Good News: Who Wants a Balloon Juice With No Ads At All?
The one good thing about the first hard frost is how beautiful my pink hair grass is even when most of the other plants have been killed by the frost.
We had a discouraging night in Virginia last night, but we get to talk about some good things today, too, and this is one of them:
Who wants Balloon Juice to be totally ad-free on all devices?
We can have that if we want it, but it will take your help.
The autoplay video ads – that most of us hated – that ate up the data plan on your phone – whose flickering caused eye issues for some of us – that messed up the site on mobile devices – that caused some of our friends to leave Balloon Juice – brought in $1,000 a month. For the very first time, this blog really could pay for itself!
Without the video ads, the ads bring in almost nothing at all.
If you’re the guy whose name is on all the bills, ditching the video ad and losing $1,000 a month would have to feel a bit like jumping off a cliff with no net.
So here’s what it will take for me to feel good about having asked John Cole to do that:
– $1,000 in recurring donations every month to replace the ad revenue
– no subscriptions, just recurring donations every month from those who can afford it
– $6,000 in one-time donations now – that would sit in an account, unused, as a safety net, so that if for any reason recurring donations drop off or fall off completely, Cole won’t be left in a bind. If something unexpected happened, that would give Cole time to figure out the next phase. That should take the uncertainty out of the equation.
$1,000 IS: 100 10-dollar donations OR 20 50-dollar donations OR 50 20-dollar donations OR 200 5-dollar donations.
Not everyone can afford even $5 or $10 a month, but this is a community and those of us who can afford that can help make the site better for everyone.
I have been telling John for 2 years that we’re a community and we could easily self-fund in place of ad money – am I right? or am I wrong?
If you’re “in”, you can donate through PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, or Pateron. Send me an email if you want the P.O. box address to send John a paper check.
I will leave this post at or near the top for a day so that everyone gets a chance to weigh in with their thoughts.
Please chime in with your thoughts in the comments!
Good News: Who Wants a Balloon Juice With No Ads At All?Post + Comments (239)