A CASE FOR A NEW REVENUE MODEL FOR THE WEB:
MICROPAYMENTS
(How much money does this website make?)


Monthly Total Income for https://www.onemathematicalcat.org
from January 2012 thru June 2021
(from all revenue sources, before expenses)
Average monthly income for this website: $62.28/month


Want to hear me (Dr. Burns) read this aloud? If so, here 'tis!

Current attitude: All content on the web should be free for the taking

Be honest—you feel this way, right? (Sigh—so do I.)
It's not our fault—the culture has ingrained this belief.

Yep, even me

Even as a web creator who has put more than 15,000 hours into this site since 1999, I realize that I have this attitude.
When I head out into the web looking for answers, I find myself expecting free.
I get dismayed (annoyed, frustrated, ...) whenever I find that the answer I seek has payment (or other hoops to jump) attached.

Fair?

But, is this fair? Web creators provide a valuable service to society.
After all, we pretty much all head to the web first, for almost all our questions.
Web creators who provide answers deserve to be compensated.

Here's one thing I believe

Here's what I believe: if it was easier for an ordinary person to share their talents on the web,
and get some compensation for it, then we'd see a lot more quality content.

Money from a personal website? Not easy

Right now, it's NOT easy to earn money on the web, particularly from a personal web page.
I should know. I speak from experience.
And I have loads of content (waaaayyy more than the typical personal website).
I've tried ads, affiliate programs, digital downloads, donations, producing and selling my own books, more.
I'll let my revenue speak for itself as to my success.

Monthly income data since January 2012

I've been collecting my income data since January 2012.
It's shown above—this is my monthly income, before expenses (like server fees, domain names, SSL certificates).
The average is $62.28 per month.
This includes all the revenue methods I've ever tried.
Currently, it's book sales, donations, Amazon affiliate program, and (just started) web monetization thru COIL.
(You can see all the income details here.)

I want to ...

I want to read an entire article without a monthly subscription.
And I really do want to support the creators who answer my questions.
I just want to do it effortlessly—when I linger on a page, I want to know that I've supported that creator.
And it's important to me that I will never exceed my $5 monthly budget.
(Enter COIL.)

A Vision

Based on my website stats (number of visitors, how long they linger), micropayments will work well for me when they become a web life force.
Why? I have precisely the content-rich web pages that the system is designed to encourage and reward.
One creator succeeds—others will follow.
The annoying pages of the web will slowly be replaced with content-rich and frustration-free treasures.
But change is slow. I'm trying to do my part by being an early adopter—and spreading the word.

Links I've found useful: for your own research