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My site CAN'T have ads, I need to make donations work...

by thehegemon
4 replies
Hey everyone, I'm a newbie here and I have a bit of a weird question (maybe? I searched for it and couldn't find anyone else who had asked it).
I'm building up a site in an education niche that is mainly aimed towards school-aged kids. I'm putting all of the information on there for free right now, honestly just to be helpful. The niche revolves around the fact that these people are not able to afford this service for their children, and I want to help provide that because I'm passionate about it. I am interested in monetizing this site though, in a way that still provides the service for free.
One of my big inspirations is Leslie Samuel and his science education site. Interactive Biology, by Leslie Samuel | Making Biology Fun! From what I can see his big money maker are google ads. I'm not comfortable with using those on my site due to safety concerns. I don't want parents worried about their kids clicking on things that have not been thoroughly looked over for only age-appropriate content (I know there will always be a risk of kids seeing what they shouldn't see online, but I don't want my site to be a cause of that).
I'm thinking of taking advantage of a donation button to keep the site "ad free". Does this work for anyone? Any other ideas?
Thanks in advance! I'll take any advice that I can get
#ads #donation button #donations #make #site #work
  • Profile picture of the author AdamJ85
    My first thoughts (aside from or alongside a standard donate button) would be:

    - Run google ads but restrict more mature categories
    - Sell ads privately if your traffic justifies it
    - "Sell" content, but have the option of reducing the fee to zero (i.e. Ask people to "pay whatever you think it's worth")

    I've seen some wordpress plugins (like Akismet I think) running the third option and I think albums have been released on that basis too. I don't know how well it works though...
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    • Profile picture of the author thehegemon
      I really appreciate the quick reply Adam.
      It's good to hear that there are restrictions on the google ads.
      I never thought of packaging it in a way that you can pay whatever you want for it, with "Free" option if you need it. That helps me accomplish what I'm looking to do.
      Really good ideas!
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  • Profile picture of the author pcullum
    You might have a freemium model. A lot of free content on your site, with an enhanced version for sale. For a trivial example, your site could teach a module on the subject matter, have a quiz for the module, and for a fee, let people download the right answers.

    They could use the site for no cost and get a lot of benefit from it, but get extra help if they need it and can afford it.

    In math, answers that take the person through each step of the solution could be a good example of this approach working.

    Best Wishes,
    Phil
    Signature

    Phil Cullum
    http://IMNewsWatch.com

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    • Profile picture of the author thehegemon
      Originally Posted by pcullum View Post

      You might have a freemium model. A lot of free content on your site, with an enhanced version for sale. For a trivial example, your site could teach a module on the subject matter, have a quiz for the module, and for a fee, let people download the right answers.

      They could use the site for no cost and get a lot of benefit from it, but get extra help if they need it and can afford it.

      In math, answers that take the person through each step of the solution could be a good example of this approach working.

      Best Wishes,
      Phil
      Thank you for leading me to the words "freemium model" it's going to be a great launching pad for finding out more (I was having a lot of difficulty finding a search term for what I'm trying to do).
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