You know when people tell you that the thing you should do with your life is what you find yourself doing at all hours of the day and night? That thing that gets you so worked up you would do it for free for ever and ever and ever? Yeah. For me, that thing is blogging. I love everything about it and I’m starting to think my ideal life would be traveling, sitting in random cafes for hours while the staff give me the stink eye for taking up valuable space so I’m guilted into tipping them lots of money, and making that lots of money back by blogging whilst sitting in said cafe.

Is that even possible? I still don’t have a specific niche, and while my audience is growing, I don’t want to abuse this trust I’ve built by bombarding you with ads or affiliate links. As of right now, the only money I’ve made through blogging has been indirect. Most of my clients find me via the site, so in one respect, my blog has helped me earn a living. Just not in the way I’d eventually like it to.

This is what got me thinking. Advertisers have yet to start beating down my door, my topics aren’t well suited for an Amazon affiliate program and there’s no way I can charge for the content I provide. So what’s a blogger to do? How can you really make a living via your blog? What do other people do? Are there more creative ways to make some cash doing what we love?

The answer is yes, and through a series of 3 posts I want to highlight the ways I’ve found bloggers are making (or not making) money. Today’s post is about donations.

How does a blogger use donations?

Some bloggers include a PayPal donation button on their site, usually justifying their “busking.” For example, a fashion blogger might write, “Love my blog? Keep me in shoes and show your support by donating here.”

I, for one, have never donated via said buttons and doubt I’m the only one who wonders if they work. In terms of my favorite blogs, I’d actually love to donate, but I’m broke so never have.

If you want to learn how to add a PayPal button to your site, click here.

An example from My Repurposed Life

Okay. But do they work?

VAGUE ANSWER ALERT: Yes and no.  I asked a couple bloggers with buttons and my uneducated answer is going to be… no. THAT BEING SAID. Only one blogger I interviewed has a ton of traffic so, like I said, totally uneducated answer.

Gail Wilson, of My Repurposed Life (a really fabulous DIY blog), told me:

I have had the button up for a couple of weeks and have not had any luck as of yet. No one has made any comments. It’s a lot like people do when they see a homeless person on the street, they just tend to look the other way.  I didn’t put it near the top of my side bar, I sort of put it where it falls near the end of  “today’s” post each day. I am going to leave it up a couple of more weeks, if nothing happens, I’m sure I will remove it.  I had mixed feeling about putting it up at all.

Wilson, who originally tried Google ads (Google will send you a check whenever your account reaches $100.00 and it took her several months to get her first check), has about 540 followers and almost 1100 subscribers.  The blog isn’t huge but Wilson says it’s been growing consistently.

Jimmie Bise of The Sundries Shack wrote me, “Alas, I can’t report anything that remotely resembles success with my donate button.” He once received a $100 donation from a friend to help finance a trip to appear on Jeopardy! but  really only gets one donation every 3 months or so. “I have heard that the tip jar is the toughest way for a blogger to make money,” Bise said, “but as I don’t really have the traffic to warrant paid advertisements, it’s one of the only ways I’ve made anything (Amazon Associates sales is the other, and that’s not all that much either).”

HOWEVER. Jimmy Moore, of Livin’ La Vida Low Carb, makes a couple hundred bucks per month from donations. While he may not be rolling in dough, the man makes a good living from his blogging career, with revenue coming in from  donations, sponsorships, ads and affiliate links.

At first, Moore thought asking for donations was tacky, but after almost 3 years of blogging, readers asked for a way to support him, not his sponsors. “They believe in what I do so strongly that they want to support it with their dollars,” Moore told me. “I give them a great service. I don’t charge for my content but if they feel they’re getting someone out of it, they show their support through donations.”

With a couple hundred thousand visitors per month and a successful podcast, it seems like Moore is the ideal candidate for donations. Not too successful that it looks like he’s cheap, but successful enough to have a loyal fanbase. Moore knows it’s that loyalty that makes donations possible. He said, “Having a donation button doesn’t make any sense for someone just starting off. That’s ignorant and makes you look like a money grabber. “

How to make donations work for you

I don’t think donations can financially sustain any blogger. Moore consistently receives large donations from doctors who refer their patients to his blog and outside of those regular donors, the PayPal button is really just some extra cash. (Not that I wouldn’t mind some extra cash.)

Problogger wrote a while back about who should and shouldn’t use donation buttons. They say to successfully implement one a blogger should have a large and loyal fanbase without any other income. Not sure about that last point, but I agree with the first two.

Gratitude might play a small roll as well. Life Coach Anni Ory told me that she’s actually donated to blogs a few times, but unless she gets a thank you, she wont donate again. “I find that rude,” she told me.

Agreed. When it comes to having a following that actually gives you money, acknowledge that donation happened because of that loyalty. Confirm to them they have yours too by sending a simple thank you email. Didn’t your mama teach you right?

Think about that when implementing the interweb tip jar. As for whether you should implement one at all? “It’s a judgment call,” Moore advised. “Determine if your readership is ready and if you’re worthy.”

I like it better when they say "Thanks a latte!"

**Keep your eyes peeled for tomorrow’s post! Part 2: Affiliate Programs & Sponsorships

Related posts:

• The Truth About Blogging For Money. Part 2: Affiliates & Sponsors
• The Truth About Blogging For Money. Part 3: Creating Content

Tagged as: Amazon, blogging, make money blogging, paypal, series, Social Media