had some very happy people email me thanking me for whatever one of my guides saved them some money/time/frustration.

    Thanks for the post. 🙂