Is it lame if adding a "Buy me a Coffee" or "Donation" button on your blog?

[Dopani]

I am planning to add a "Buy me a Coffee!" or "Donation" button on my blog, with a decent traffic I think it can generate a little money from donations and a couple days after I did it, I went to my site, looked at it and second guessed myself. Should I stray from the "Donation" buttons? Is it distasteful? Or, do you do it too?
Please share your thoughts!

 

[chongjasmine]

I think it is better to promote affiliate products than ask for direct donations.
That is just my personal opinion, though.

 

[Rob Whisonant]

Do you want your site to be considered a hobby or a business?

 

[energizedit]

You would have more success adding advertising space to your blog if it has good traffic. But I don't see any issues with adding a donate/coffee button. I really don't know how successful those are.

 

[redfish]

Try with some adsense/affiliate, this way you may get more than your donations you are expecting i guess...btw the adsense/affiliate depends on the blog niche and how well you site has content and traffic! Good luck

 

[Harry P]

I am planning to add a "Buy me a Coffee!" or "Donation" button on my blog, with a decent traffic I think it can generate a little money from donations and a couple days after I did it, I went to my site, looked at it and second guessed myself. Should I stray from the "Donation" buttons? Is it distasteful? Or, do you do it too?
Please share your thoughts!

Donations are just one of earning money online methods, if you have a decent website with high traffic, you can at that button on your site to get a little money but this didn't work effectively as selling ads, affiliates or selling products directly to your visitors.

 

[contentranked]

It's not effective. I would suggest you focus on other methods like affiliate marketing like someone suggested. I know putting a donations button looks tempting but I think there's much better options out there.

But, the best way for you to see how it works for you is to try it out. You'll never know unless you test it. Just know that if you're not producing an insane amount of traffic daily, people who donate may only do so once or not at all.

 

[Ron Killian]

I always wondered how well, or if that tactic worked. I know an old time Internet marketer who used that for years. No clue if it made him money.

Hoping some one would reply that has tried it.

Wonder if it looks more desperate?

 

[brucealmighty]

Maybe if you write something like "If you want to help keep this website ads free, please donate...."

 

[Mick M]

It depends on the niche, I think.

For example, if you're in something like the B2B industry then no, it won't fly.. it will make you look unprofessional and desperate.

However if you're in a niche that depends on you digging into your own pocket, or making sacrifices for the benefit of your readers, then it's acceptable.

I always wondered how well, or if that tactic worked. I know an old time Internet marketer who used that for years. No clue if it made him money.

Hoping some one would reply that has tried it.

Wonder if it looks more desperate?

I've done this with one of my sites and it works fairly well.. it's in a political niche, so a lot of advertisers stay away, but my readers are passionate and eager to support something that reflects, and stands up for their values and beliefs.

A friend in the same niche generated $500,000 in donations, the first month he started asking.. while someone I occasionally work with generates around $1 million per year in donations.

 

[kim16]

I think it will create more appeal if you partner with a relatively medium scaled company that has the same niche as yours. I doubt that it will work long term if you are a business starter without partner. You will really need a little help at some point. Good luck and cheers!

 

[davebusiness86s]

I think you should not add a Donation to your blog. Like the others say, you should use affiliate or ad ads banners...

 

[hynds]

If you always give free products/services on your blog then you can do it. Otherwise you should not do it, instead of that, placing an adsense or affiliate products is a better way.

 

[Dopani]

Dopani

It is a good advice and I saw more bloggers or website owners are doing this way.

 

[schttrj]

I am planning to add a "Buy me a Coffee!" or "Donation" button on my blog, with a decent traffic I think it can generate a little money from donations and a couple days after I did it, I went to my site, looked at it and second guessed myself. Should I stray from the "Donation" buttons? Is it distasteful? Or, do you do it too?
Please share your thoughts!

If it's a literary site, which by its nature seems to exist for education purpose, adding a "Donate" or "Buy me a coffee" button is perfectly okay.

However, if you are in a niche, where nobody uses such buttons but rather indulges in marketing their own or affiliate products, then it's not a good idea to add such buttons in the first place. It harms your reputation. Your audience doesn't want someone who asks for a cup of coffee but rather boldly stands up and charges for their consulting fee.

 

[jyy]

I think it's a fine way to make money. However, though, I'm not the online begging type. I'd rather get them to buy a product or click on Adsense. Also, I'd rather have a situation where a few of my passionate websites would be for free, not even asking for donations, but a few other ones, mainly ones in niches that are not a hobby for me, would be for-profit and would run commercial materal.

Anyway, as someone suggested, asking for donations is fine for some, but in my case, putting a donation button seems like a desperation move - unless, of course, it was some charity website, like something to fight cancer etc..

 

[vishwa]

Donations works great with Non profit organization or businesses. Since your website have decent traffic, You should consider to use AdSense or any other affiliate programs like CJ, Shareasale, Clickbank etc. You can also opt for CPA programs like Peerfly.

 

[alexanderzx360]

I think a button donation is always a good thing to have on your website. There's people that could legitimately enjoy what your writing and give you an incentive to keep up the good work. In fact there are websites with no donation button that get e-mails from people who want to send them money. The only thing you need to be careful is overbloating your site with it, since it could fo the wrong way with your regular users.

Actually, the buy me a coffee button is a great alternative idea, and might incentivate possible donors, specially if you have a blog.

 

[nuzzo]

I only put donate if I am going to send that money off to charity. Just seems a bit distasteful, but then again, it is what your audience is comfortable with.

 

[stoneman]

It really depends on what you offer your users and how close you are to them are they now in love with the type of content you share with them, do you really teach them what they want?

if so then that's not a big deal, but you don't have to depend on that because most times donations are not done every day by
Users, so that should just be in terms of money to maintain the site...

You can still promote affiliates programs in the site And get yourself some cool cash to make you blog a better place, thanks hope this helps

 

[shrinkme]

It looks like everyone has good opinions on the subject. You could use a donation button, the worst thing that can happen is people ignore it. You might also send people to your Amazon wishlist to buy you things you really need. If you do this, make sure to put items under $10 as well as more expensive items.

You could also work out arrangements with vendors to send you samples of their products in return for reviews on your blog. Just another idea.