If you enjoy reading blogs, you would probably have noticed those
donation buttons that got embedded on them.
Some solicit funds pretty openly with the unmistakable “Donate” button while others are more discrete, so they have a link that says something else, like “Buy me a cup of coffee” or ” Buy me a beer”.
While forms may differ, they all serve one singular purpose. Invariably, the bloggers concerned are asking donations from people who visited their blogs, purportedly to allow the bloggers carry on their good work.
If you have a PayPal account (and you should – you may get lucky and get
free PayPal money), creating a donation button is straightforward. First you need to access the PayPal Donations web page to get a code, and that is explicitly linked to your PayPal account.
Once you get the code (you can actually customize the look of the button that the code will display), simply place it on your site (wherever you want the button to appear).
Tip: When you add a donate button to website, its a good idea to put it on your sidebar as the donation button will pop up on every single blog page.
What if I Have No Website or Blog?
If so happen that you are not running a website or blog, you can still solicit donations through a site called
GoFundMe.com. The steps involved are easy and followings demonstrate that.
- Go to Gofundme.com
- Start the registration process.
- Once registered, login to your account (you can actually use your Facebook account to login if you wish).
- Once logged in, you will need to fill out a simple form specifying the target amount you are aiming for, title, your reason for donations, like “My rent is in serious array” and you are done!
Facebook is now a great platform for promotion, so be sure to include it. You can also maximize your donation appeals by sending your link to friends and relatives.
To show sincerity, it is good idea to provide donation status updates on regular basis and be courteous enough to say thank you to folks who are contributing towards your cause.
It does not matter where the donations come from, be it your blog, Facebook page or wherever, users would be brought to your personal PayPal donation page.
All donated money would then be transferred to your chosen bank account directly, which you had to specify during the set up stage at PayPal.
Bottom Line
Finally, before you start dreaming the donations would pour in and hit sky high, this is to bring you back to earth. It is not going to offer you that pot of gold on the platter. But the fact that it is simple enough to get it going means it is worth a try. After all, you can count on a few kind souls to line up your pocket money.