Editor's Note: Google Contributor is no longer operating for general use as indicated below, and this post was edited to remove links to their Web site and embedded elements that are no longer functioning.
Would you pay money to read The Hot Iron? And what if by paying you saw less ads on the site?
I know I have asked this question before when I added CentUp to this very blog. Another new revenue model for writers has come about from Google called Contributor. As I have no illusions (delusions?) of grandeur in earning a living from this very site alone in itself, I was more intrigued to try it to how it really works.
How It Works
Google Contributor allows a Web user to contribute money monthly for ads to not be shown on Web sites it visits. The ads specifically are ones from Google’s own ad services, AdSense and DoubleClick. So if a banner ad comes from another source other than Google (and there are many) that ad will still appear. In the place of the ad it may be blank or a thank you message for supporting the particular Web site.
From the Web site owner’s perspective, if they are displaying on their site through Google, rather than getting the money for someone seeing and clicking on an ad, they are getting money from the user’s Contributor account, in a sense offsetting the cost of the ad usually paid by the advertiser.
A few items of note on Contributor. Currently it only works in the US. By someone contributing money, either US$2, US$5 or US$10 a month, they are still going to see ads. As shown in the chart below, by contributing those 3 previously mentioned dollar figures, they will see respectively 5-15%, 15-25% or 25-50% fewer ads. These fewer ads are across all Web sites with Google ads not just one in particular. So if you contribute $10 a month, thinking it will all go to me for reading The Hot Iron, it will not.
Is It Worth It?
That’s a great question – is it worth it? I honestly don’t know, as I have just set it up on the blog, and I have also signed up as a Contributor at the whopping US$2 a month level.
Here is a screenshot of this blog with an ad appearing at the top:
I know – the difference is amazing!
It will be interesting to see how often I notice the ads not there. Last year was the 20th anniversary of the Web banner ad. As I heard somewhere – and I forgot the source – it was marking 20 years of people ignoring banner ads! So even if it technically works, it will be interesting to see if anyone notices.
Are you a Google Contributor? Did I convince you to join, or not join? I welcome your thoughts in the comments of this post.
This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.
Did you enjoy this? Subscribe to The Hot Iron by RSS/XML feed or Read by Email.
Interesting topic. I started paying closer attention to any ads that load at the top of the page. I for one, do prefer a page that immediately addresses my search query and the simple layout typically found on AMP pages.
It is easy to see why some say that Contributor is “great for bloggers, bad for advertisers”.
Hi Jeannie - Thanks for visiting and reading. Where I pay about US$2/month, I earn less than that, so I agree with your assessment of the service so far.
mp/m
Note: Comment moderation is active, and your comment will be viewable once it is reviewed.
The Hot Iron strives to present unique content and point-of-view on business, technology and other topics by Mike Maddaloni, a technology strategist based in Appleton, Wisconsin.
Photo credit: Logan Connor/Oomphotography
Follow Mike on Mastodon.
If you like what you are reading on The Hot Iron, buy me a coffee!
In posts here at The Hot Iron there are often links and banner ads for products and services. For some of these links and banner ads, I receive compensation if you click and/or eventually buy said products or services. Where most links are marked as such, it is safe to assume any link or banner ad is a compensated one.
Comment by 
Comment by