Sooo you’ve arrived at the post where I’m lining up some of the alternatives you can use instead of adfly! Missed my first post? It’s HERE!
Let’s get to it shall we? =) before we continue I’d like to express my gratitude to a group of people who helped me out in lots of ways! <333 English is not my first language so their help has been highly appreciated!
In my opinion the best method to monetize CC if you want to be sure you get something in return for your time and effort! Patreon has become a widely accepted way in the community to donate money towards some of their fav creators. As a creator, it does not cost you a dime in advance! Their fees will be extracted from the donations you received. I am very pleased with what you get on their site! You can go all out; upload HD images, video’s, create goals you can reach with you patron’s, etc. The interface is easy to use and the best part is (to me) that you don’t have to spend any time worrying about collecting payments, etc. It’s all taken care of. You have to find a workflow, balance that works best for you and your followers. Some creators release their cc after patreon every week, 2 weeks, and some once per month. This is completely up to you. I personally try to release stuff not later than 2 weeks after Patreon. This is what works best for my personally.
NOTE: Patreon Exclusive CC tends to get re-uploaded by other people since it’s locked behind a paywall then. It's also against EA tou but hey… it’s all up to you! Best way to avoid all this (In my opinion!) is to be transparent about when you will release your work and don’t go exclusive.
a completely different way of trying to get something back for your time and effort since it’s an optional donation. I used (still use) PayPal a lot in the past / present and it’s a very safe way of getting something back. Ko-Fi is very similar and friends tell me lots of positive things about it.I use both of them a lot to donate to creators I love! I really hope I can expand my donating ways to Patreon as well! I know that it is a non-committal way of monetizing CC which can make it less attractive for some creators to use but the donations I got from when I started with it (when I was a smaller simblr) till this day far exceed the $0,02485 dollars you get per click (highest payout rate, USA) on Adfly.
I personally do not donate to a creator that uses adfly-only links. My mindset behind that is; you’re apparently satisfied with the funds you raise with Adfly. I’m not going to support you on that. What I mean with this sentence is; creating goodwill towards your followers is sooo much more valuable! It has definitely paid off for me, from when I was a smaller simblr, till now.
Last but most definitely not least! Adsense can have 2 scenario’s depending on your tech levels I will explain both of them;
You’re unable to code your own website (me too!).
I mean, I know html a little but I’m far from able to create my own website!
If you’re like me, you most likely have to purchase a package at one of these companies; Wix, Wordpress. There could be more options out there but i’m only talking these about 2 since I have experience with those. You need to purchase a paid package to be able to run Adsense on your website, the free packages do not allow you to do that. The fees are very different between Wix and Wordpress! I believe that Wordpress is cheaper(!) than Wix. I’ve been at Wix from the beginning and moving a website out of their company is made really hard for customers (to prevent them from leaving of course) + I would loose my URL. That being said; Wix has a drag and drop html editor that lets you customize your site endlessly. Wordpress however provides better care for wordpress sites via plugins etc. Pro’s and con’s you have to decide whats best for you!
NOTE: Blogger is also an option. I have no personal experience with it unfortunately but loooong ago I looked into it and i thought it also has a free option + running Adsense? This is speculation at best! I’m not sure about this! Though it’s worth mentioning it. Google is your friend in this case =) Add-on infoby Jennie, thank you! <3 Adsense for Blogger is free, but you need to fit the criterias set by Google to be able to use it (Blogger is owned by Google).
You’re a solid coder that can code your own website.
I’ve looked into this in the past and to me it seems that you only have to purchase a domain in that case. With Adobe Dreamweaver or other coding softwares for websites you then create your own website and include the main code for Adsense. Along with the codes for the ads itself (where you want them, which size, which sort of ads, etc)
From this point it’s the same for both scenarios!
To be eligible for the program your site needs to be around for a few months and have generated some traffic (visitors)! I don’t know the exact numbers Adsense expect to see before letting you into their program. I also read on their forums back then it depends on more factors than just pageviews. It depends on what kind of website you have, what kind of content it hosts, etc. But when I started I had maybe 2000 followers on Tumblr? So its definitely not 100,000 pageviews in a month or something like that. Sucks that I installed my Analytics account only a year ago otherwise I could look up what my monthly traffic was back in the days.
Bottom line of Adsense; In the long term this will generate income even if you’re not releasing stuff everyday. Which is why I am so fond of Adsense. You need to put in so time and effort + money in my case but it has paid me back every penny I put into it! some months I generate 50 bucks and sometimes more or less. It depends on your own activity and factors you can’t always control. For example; I just saw (in Analytics) that my Chablis Coat Product Page has spiked yesterday. This can be due to; Tumblr picking up on my Chablis Coat post or someone on youtube doing a CC haul video. These are estimated guesses tho! In 99% of the cases I have no clue why something gets flooded with visitors.
Some perks of NOT using Adfly / Short.e / Shorteners
Create sustainable bond with you followers for the long term.
Increase chances of people donating / supporting your work.
Increase your download count.
Increase site visitation levels & possible Adsense revenues.
Indirectly; increase you’re followers count.
which leads to; more people who will likely support you / donate.
this upwards cycle does not have an end to it if you make the right choices! points 2. till 7. can repeat itself endlessly.
Meaning; every positive change you make affects the next step in this cycle. Same as it works for a downwards spiral I guess.
One thing for sure; Adfly users won’t experience the perks above to its full extend than users that don’t use it. Adfly stagnates blog growth in general.
Sorry for the long post but I really hope I was able to give you guys some insights on other alternatives for Adfly / Short.e / Shorteners in general.
Most importantly; it’s all up to you! Do as you see fit. All I wanted to say with these 2 posts is, try to be mindful to your followers when you make a decision. Only they made it possible for you to monetize your CC in the first place!
