My thanks to those of you who answered my recent call for support on the heels of our 9th Anniversary announcement. A little more than 100 of you answered that call which, while seemingly a very small number of the thousands who visit here each day, is amongst the largest responses we’ve had to any of our attempted fundraisers over the years, in terms of number of people giving.
So my great thanks for that. If you had purchased our premium offer for a signed copy of Marta Steele’s new book, Grassroots, Geeks, Pros, and Pols: The Election Integrity Movement’s Rise and Nonstop Battle to Win Back the People’s Vote, 2000 – 2008, it’s on its way or already there, or we’ll need a few more days to get a few of them out, since we oversold our limited number of available copies and Marta’s been kind enough to help us get a few more to cover all of those who purchased. If you didn’t get one through our premium offer, you can (and should!) get one via the Columbus Free Press website right here.
All of that said, I’m still facing difficult questions about how to sustainably keep going here as we begin our 10th(!) year of trouble-making, muckraking and journalism regarding many topics that most in the media would prefer to ignore. I hate — and am not very good at — constantly haranging you all for contributions, even if it’s just a few times a year. So, for the short term, a quick question for those who have time to offer some feedback to me here…
While a good number of you were generously willing to help out with one-time donations during the recent drive, what, if anything, might help to encourage you in the future to become a monthly sustaining contributor? I’m open to any and all ideas. While I don’t usually directly request feedback of this sort, I am doing so now, as I search for a more reliable way to try and keep things afloat here as we move forward.
I know there’s a lot of “competition” for your eyeballs and web support dollars these days. And so much free content is available out here that I appreciate how difficult it is to contemplate paying anything for stuff on the web.
But is there additional or a different type of coverage you’d like to see here that might help? More quick news items? Fewer items, but more longer investigative reports? More and varied guest blog voices? A “subscriber’s only” area of some sort?
I’m just tossing out a few thoughts to give you an idea. I don’t want to prejudice the imagination of the jury here, and I may or may not be able to accomplish any particular changes given our limited resources. Also, I want to make sure that we continue to offer original reporting or analysis, rather than simply re-post stuff from elsewhere, as so many sites do these days.
But I’d be very interested to hear your thoughts on what, if anything, might help encourage some of you — beyond those few who have already done so (thank you!) — to be more inclined to sign up for a monthly sustaining contribution (of any particular amount).
Please let me know in comments. Or, if you feel more comfortable responding via email, I’m happy to hear from you that way as well.
And, again, my thanks to all of you who contributed to help us try to keep going in our most recent fund drive, as well as those who have done so in previous years. The support truly means the world.
P.S. If you’d like to sign up for one of those monthly sustaining contributions I’m referring to, you can do so anytime, for any amount you like, in the light-blue box about halfway down the right-sidebar on any page here at The BRAD BLOG. Or, you can select from one of the pre-determined monthly amounts in the dropdown link below.
P.P.S. Of course, a regular old one-time donation is always appreciated as well! (Even by snail mail to “Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028“)
Brad,
You are phenomenal and from my point of view, if I had dollars I felt I could give, you would be at the top of my list. It’s not you or your website or other offers or competitors. I will try to adjust my priorities to make it happen.
Although maybe a “subscribers only” forum might not be a bad idea, if the subscription was not too pricey. It might spur some of us to pay the bucks and it would give us perhaps a chance to choose topics to discuss… just a thought. (I, for one, love to express my opinions 😀 and like the idea of more opportunity to do so and dialogue with other interesting people out there in electronic-land.
Brad, that’s a tough one. The biggest beneficiaries of your battle are the voters who don’t have money to spare, so I’d hate to see them cut off in any way from your site.
You do get great traffic. Maybe, you haven’t monetized as much as you could? Why not a little bit of CPA and whatnot to rake some money it. What’s stopping you from using plugins like the one Nation Uses to have relatively non-intrusive
sticky banner float in at the bottom? I’m sure readers would even forgive you for occasionally having a banner that comes in and you must click off before you can read the blog. Where’s your prominently displayed link to buying advertising space on your blog.
Question: Does anyone you know do anything with a sticky banner other than get really annoyed and click it off? But, Brad, if you want to try it, I would always forgive you. (After being really annoyed and clicking it off!)
There are lots of wp plugins that can put a sticky banner at the bottom of the page. I’ve got a few myself.
I think the best way is for folks to sign up to send you monthly checks from their bank. I gave my bank (happens to be Wells Fargo but I think most any bank can do it) your address and they just send you a check in the mail every month at not cost to you or me. A lot of people don’t know it is that easy – just go online to your bank and put it in the automatic payment function (or similar term). It might take 3 minutes. I’m so glad to hear that 100 people responded – I think that’s great – now if at least half would do automatic contributions every month that could really help ease your worries. And it is so hard to concentrate on all the news you cover when you have to worry about where your next meal is coming from. So come all you Brad fans, would you really miss $10/month (33 cents a day)? Some could certainly afford $20 or $30 or $40 or $50 or even $100 a month (I know that’s a stretch but look how much Brad stretches for us).
Brad – here’s an idea, could you get a sponsor that would match the monthly contributions so you could get double the impact? And DO put something on the site asking for contributions and have it be near the top so people don’t have to look to find it – AND have it down lower like you do on this page as well. It’s ok to ask for money – you provide an outstanding service and deserve to be paid for it. After all, we can’t all ask Brad to defend Democracy with just his own limited resources – if some of us contribute to other causes and are at max, maybe we could divert just a bit over to Brad and Desi.
I can’t thank you enough Brad for all you and Desi do for us – WE OWE YOU!
You could get one of those Amazon.com affiliate boxes and occasionally encourage people to do their amazon.com buying through your box. I hear that works pretty well.
Luagha said:
I got one of those. It’s in gray box at right. Has been for many years. Feel free to enjoy it, of course! 🙂
Brad, you’re probably miles ahead of me on this, but just in case it might be useful to you, I’ve got a few ideas.
I could swear that I recall you once had a mobile version of bradblog? Is my memory deceiving me? Anyway, I checked out how your blog looks in smart phones and other mobile devices. Obviously your theme is not responsive. If you have a mobile version of your site, your mobile detection script is not working.
Around 30% of Americans online are using mobile devices, and Americans are buying more mobile devices than desptops and laptops combined. Here’s what I suggest:
1. More mobile-accessible version of your site, if you don’t already have one, or make your site’s theme responsive.
2. QR code on site and wherever you promote it, so smart-phone users can quickly scan it to take user wherever you want them to go on your site, get your number, or whatever it is that you want to share.
3. Means to capture email lists and cellphone lists to directly notify readers via email or cellphones of news, special offers (eg signed books, videos, signed posters, tickets,coupons whatever you’re offering).