Readers often ask how they can help support the site, especially those who use adblockers. We rely on advertisements on this site to pay for our hosting fees and also to pay each of the writers, unlike other sites we don’t use bank account or credit card affiliate links that usually make up the bulk of a site’s revenue in this space. I don’t particularly care if readers use adblock or not, chances are those readers are more likely to share the site and contribute in the comments section.
I came across something new today called Brave, basically it’s a browser with an in built ad blocker. It also blocks trackers and because these are blocked sites should load faster.
You’re also able to set up a monthly subscription (you set how much you want to pay, this can also be zero). These funds are then split between the sites/youtube channels you visit the most (and you can also hardcode your own values). I guess it’s a bit similar to patreon in that respect, but a bit more automated and easier to split funds between multiple sites/channels. I’m a big fan of primitive technology on YouTube for example, so I might decide to give them 50% of my monthly budget and then split the remaining 50% based on the sites I visit most.
Believe it or not I actually had the idea for a similar thing 4-5 years ago but I was too lazy to do anything about it. The only thing I’m not a huge fan is the fact it’s a separate browser download (update looks like this browser add on will work as well, yay!). I’d prefer to just add the adblocking and payment system as a chrome plugin, but that’s not possible. It looks like most Chrome plugins are compatible though. Another thing that’s annoying is that to set up payments/subscriptions you need to deal with cryptocurrency.
How it helps us:
- If you sign up, download the browser and use it for 30 days we get paid $5
- You can opt to give us an ongoing contribution if you so choose
The aim of this site has always been to help people save and make more money. I don’t want any reader to feel they need to donate to this site because truthfully we make enough money from ads and things like our Amazon links. This is why we’ve never accepted donations before and frankly I’m a bit hesitant to post this at all. I’d rather readers put money towards their savings instead, although I have less of an issue with it if I know readers are just putting $1-2 a month in and this is being shared by other content creators they love as well. The biggest help to us would just be downloading the browser that’s free and giving it a go (as this gives us $5).
We won’t be setting up other ways to donate or a patreon or members only content or anything like that either, so don’t worry. Just thought that this would be an easy way for some readers to support the site. If you’re not interested, I completely understand that and thank you for your time.
View Comments (68)
@will @chucksithe Any plans of letting us support the site by letting us subscribe to the site with payments? https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/12/wordpress-com-sites-can-now-accept-subscriptions-with-new-recurring-payments-feature/ We dont even need paid/premium content - just let us repay you.
> ...WordPress.com website owners could charge for weekly newsletters, accept monthly donations, sell yearly access to exclusive content or charge for anything else where they want to be able to bill their supporters on a set schedule.
Nope, that's also for wordpress.com and not individually hosted sites. In any cases we won't be doing any sort of premium subscription
Oh ok. Thanks for responding. I was thinking of the subscription along the lines of Patreon and not necessarily receiving separate/premium content. What you and Chuck do is premium already.
Yeah I know, I'd rather people just save the money for themselves though =)
Brave makes honorable mention in this article: https://www.fastcompany.com/90311396/incognito-mode-wont-keep-you-private-try-browser-compartmentalization
I'm using brave browser + BAT almost exclusively now.
Would you care to give an update on how this is working out for your site?
It's very minimal in terms of income, but I don't know what percentage of users are using it vs traditional browsers so it's difficult to know if we make more from brave users than normal users or less. To be honest I don't really care about money that much, if people like brave browser then go for it! Even if people use a traditional browser with ad blocker installed I don't care, as long as they are reading the site and enjoying it/finding it useful that's my #1 concern
First time using the Brave, it is nice browser actually. Thanks for sharing.
Hello guys, I have seen a great increase in my credit score and believe I am now on the right track. Thanks to deepwebservice01 AT gmail DOT com as I have just bought my first home! They just helped my spouse raise his score to over 750 within few days and also working on clearing his debts.
"If you sign up" what do you mean?
If people download the browser, we get $5.
OK, I thought I need to sign up also after downloading it! DONE!
Thanks, Sam! :)
I just disabled Adblock for your site. It’s the first site I’ve done it for.
Thanks :)
Do I need to use a link to download Brave so that it credits to you? Or any download of Brave will do?
Need to use this link: https://brave.com/doc010
I will sign up this weekend DOC! I can’t say enough about the this site!! Your are an extreme asset for amateurs in this area, to say the least!!! I will stop here since I can go on for ever in complementing this website!!!!
BTW - I followed your link instructions in settings up a Morgan Stanley Plat access account back on April 24 with no cost (free)! Today, I finally applied for the MS Plat and got approved! I will follow up in one month as I will hit my $5K spending requirement, in part by paying my taxes.
Where can I keep everyone informed on my status (data point)?
Probably best to keep it in that recap post for now. I'll do a dedicated post when people start getting the bonus.
I've been using Brave for many months. Your new comment system from January 2018 doesn't work in it, though, when JavaScript is disabled. This means I can't comment as often as I could have otherwise.
Both me and some other folks mentioned this when the new system was introduced, but perhaps now that you've heard of Brave yourself you might change the mind and make it work without JavaScript?!
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/comments-system-upgraded-please-patient/#comment-548822
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/comments-system-upgraded-please-patient/#comment-548863
Not really much we can do about that, we use a comment plugin and that runs on javascript. It gives us a bunch of added functionality that's worth keeping around IMO. That's one of the issues I have with brave that you have to use their browser, but looks like you can use an extension as mentioned above.