Some time ago, I had to upgrade my WordPress blog to a paid plan, mainly because I had used all my storage for pictures and other media. After almost ten years of blogging (it will be ten years next October) and around 550 articles written, it’s understandable. Ok, although I now have to pay to use WordPress, at least this came with other appealing advantages, such as not having ugly ads displayed on my blog anymore. At least, I don’t see them. My apologies if you still do! Another interesting feature was the possibility to monetize my blog. As you can see, although tempting, I didn’t immediately jump on to that monetization business because I felt I had to look at it with a certain step back and had to think about it wisely and methodically.
Of course, finally earning money from my blog writing would be wonderful, but this is not really something I like to ask people. But yesterday, I had a spontaneous urge to trying to figure that out. I mean, I’ve been writing for ten year. It’s certainly a passion, but why wouldn’t I try and use the advantages of that passion? If WordPress offers the option for monetization, it means it’s a feature bloggers use and can use. So, why wouldn’t I? I think my blog writing has its own qualities, and this would only be extra encouragement among the likes and comments.
There are, of course, various ways of monetizing a blog. As a first step, I’ve decided to go with the simple Donation Form, which allows readers to make, well, a donation to the blog. I mostly see that as something that might be used for the more regular readers and those who’ve been enjoying and reading my blog for a considerable amount of time. But of course, if you’re a newcomer, you’re very welcome to give some tips. 😉 As you’ll see in the form, I’ve decided to offer many donation options, such as monthly, yearly and one-time donations. I set up three prices for each option, but you can also set up your own price. At this point, I don’t want to be too demanding and just give the option to my readers to encourage me the way they want and can. Anything helps!
Now, you might wonder what this money will be used for. Well, the first step would be to get donors. If my blogging could be my only source of income, that would be fantastic, but I’m conscious that this won’t happen any time soon. So, in the meantime, little donations here and there can help me pay little expenses related to my blog writing, such as a coffee, a public transportation ticket, a movie rented on iTunes, etc. It could even help me pay for a Premium Grammarly plan. I had to cancel mine recently because, sadly, that’s money I can’t spend anymore. Working in the art and event file is fun but doesn’t pay. I also would like to get on a more regular writing basis. Considering I work on a contract basis, I’d eventually get more time to blog. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to writing as many articles as I did during my first years of blogging. However, I certainly would like to write more than zero to three articles/month.
Eventually, I would like to set up the option for paid subscriptions where those subscribers would have access to exclusive content, but that is something I would have to think through and organise well. I want to make sure that exclusive content is worth paying for and it can be published regularly.
So, for now, spontaneous donations if you simply enjoy what you read is what I’m going for. I have no idea if it’ll be conclusive, but you don’t get anything without trying, right? I mean, I’ve had the option to monetize my Facebook page for ages but still haven’t taken care of that because I don’t understand all the subtleties of Facebook, but WordPress is more user-friendly on that level.
So, don’t hesitate to encourage the blog via the donation form that you’ll find HERE. By the way, most of what I’ve written above is also on the Donation page so you don’t have to read it all again!
A huge thanks for your encouragement and for reading The Wonderful World of Cinema!
The Wonderful World of Cinema 