Hello Friends
In this post i am going to share how to add donation button to your website or blog. There are many options, all of them pretty easy to set up. No matter what kind of website you have, you should put a "donate" button on it! I find myself reading blogs every day that I wish had a simple way to donate to. You never know when you might write a post that really strikes a chord with someone, leaving them wanting to compensate you financially! Here's how to get the money flowing into your bank account. Adding a customized donate button can generate enough extra cash to keep you motivated and pay the bills.
Most of the time the blogger would add the catchy “Buy Me a Beer” phrase to the top of the button to make it seem more casual and friendly.
Other times people would have a little bit of text explaining how the money would be used; server costs, time writing more posts, etc.
Why?
Well a donation is a very specific thing. You usually give it to someone based on an emotional impulse like compassion, love, pity, gratefulness or guilt. Therefore, unless your blog really evokes these specific emotions you aren’t going to get a lot of donations.
So the text you add to your donation button area is important (as talked about here and here) but the topic that you write about and the relationship you have with your readers is even more crucial.
Here’s how to add the PayPal button they provide on their site:
On Tumblr
In this post i am going to share how to add donation button to your website or blog. There are many options, all of them pretty easy to set up. No matter what kind of website you have, you should put a "donate" button on it! I find myself reading blogs every day that I wish had a simple way to donate to. You never know when you might write a post that really strikes a chord with someone, leaving them wanting to compensate you financially! Here's how to get the money flowing into your bank account. Adding a customized donate button can generate enough extra cash to keep you motivated and pay the bills.
How did the donate button work
The donate button was a pretty simple invention. Using Paypal’s donate feature you could add a snippet of code to the sidebar of your blog and take money from generous people.Most of the time the blogger would add the catchy “Buy Me a Beer” phrase to the top of the button to make it seem more casual and friendly.
Other times people would have a little bit of text explaining how the money would be used; server costs, time writing more posts, etc.
Where did the donate button work best?
The interesting thing is that the donate button did not work equally on all blogs. In fact, if you took two blogs with an equal amount of traffic and subscribers you would find that they all made vastly different amounts from their donations.
Why?
Well a donation is a very specific thing. You usually give it to someone based on an emotional impulse like compassion, love, pity, gratefulness or guilt. Therefore, unless your blog really evokes these specific emotions you aren’t going to get a lot of donations.
So the text you add to your donation button area is important (as talked about here and here) but the topic that you write about and the relationship you have with your readers is even more crucial.
Why the donate button is dead
So why is the donate button not seen so much anymore? Is it dead?
Well in some respects it is dead. And I think it is a case of death over use. They just got used to the point where people got sick of seeing them.
In fact, I know that it became a little but uncool to put these badges on your blog. People started to see them as “sell outs” and stopped reading or connecting altogether; just because they asked for a donation or two.
So why is the donate button not seen so much anymore? Is it dead?
Well in some respects it is dead. And I think it is a case of death over use. They just got used to the point where people got sick of seeing them.
In fact, I know that it became a little but uncool to put these badges on your blog. People started to see them as “sell outs” and stopped reading or connecting altogether; just because they asked for a donation or two.
- Log in to your PayPal account
- Head to your Profile tab
- Click “My Selling Tools” from the drop down menu
- Find PayPal buttons listed under Selling Online and click “Get Started”
- Select “Donations” from the dropdown menu
- By default, you will be directed to the page with HTML code for a Website, copy this code and add it to a text box on your main page (or wherever you want the button to appear)
- Go to your site, then click "customize".
- Click "Theme" then "Use custom HTML". Copy and paste the code there into a plain text document in case you screw up when pasting in your code!
- Find a place to paste in your code, somewhere after the </body> tag. I put mine right after the </header> tag. You can also paste the hyperlink code into an individual post.
On self-hosted WordPress
- Go to your "Widgets", which adds things to your sidebar.
- Drag a new "text" widget into the widget area, then paste in your PayPal button code. Click save and you're done!
On WordPress.com
Sadly they won't let you paste in PayPal buttons! If you like WordPress and want donations, your best bet is to get self-hosted! ETA: I just realized you can use the donation button hyperlink provided under the "Email" tab, you could even make your own button and link it!
Sadly they won't let you paste in PayPal buttons! If you like WordPress and want donations, your best bet is to get self-hosted! ETA: I just realized you can use the donation button hyperlink provided under the "Email" tab, you could even make your own button and link it!
On Blogger.com
Blogger lets you do this easily! You can either embed the code in a post (HTML view) or go to "Design", then "Add Gadget", then add "HTML/Javascript" and paste it on in! Your button will show up in your sidebar.
Blogger lets you do this easily! You can either embed the code in a post (HTML view) or go to "Design", then "Add Gadget", then add "HTML/Javascript" and paste it on in! Your button will show up in your sidebar.
(Note: Don't forget to write a little something before or after your pasted in code to encourage donations! Something sweet and simple should do the trick, like "If you like this site, please consider a small donation!" Get creative and see what people respond to best!)
If you'd like to know how to put a donate button on a different kind of website, just ask in the comments!
If you'd like to know how to put a donate button on a different kind of website, just ask in the comments!
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