A few announcements in this post.
First and foremost, if you’re in Kagawa tomorrow and are not sure about what to do, let me advise you to attend the Hyōge Matsuri. A pretty unique matsuri that it’d be sad to miss if you can avoid to. (well, actually, I’ll most likely miss it tomorrow). To get a glimpse of what it is about, just click the link above.
Next, you may or may not have noticed a new button in the sidebar on the right. Yes, I’m talking about the “donate” button. I’m not exactly trying to make money with this blog. I’d need much more traffic than I currently have for that, and to ever get that traffic, I’d need to talk about something other than what’s happening in the smallest prefecture of Japan. That being said, I wouldn’t mind if the blog made enough money to pay itself (you know, hosting and all that). So far I have used Google Ads, you may have noticed them, but honestly, I don’t really like the idea of having ads on my blog (or at least ads I didn’t choose – if you know how Google ads work, you know that I have no idea of what appears in that spot when you visit my blog). So I’m trying this donate button, to see if anyone would be willing to help me with those things. It may or may not stay there in the long term, we’ll see (basically the idea is that if I make more through it than through the ads, I get rid of the ads, if I don’t… I’ll see…).
What do you think? Do you like the idea of a donate button on this blog? Would you donate? Or would you rather have ads and click or not click on them? (according to Google Ads terms and conditions, I’m not allowed to ask you to click on them, so do what you want with them). And actually, do those ads bother you?
I am greatly interesting in your feedback about those things, so if you have an opinion, do not hesitate to share it.
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Personally, I have no problems with the ads. I don’t click on it, and I know it doesn’t help you. I have ads on my own blog, but usually at the bottom of each post. Still haven’t made much, if anything from it. I get more money from sponsored posts, but it pays mainly for my hosting fees than anything else. Maybe an extra beer or a camera every several years too…
As for the donate button, I have no problems with it. I’m sorry but I doubt I can donate to you. I would be happy to buy you a beer next time I see you in Takamatsu, Ehime, or Tokyo. Just hit me up. 🙂
Thanks for your feedback Dru.
Yes, I’m definitely not trying to make money (I’d write about maid cafés and cosplay if I was, not about art on remote islands), but I’d like for the blog to pay itself, hence those options.
I’m still not sure what is the best though. I’m kinda like you actually, I never click on ads and almost never donate. Yet, those are the options that I offer right now.
I’m not sure they are the best.
Sponsored posts… I don’t know, I did one a long time ago, it brought me some money (let’s say that hosting was almost paid for that year), but every offer I got since then was terrible (an online poker link in one of my blog posts? really?). Also, those types of posts are more and more frowned upon by Google, so I’ll stay away from them I think.
The other two options I see are “real” ads in the sidebar (for example) but I never got any offer, or what a lot of bloggers do these days, the “e-book”. I definitely have enough material to write a quite decent one about Kagawa and/or the Setouchi Triennale, but I simply don’t have the time to compile it right now. Also, I’m not convinced that this solution is viable, who would want to pay for an e-book when they can get pretty much the same content for free in the blog?
I know what you mean about sponsored post about gambling. I did a few sponsored posts, as you saw, and I try to keep it relevant. I had a couple of offers but my hit count wasn’t high enough to justify sponsorship. I’m still working hard at it though. I see nothing wrong with posting something to pay the bills, as long as it is relevant and explicit.
As for sidebar ads, such as an affiliate program, I don’t think they work. The returns are too small.
As for the e-book, I’m doing that myself. I finished the book and it is just being designed and polished a lot by my friend. Think of it this way, I made the rough design, like building a bike or hot rod, and my friend is putting the paint and leather. Even though I’m providing the paint and leather, he still has to prep it, move it around, and so on. Taking me a long time, mostly waiting right now. I think that the need for an e-book is worthwhile if you do it right. Putting all of the information into one place will hopefully see sales. A blog and other websites are great, but you don’t always have it on your device, due to data problems, and you need it all in one place. If I were to use your blog for getting information on the Setouchi Triennale, I’d have to sift through all the posts, and searches are sometimes ineffective. A well laid out book is worth the price most of the time. Hope mine is too.
Remember sponsored posts are usually not about your hit count, but your Google PR and such. Sponsors don’t want your traffic, they want your “google juice”. This is the reason why Google chases them more and more nowadays, because they’re rigging the system, basically (but they do bring money, arf).
For sidebar ads, I don’t mean affiliate (yes, you need to have huge traffic to have a affiliate program that) but simply ads, usually they pay better (but less than sponsored posts, but Google doesn’t seem to mind them right now).
I guess your right for the e-book thing. I’ve noticed (a long time ago, not right now) that Anglo and French mindsets are very different, especially dealing with money. For example, French users hate hate hate ads in websites (this is why you won’t see any on my French blog), and usually if something is available for free, they won’t pay for it.
I have to try to have a more Anglo mindset with this blog, I’m trying, but overall, I think I just don’t have a business oriented mindset.
I see what you mean by if something is free, they won’t buy it, but it also has to be easy to access and use. I think e-books fill a gap for easy and organized. People will pay for convenience if it isn’t priced too high. Like a cab from the airport. No one would pay 20,000 Yen for the taxi from Narita to Tokyo, but a 2000 Yen taxi from Takamatsu Airport to your hotel, might be worth it, especially for a group of 4. I liken e-books to that. Plus, you don’t always have an internet connection so an e-book is something that can be downloaded and available on your device, unlike the internet.
As for pirating, that’s a different ball game. 🙂