Patreon Provides Monster Leaps Ahead!
First off, below is an image of my Patreon page. Have a good ol' squint at it. Really soak it in and what's going on there. Then when you're done squinting, I'll move on to why I think this thing is so important.
So, Patreon. What's it all about? I decided I'd get right into the details as, after a search on WA I found very little on it and, as you can see - I've taken the plunge.
Just minutes ago, I finished setting up my Patreon profile. It took time and effort! Not like simply setting up a Facebook profile, no sir. I have popped in one of my own YouTube videos and created images in paint for the 'rewards' section on the right, there. What you don't see is a thank you video that I painstakingly made, take after take until I got my little speech right. (You should see the blooper reel...)
Why would I be saying thank you? Patreon is a little bit like Kickstarter, a little like a crowdfunding community. But instead of focusing on funding one project (like a game or fan made film), it is something that encourages funding for an overall goal. This fits perfectly into my PS4 magazine website and the YouTube channel that has sprung up from nowhere, gobbling down even more of my free time like a starved cash cow in the waiting...
The idea is - one of the many others on Patreon may see your profile (which is hopefully your best sales pitch) and decide to pledge $1, $5, $10 etc per month. You can set those bands to whatever figures you please. Like WA, it has a pay it forward system. Depending on how much people pledge, they will qualify for different rewards. These rewards could be webinars on how to write a blog post or, exclusive 'patron' only content on your page.
Ahhh, but what about tax, I hear you ask. For non US citizens, like myself, Patreon has you covered. The system will automatically charge patrons the VAT amount. Combine that with a quickly signed tax form, found in your settings and you're safe as houses. For US citizens, it appears to be a little trickier but those pesky tax forms are in the same place. Best to just take the bull by the horns on that one, eh?
Now that my Patreon page is all set up and linked to my PayPal account, everything is set to be automated. It's now on me to do some friendly networking to get my page out there! All of this is very exciting as I've seen some people on Patreon get around 40 patrons for their project and they're earning an extra $300 a month! And 40 is pretty low numbers. For what it's worth, here's a link to my page https://www.patreon.com/user.
Hope you found this useful, folks!
Recent Comments
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Wow, that's awesome! Thanks for the post, I've been looking for information and opinions on Patreon through WA and couldn't find anything.
Do you have a recommended traffic amount before starting a Patreon? Or should it be something we have all set up and post a link at the bottom of every article on our sites?