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We talk almost exclusively about projects Open source and often many of these are also free projects. This is why today we will address a very complex question: how to monetize online?
In fact, it is good to remember that Free and ORpen Source Ssoftware (FOSS) doesn't mean free. Free as in free speech, not as in free beer. That is to say Free like freedom, and not as free. In English indeed free means both free and gratuitous. Hence the misunderstanding of some on the subject (like he).
Jokes aside, this phrase is obviously not ours but rather Richard Stallman 1, the programmer who gave life to the GNU project. The whole thing WILDEBEEST, Stallman And free licenses If you don't already know it, it is interesting to say the least and we therefore recommend that you learn more about it on the site GNU.org.
Open source It doesn't mean free
Despite this premise, this will not be an article on free software, many have already talked about it before us and probably better than we could do. As we said, this premise only served to introduce the topic monetization.
How to earn something on the internet? How to monetize online? There are, basically, alternatives to Google Adsense and to the affiliation of Amazon?
The main methods used are in fact Google AdSense for blogs and sites and the Youtube monetization for videos. Both methods are proprietary to Alphabet (Google) 2. The income of Alphabet Indeed, as we know, derive mainly from advertising. If you don't know what it is AdSense We'll explain it briefly: it's Google's program for advertising banners. Beyond 11 million sites use Adsense 3, practically the vast majority of banners you see on the internet are his.
How to monetize online? Alternatives to AdSense
As you can imagine we were not able to try any of these products personally separately Brave Creators 4 and the affiliate program of Infomaniak for a short period. In fact, as you know, we have decided not to have any type of banner because Le Alternative was not created as a site to profit from. However, not long ago we accept donations at this link mainly for our alternative projects such as Feddit.
However, we have read many comments online and we propose what we think might be the methods alternatives to Google AdSense more interesting. Also for this reason the reviews are very short, if any of you have any experience you can let us know e-mail or on our subreddit, on the our group Telegram or in the our room Matrix!
EthicalAds
It is the first service that comes to mind, as you can understand from the name they offer ethical ads complementary to the contents. If you are looking for a real one ethical alternative to Google AdSense don't go any further. EthicalAds this is the one for you! It is also a project Open source 5. Unfortunately we have been informed that EthicalAds does not currently manage advertising for the Italian public 6.
AdRoll
It is one of the most used solutions for advertising on your site as alternatives to Google AdSense. It has over 25 thousand advertisers all over the world and could be right for you!
Brave
earn through BAT cryptocurrency
As we have already seen previously thanks to Brave it is possible to earn gods BAT (a cryptocurrency created by them). All you need to do is become certified creators and who will use the Browsers Brave can give you support. There are many sites that already use it, including us. All the projects of collective Devol For example peertube.uno or mastodon.one. But also big projects like Wikipedia, DuckDuckGo, archive.org, The Guardian, Washington Post and really many others.
How to monetize online? Alternatives to YouTube monetization
We don't live in a dream world and we know well that if you make videos and want to reach a wide audience must use Youtube. In our opinion, however, it is necessary to do without its monetization. Why Google it is not an ethical company and also because its monetization policy is definitely beyond all limits of decency 7.
In fact, if we are talking about an adult audience, it is absolutely reactionary to remove monetization from videos just because they contain a swear word. We also know that algorithms are not perfect and sometimes they even take away monetization from those who debunk 8 (the sbufalatories). ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If you're interested, he talks about it in his video too Mark The Hammer, a rather famous YouTuber and musician: watch the video. In fact, many YouTubers have decided to lose YouTube monetization in exchange for sponsors within their videos. This is as long as Google allows it, Obviously.
That's why we think it is fundamental find real alternatives to YouTube monetization and not just useful compromises until Google decides they are no longer good.
We haven't learned anything
It's been almost 50 (fifty!) years since George Carlin lifted Maya's veil on the "seven words not to say on television (and radio)" 9. The words were shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, tits and Carlin paid heavily for that spectacle: it was indeed arrested for violations of local laws. For those who don't already know the story, we repeat it more slowly because it may be too absurd to seem true. In 1972, a comedian was arrested in the United States because he used language considered vulgar during one of his shows.
They have passed fifty years and we are still at the same level. If there are famous people in the video seven words of fifty years does 10 then it is to be considered vulgar and must absolutely be demonized.
America's obsession with bad language
All this censorious madness and this obsession with bad language inevitably leads to problems (intended and unintended) over video demonetization.
In fact, the guidelines for good behavior do not only talk about swearing but include a series of elements that allow Google to censor (or rather, to demonetise) also the protests in Hong Kong.
Because, for example, those who sell advertising certainly don't want to antagonize China and Google, to protect itself from Western criticism, hides behind "content not suitable for advertisers". Anyone who actively participates in all this without doing anything to fight it is, inevitably, complicit. Often though Those who earn money with YouTube naively think that there are no alternatives.
It is precisely them that we are addressing: go ahead and make videos on Youtube, the audience is immense and it would make no sense to ignore that platform. But since you have the chance, post your video also on other platforms as PeerTube or Odysee and talk about these platforms in your videos. While the first is just a decentralized video aggregator, where you can still ask to be supported through donations, Odysee it is a real platform for earn cryptocurrency with videos (LBC) with lots of automatic sync for YouTube content.
Always staying up YouTube you could become certified Brave authors and receive BAT as such.
Donations and alternative methods
Finally, we dedicate the last chapter to donations (remember Pepper & Carrot?). Never underestimate the power of fans and try asking for donations to support your projects. In this way the only ones you will have to answer to are your supporters and not at the whims of publicists and Big Tech.
We have also been accepting it for some time donations with which we also managed to create Feddit.it!
If you are interested in learning more there is also our article on alternatives to Patreon dedicated to the topic.
Liberapay
Open source
Liberapay is probably there best ethical alternative for donations. Better because it doesn't take any kind of commission, plus it's a project Open source 11 sponsored, among others, by good Bitwarden.
Ko-fi
Another interesting alternative to receive donations. Their basic plan is free and you will not be asked for any kind of commission.
Patreon
Patreon it is generally discouraged by those who suggest ethical alternatives. Mainly because it holds commissions that are too high, starting from the 5% of everything you earn, up to the 12% 12. If you think it's sustainable for you, it's definitely a good choice.
Buy Me A Coffee
Another method that we often find at the bottom of the pages is Buy Me A Coffee. But they too, like Patreon, require 5% on all transactions. However, they offer more premium services than Patreon, you can see here a comparison.
How to monetize online? The affiliations
Very last note: affiliations. It's the way he earns, for example, DuckDucKGo 13. In the past we also used the affiliations of for a short period Infomaniak, our Hosting.
So instead of banners placed at random which are almost always useless, collaborate with someone in the sector to sponsor their contents. DuckDuckGo unfortunately it has an affiliation with Amazon, you might be looking for something more ethical and more suitable for your product.
Otherwise through the Browsers Brave you can become verified authors and therefore receive micro-donations from its users. We are, so if anyone uses Brave you can include us in your automatic contribution!
One of the most famous affiliations is that of Amazon. We will never do it. Because in our ideal world Amazon it should not exploit its workers 14. Also and above all seen how much does Jeff Bezos earn. Leaving aside of course the whole story of his video surveillance company called Ring.
Here find a list of alternatives to Amazon and several reasons (continuously updated) not to use it.
- Free as in freedom on Wikipedia[↩]
- Alphabet[↩]
- Websites using Google Adsense[↩]
- Transparency[↩]
- Ethical Ad Server on GitHub[↩]
- Report on Mastodon[↩]
- Advertiser-friendly content guidelines[↩]
- Butac on Twitter[↩]
- Seven dirty words on Wikipedia[↩]
- Inappropriate language[↩]
- Liberapay on GitHub[↩]
- Patreon pricing[↩]
- Advertising and Affiliates[↩]
- 'This is how Amazon squeezes us until we drop'. Two warehouse workers from the Piacenza sorting center speak[↩]
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