Post 9rjmLHo0IBEriefkcS by jamie@mastodon.ino.org.uk
(DIR) More posts by jamie@mastodon.ino.org.uk
(DIR) Post #9rit69QPfoxduAPNAW by Gina@fosstodon.org
2020-02-05T09:18:28Z
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Discussion that I would love to hear your opinion on, #fediverseI mentioned writing a blog about our #FOSS adventure to a friend who works in online marketing. He asked me: "you're going to do this anyway, wouldn't you rather make some money too?" He then advised me to use Wordpress, set up SEO, CPM advertising, an affiliate program, content marketing etc. "It wouldn't take away from your content, you're still giving that away for free."Q: How do you gals and guys feel about this?
(DIR) Post #9ritY4Bijojplrqa5g by Gina@fosstodon.org
2020-02-05T09:23:31Z
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On the same note, I'm also really conflicted about leaving share buttons to Facebook and Twitter.
(DIR) Post #9ritYwKnQI5FheVajY by mark@metalhead.club
2020-02-05T09:23:39Z
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@Gina How do you feel about other companies using your data to advertise at you?
(DIR) Post #9ritZsE4BTABFZo2IS by saper@mastodon.social
2020-02-05T09:23:43Z
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@Gina I wouldn't. #Wordpress maintenance is non-zero, it has to be upgraded pretty often.You can probably get nice URLs, structured JSON-LD data, robots.txt, site maps or Atom/RSS feeds with your existing setup (it works for static sites, too). That is how far I would go for SEO. I would not go into affiliate whatever. So yes, no money.
(DIR) Post #9ritclNq52L4tikrse by zatnosk@manowar.social
2020-02-05T09:24:19Z
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@Gina I have nothing against using Wordpress, SEO, ads, or affiliate links.What I am against, is using ads that track and stalk people and gather data on them. This is a breach of my right to privacy, since those ads are so pervasive across the web, and advocating for FOSS while ignoring other rights seems ethically hollow at best.On the topic of content marketing, I'm okay with it as long as it's properly balanced with non-sponsored content.
(DIR) Post #9ritrorXQZT420pGCm by mort@fosstodon.org
2020-02-05T09:27:01Z
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@Gina Ads and excessive tracking does take away from the content by annoying readers, infringing privacy and slowing down the website, and content marketing is literally about reducing the quality of the content for money isn't it?Do what you must for money, and I might end up reading it anyways (with my ad blocker of course :p), but "it wouldn't take away from your content" doesn't seem entirely true.
(DIR) Post #9riu5xFb2PDS6IoqK8 by querdenker@social.tchncs.de
2020-02-05T09:29:14Z
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@Gina For fb and tw - if your conflicts are because of privacy: take a look at https://github.com/heiseonline/shariff
(DIR) Post #9riu74wBwXHqEOHKnQ by juh@hostsharing.coop
2020-02-05T09:29:21Z
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@Gina Cool, then you would make money to pay for wordpress security updates. ;-)I would stay static. And if making money includes tracking visitors I would oppose it. But it's your blog.
(DIR) Post #9riu84Uh4s8993tFXk by Gina@fosstodon.org
2020-02-05T09:29:35Z
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@mort I wonder if there's a privacy friendly way of showing ads. Something that has nothing to do with Google Adsense. Still not a big fan of ads though.
(DIR) Post #9riuBEGdCJLEKComps by sexybiggetje@mastodon.social
2020-02-05T09:30:34Z
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@GinaPayouts aren't that great. I wouldn't bother. I work in this field, it's just some marketing buzzwords flying around ;). I'd carry on with the way you're doing it now
(DIR) Post #9riuNXTRc5x5MtgIEq by Gina@fosstodon.org
2020-02-05T09:32:49Z
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@sexybiggetje Do you guys do..*buzzword roulette*..blockchain marketing yet?
(DIR) Post #9riufoQRKJl19fzOM4 by bjarni@bre.klaki.net
2020-02-05T09:31:28.513302Z
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@Gina Any 3rd party content you embed on your site (like buttons, share buttons, advertising) will be used to track your users across the web.Advertisement networks have repeatedly been used to distribute malware in the past; both browser exploits and $cryptocurrency miners.For me, these downsides have felt too significant for me to try monetizing my content, so I've never done so and cannot comment on whether the pay-off would actually be "worth it."And of course it's all extra work...
(DIR) Post #9riufooBu0kwLL6MNM by Gina@fosstodon.org
2020-02-05T09:35:43Z
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@bjarni Fair enough. With the share buttons I especially miss the pay off. I've never used a share button on any website myself before. How hard is it to copy the url?
(DIR) Post #9riuwvVmEZSE3Te8Tg by mort@fosstodon.org
2020-02-05T09:39:13Z
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@Gina What I personally do for social buttons (in my case, links to discussions on reddit/lobste.rs/hacker news) is to just have image links on my blog; look at the top right corner of this article for example: https://mort.coffee/home/clang-compiler-hacking/For Twitter/Facebook, I suspect the main disadvantage is that people would have to click the link and then click share from facebook.com, instead of being able to share directly from your article, but I'm not sure what the engagement impact of that is.
(DIR) Post #9rixPIgNsUBHw4GV5E by js0000@toot.cat
2020-02-05T10:06:42Z
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@Gina it's a lot more workthan writing (hard enough as it is)
(DIR) Post #9riyX0p0Gh8GoNXPYu by epi@ihatebeinga.live
2020-02-05T09:57:04.382849Z
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@Gina how do i monetize my mastodon account? :ablobthinkingeyes:
(DIR) Post #9riyX18V6CjDmqeyx6 by Gina@fosstodon.org
2020-02-05T10:19:20Z
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@epi you would need to know your CPT (Cost per Toot) conversation rate.
(DIR) Post #9riz6W2wAR4dmxz7M8 by sexybiggetje@mastodon.social
2020-02-05T10:25:45Z
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@GinaNope! We should tho
(DIR) Post #9rj1Eveh2Nv3RFmgOu by jautero@mstdn.social
2020-02-05T10:49:41Z
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@Gina World is going to He'll because people think that everything is about making money. On the other hand, when all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. When you do online marketing, you look at everything from the point of view of online marketing.
(DIR) Post #9rj1u2B3h3mlXUWVbE by Gina@fosstodon.org
2020-02-05T10:57:06Z
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@jautero You don't have student debt, do you?
(DIR) Post #9rj2qr7cRP1AKvxl4K by Tayo@fosstodon.org
2020-02-05T11:07:44Z
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@Gina I don't mind you making dough for your work but this is where I'm conflicted too.
(DIR) Post #9rj32t7OqO6Q0Hb7IW by Gina@fosstodon.org
2020-02-05T11:09:56Z
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@Tayo Makes for another good blog posts: ethical monetization.
(DIR) Post #9rj5w5Pd2K3Fy5ZYAK by scammo@chaos.social
2020-02-05T11:42:15Z
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@Gina I guess if you have a niche topic you can't make that much with ads. If you would like to "earn" money I rather would give readers the opportunity to give back. Like patraeon, librapay, wishlist, direct payment (maybe even affiliate links).I guess / hope that would be more effective.
(DIR) Post #9rj6vUSQX9LJJDA2ZU by tyil@soc.fglt.nl
2020-02-05T11:53:27.067374Z
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@Gina Do you care more about money, or your readers? If it's the readers, then you will want to stay away from embedded third party content. This includes advertisements and analytics as primary concerns, but third party fonts or javascript should also be avoided.The person you're talking to is using the word "free" in the monetary sense, which would be better phrased as "gratis" to make the distinction clear. Using the tools he recommends would harm your readers' privacy, security, and overall freedom to read your site as they prefer, in the setting in which they feel most comfortable.
(DIR) Post #9rj7Hm7dXNsASw3x2G by Gina@fosstodon.org
2020-02-05T11:57:26Z
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@tyil Definitely the readers. This is why I wonder if it's possible to build a platform in a commercial but ethical way. For example, I'd like to know what readers like about my website. Instead of Google Analytics, I could use Matomo, an opensource self-hosted analytics tool. If there are equivalent tools out there, and if I were to remove the privacy invasive add-ons (such as social media share buttons?) could this not be done?
(DIR) Post #9rj7gwh1NB6MUQcEls by tyil@soc.fglt.nl
2020-02-05T12:02:01.842050Z
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@Gina The best way, both for your effort and your readers' interests, is to stick to plain HTML and self-hosted CSS. I'd stay away from JavaScript and custom fonts.Yes, you can use self-hosted analytics, which would be an acceptable compromise to me. I'm still going to block it, though.Reminder that creating content for a blog is a lot of work already, and you should avoid requiring more work on the side. It's at best just going to eat up spare time, and at worst inhibit you from creating new content at all.
(DIR) Post #9rj7ygF3HCKUgDzQtU by Gina@fosstodon.org
2020-02-05T12:05:11Z
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@tyil Ah thanks for the tips. I actually find it an interesting exercise though. Makes for a good blog as well.
(DIR) Post #9rj8cpBvQBkU1Ifa52 by cavaliertusky@fosstodon.org
2020-02-05T12:12:24Z
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@Gina in my opinion I would just make a simplenblog with no analytics or ads. I like that most of the blogs posted to fosstodon are literally just the text they've written with a picture or two. I don't like ads one bit.
(DIR) Post #9rj9PRpV4IGrkqMkDI by Clifford@social.garwood.io
2020-02-05T12:21:05Z
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@Gina Asking on the fedi will get you biased results. This is a privacy aware group and most revenue streams online are enabled by scummy tracking. My take:- Wordpress is fine, just keep it updated- SEO is fine, you want to be discoveredEverything else is meh. They are easy enough to implement but are adversarial.Alternatives:- https://brave.com/brave-rewards/- Find a sponsor or sponsors! - Setup up a patreon, kofi, etc. - Implement your own scum free, simple advertising.
(DIR) Post #9rjAZjGNCpIafoOyie by nawi@fedi.absturztau.be
2020-02-05T12:34:22.392723Z
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@Gina A blog about your FLOSS adventure. Hmm, what a strange idea ... if someone wants to help or ask about it, no answer comes back ... and then a blog about it ...
(DIR) Post #9rjBNC4MtR3OCjNCJU by kpeace@mastodon.host
2020-02-05T12:43:11Z
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@GinaGood advice! Go for it.Making money isn't evil.
(DIR) Post #9rjDylX6Cgxgoar5Iu by duponin@udongein.xyz
2020-02-05T13:12:30.646860Z
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@Gina I don't expect everybody to have same opinion as me about that but it's dumb website without any tracking, ads and so on.HTML with CSS to have a dark theme and a kind of correct render (homemade)Q: "You spend many time writing on it"A: Yes I do it for fun and want to share knowledgeQ: "You won't know the traffic on your website"A: I don't want, it'll scare me to know that 14k people read itQ: "With ads you will have money"A: Peanuts! Ads corrupted the Web, I'm against and use and ad-blockerQ: "Share buttons"A: It leaks people data to those platform, it's a no-noAbout ads, I'm against it but a real non-intrusive sponsorship is totally not a problem ; something like a simple image/icon with a little text placed away from content is ok ^^
(DIR) Post #9rjERbD3fFKTCDEKIq by jeybe@social.anoxinon.de
2020-02-05T13:17:34Z
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@Gina As long if it doesn't affect privacy and content quality it'll be fine. Just one problem: How to do this nowadays, because this would likely involve third-partys. Moreover it's also likely that this third-partys do heavy tracking to do this "personalization" thing on all kind of unneccessary stuff.E.g. Google's offers (like ads, analytics...) would be a no-go and tracking social buttons, too. Same for other GAFAM members and other similar offers.
(DIR) Post #9rjH2W5Dt2Djv5IRkG by timkrueger@ruhr.social
2020-02-05T13:46:41Z
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@Gina What do you think about to ask for donations?No tracking needed!For example: - IBAN [1] (I prefer that) - Liberapay [2][1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Bank_Account_Number[2]: https://liberapay.com
(DIR) Post #9rjLb9uqhCNP7ZDbW4 by dublinux@mastodon.technology
2020-02-05T14:37:46Z
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@GinaOn a related topic if you put a link to a #Liberapay or a Patreon on your profile my 'back of the envelope' calculations suggest you would take in 600+ euros in 2020. Probably not as much as you would get with SEO and analytics but it all adds up.Here's a link to a Liberapay post suggesting the 'average' payout on Liberapay last year was 240 euros:https://mastodon.xyz/@Liberapay/103407635608049174
(DIR) Post #9rjLeJh8nJs4JoJQMS by AppleStrudelMan@fosstodon.org
2020-02-05T14:38:17Z
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@Gina I would guess that most people interested in reading a FOSS blog are using an ad blocker, so it may not be worth the effort. You can always reconsider if you become famous and get millions of views.
(DIR) Post #9rjRFbDX6o7p9I3obQ by darthwayne@social.librem.one
2020-02-05T15:40:59Z
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@Gina Maybe use something like Brave Rewards https://creators.brave.com/ ?A good compromise of respecting your visitors anonymity and still providing you with some monetization.
(DIR) Post #9rjX40lUtdIkdMnxJ2 by g@fosstodon.org
2020-02-05T16:46:11Z
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@Gina I have a site that has some monetization but all the ads are text-based and only I approve them. Granted I haven't gotten anyone contacting me about placing an ad but that's ok for now.cc/ @mort
(DIR) Post #9rjXu3zw7bHJidNYKe by _josh@mastodon.social
2020-02-05T16:55:38Z
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@Gina If you want to do SEO, affiliate links, and content marketing that's great. I try to block all tracking and advertising and recommend looking at alternative revenue sources. I wish for an 'easy for everyone' micro-payments solution but banks and crypto are not there yet 😞
(DIR) Post #9rjbC0fxVnjgUSHeG8 by jlin@fosstodon.org
2020-02-05T17:32:30Z
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@Gina get the basic site and content up first, establish relationships with readers, look towards a funding strategy (whether that be crowdfunding, ads, affiliate, etc). you won't know until you have that relationship with your audience.
(DIR) Post #9rjbGusYUYRXxYW06C by FiXato@mastodon.social
2020-02-05T17:32:54Z
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@Gina @bjarni I'd rather see #webmentions for my articles on social media sites, aggregated on my article page. #Bridgy looks like it does that: https://brid.gy/ and https://fed.brid.gy/
(DIR) Post #9rjbOKJ0M3KWqVQ6YC by Limax@fosstodon.org
2020-02-05T17:34:44Z
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@Gina Too many people have been murdered (literally) because of Facebook and its family of apps. Nevermind the privacy issues and support for autocrats.
(DIR) Post #9rjbjEHNxG5yEmd6xM by FiXato@mastodon.social
2020-02-05T17:38:32Z
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@Gina @mort well, that would basically be the route #TroyHunt went: https://www.troyhunt.com/i-just-permanently-removed-all-ad-network-code-from-my-blog/
(DIR) Post #9rjctFNSpKyyUcoVpQ by Gina@fosstodon.org
2020-02-05T17:51:29Z
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@FiXato @bjarni Interesting, thanks!
(DIR) Post #9rjmLHo0IBEriefkcS by jamie@mastodon.ino.org.uk
2020-02-05T19:37:27Z
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@Gina What about something like Patreon instead? Tania Rascia has a couple of links at the bottom of her page showing how people can show their appreciation;https://www.taniarascia.com/
(DIR) Post #9rjuT8KiC4TWI6DxWS by liam_reilly@fosstodon.org
2020-02-05T21:08:22Z
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@Gina All sounds great. Make some money if you can! But please don't help or use Facebook :P
(DIR) Post #9rovUJL7pOr0SgLIa8 by panigrc@mastodon.social
2020-02-08T07:13:27Z
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@GinaGive the users the responsibility:- Do share links with simple anchors and icons (no JavaScript, no pop-ups)- Do affiliate links by having an indication that this link is an affiliate linkBonus point:- If you want to have analytics use self hosted anonymizing the data you don't want or needThat way you'll have a much clearer conscious 😊