I went to one of my favorite websites the other day and they had added a popup blocker. It surprised me because I had read them for twenty years.
Being curious I sent an email to their feedback/contact email and told them that putting a popup would limit me going to the site. I couldn’t allow popups because they can cause malware. They said that if popups were blocked, they might go out of business.
Now this was interesting to me. They had survived 20 years at least and I figured they had the montization thing figured out. They said they were open to ideas and I started listing all of the things that I had seen on other sites too. I shared that I had my site for 14 years and it hadn’t paid for itself, and on Google AdSense, it would take another 7 years to get the initial $100 payout. Pathetic. I suggested they talk to a professional about this.
I don’t like the way some websites have done monetization. I unsubscribed from one of them since they had constant advertisements and non-informational articles like horoscopes. I won’t do that. It is annoying enough to have Adsense but to sell out any pretense of impartiality is a suicide of your brand imho.
No, I am not asking for donations here. I am just simply pointing out that most websites are not doing well, and if you like what they offer then you have to find ways to support them. I have always wished that emails came with a built-in financial way to donate. Then you could just click on the donate button and say how much you want and then help that person. I have often wanted to donate to someone, but the organization hid their email from me, or their contact info and just trying to track down the person was more difficult than it should be. I think direct donations are the way that future workers will get paid along with a guaranteed stipend.
I went back to their site today and nothing changed. If they go out of business I will write another article about it. I did not share their identity because I didn’t wish to embarrass them. Support people you find useful.