To coincide with the launch of our Patreon support page, which will hopefully see us on the way to an advertising-free Ausdroid, we’ve decided to take your questions and answer them right here. It’s not quite a Reddit-style AMA, but it’s the same idea. Ask your question in the comments below, and we’ll do our best to answer you.
Here’s some fast facts:
- Ausdroid has 250,000 unique visitors a month; that’s a quarter of a million people. Monthly.
- Sponsorship starts from just $1 per month. If 1% of our readers got on board, Ausdroid would never need advertising again, and we’d attend every mobile tradeshow and conference we need to, in order to bring you the best and freshest Android and mobility news.
- All our staff are, at present, volunteers. We want to change that, and properly recognise the hard work that goes into Ausdroid.
- Advertising is difficult for Ausdroid; it takes a lot of time to sell it, and the rewards aren’t always there. We’re tech enthusiasts, not advertising salesmen. We’d rather focus on what we do best, than spending time trying to sell advertising space.
- If just 500 people (that’s 0.02% of our monthly readers) pledged $5 a month in support, Ausdroid would go ad-free tomorrow for everyone.
- To make this project worthwhile, your support needs to be ongoing; if you can spare a couple of dollars a month, that’s absolutely perfect!
To support us on Patreon, click here:
Pledged US$5 – will form part of my coffee intake reduction plan I hope.
Thanks Jonny, we very much appreciate you taking the hit to your caffeine intake. Thanks for supporting us and thanks for reading.
is there a way i can Pledge via your Ausdroid app, So that i was i can use my google credit, like me many users might be getting google rewards, happy to donate via google play.
Is there any option to go direct e.g. via paypal without having to set up a Patreon acct? Prefer not to have to register…
Hi Jay, you need a Patreon account in order to pledge, but signing up takes mere seconds; you can sign up with your Facebook account, or just plug in your name, email (and confirm it), and a desired password. If you’re worried about receiving junk email from them (we won’t send any junk to any subscribers), use a disposable email address to complete the signup.
I’m a bit disappointed not to see a response to Sim’s question of (at time of typing) 5 days ago. This is an AMA, after all, still being prominently promoted on the site. The campaign has clearly lost momentum and the first monthly milestone of $2000 still a long way from being achieved with only $350 currently pledged.
We sometimes miss comments if we’re not regularly looking, and we tend to spend more time on the back-end than the front. I’m looking at Sim’s comment now.
I can see that Sim has had a response now and I’ll continue to keep the faith and will be leaving my pledge in place for, at least, the foreseeable future. Good luck.
OK. So as I type this, you are just shy of $300/month pledged. That’s well short of the first milestone of $2500. I’m happy to have pledged my $5 early on and hoped everyone else would get on board as well, but I’m wondering what happens if you don’t reach any milestones? We still have adsense on the page and you collect that revenue, plus the pledges? I guess this comment is a bit like GregAndo’s below except if everybody sits back & does it his way (wait for it to be funded before pledging) it is doomed from the… Read more »
Hi Sim, No, the campaign won’t be scrapped. The Patreon campaign is not a race to the goal, nor is it about rewarding supporters, its about readers supporting us if they value the job we do, which is something we expect to gather momentum for over time. Removal of ads will happen if we reach the goals we set. We don’t need to reach them in a particular amount of time. Bringing in $330 in one month might not seem much, but next month that’s a total of $660, and that can offset a good amount of the price of… Read more »
Thanks for the response Jason. I appreciate the comments you’ve made and in an ideal world, this whole idea would work, but it’s clear you have overestimated peoples willingness to pay for something that they were previously getting for free. I am now torn on what to do. If I do ever retract my support (which I am not doing at this stage), please know that it’s not that I don’t want to support Ausdroid, it’s that I don’t want to prop up other non-pledging peoples share. I will be able to live with the ads (which do not seem… Read more »
Really torn here. I want to support, but I don’t want ads. Pretty firm on that, so I feel if I am paying my own way and other peoples, why do I get ads too? And when those ads are click bait that are disguised as articles, it is the second worst thing for me after paywalling (which I remember and stop following links to) On the fence here. If you reach no ads at all status, I will definitely sub. Not subbing and dealing with ads. Especially the clickbait…I already visit much less regularly now. Good luck. I really… Read more »
Hi Greg, sorry to hear you’re torn on this over the ads issue. We are aiming to take Ausdroid ad-free with the support of our Patrons, and we’d definitely be grateful for your support to help take us there.
I would also like to reiterate that we do mark paid/sponsored posts as such.
We hope you’ll reconsider jumping on later and show us some support in the here and now. Either way, thanks for taking the time to comment.
Been waiting for an ad free option and I missed the first boat which sounds like it returned to port anyway. If you succeed to go ad free or add an ad free sub later, I will definitely be on board.
Again, just my thoughts, I wish everyone all the best.
Hi Greg, I see Jason’s already replied so I won’t add much to that.
If the presence of our ads is the only thing stopping you from subscribing, why not subscribe and turn on an ad-blocker? That way you’ll be able to enjoy an ad-free experience while supporting us to go ad-free permanently.
Just a thought.
Chris
Hey Chris – I personally don’t believe in add blockers because they harm those who rely on ads to cover or subsidise their costs (or sometimes make a profit, but I expect that isn’t too common). I can deal with ads if they don’t impede or interrupt my enjoyment of the site, but don’t like being frustrated by them, or have to use effort to identify the difference between the content/opinion I value and ads tricking me into it. Yes you mark it, no it isn’t obvious, and it is deliberately not obvious. I take issue with the last point.… Read more »
/Done
Thanks Lurch! 🙂
You are my daily read. Have no hesitation is making a small contribution, hope it helps 🙂
Thank you Ammad, we love to hear that we’re in people’s daily read lists 🙂
@Chris Isn’t this what my subscription (monthly I believe) is for?
Hi TheCatMan, we decided to cease the previous Ausdroid Subscriber system; having some users ad-free and others not caused more problems than it was worth, and the system was clunky. We’d rather reach our goals and remove ads for everyone than have to continue a hybrid approach. We’d rather have no AdSense and have to sell no ads than have to continue doing all that, and then just allow some users not to see them. All the monthly subscriptions have been cancelled, though members will be able to log in still (if they like) to bypass ads for the time… Read more »
Hi Chris. Thank you for the answer. I will join the new system. If I could afford $5 per month on PayPal, I can afford it on the new system too. Just depends on how the new system takes money from me.
Much the same way, PayPal or credit card :0
I gave you $5 per month. Mainly because you tell me every time there is a free album or song or video or app on the Australian Google Play site. I’ve got so much free stuff as a result of your articles.
I also love the local focus on Android content. I check the USA sites as well, but they are often not applicable to us here. Keep up the good work.
Hey Sim, that’s wonderful feedback — thank you. Our Australian focus is — we feel — what makes us different from the rest. We also deliver a better quality of tech news than the majors, because we actually care. Thanks for your generous support 🙂
I’m against ongoing donations (though I understand the need for guaranteed income) but Ausdroid is one of the few sites that I read religiously so happy to make an exception.
If you reach the point where ads are no longer being served, how about making the RSS a full article feed? Whether it’s for supporters only – which I’m guessing would be a bit of hassle to implement) – or everyone, I’d like to not have to click through (especially if I’m shelling out a couple of bucks a month).
Hi Kai, this is an interesting idea; we’ll certainly consider opening up our RSS to full-text as part of the transition to an ad-free Ausdroid. I don’t see a reason why not; the main reason we use abridged RSS is (a) to direct views to the site, for ad revenue and (b) prevent third party sites from scraping our content (because it deprives us of the ad views). So, once the advertising is gone, there’s no reason not to open up the RSS 🙂
Anything to make those annoying mobile ads go away. Love the work guys, keep it up! You’ve got my support.
The mobile ads are already gone, and thank you for your support! We’re 5% of the way towards getting rid of ads on the desktop, too!
Ah, so this is why you’ve cancelled Paypal subscriptions? You’re switching to Patreon only?
Correct sir. One platform, one thing to manage, and it also is a lot more simple than what we had with the supporter memberships.
Would consider but there’s been these really annoying ads on your site visiting from mobiles, one where there was the fake floating notification bell and the bottom of the screen pop-up which made it impossible to navigate especially on larger devices. Will these be removed? Would also like more content relevant to the Australian market, whether it be carrier news etc. Main concern is that most of the news is basic enough or can be received straight from androidpolice etc Also, you had an article a while back about getting Australian English onto Google Keyboard and it seems as if… Read more »
Hi Darren, As a sign of good faith and our intentions, ads have been disabled in the mobile site completely. Those pop-up ads were not our doing, and though we tried to block them, we couldn’t. So, we disabled them completely. We focus on Australian relevant news where we can, but mobility is significantly influenced from overseas, so we cover the international news too, but with a local flavour and insight where we can. As for seeking comment from third parties, we do it where and as needed. We’re certainly doing a lot more of that now. Hope this helps,… Read more »
Hey Darren, we’re sorry you feel we don’t do enough coverage of local issues – it is something we try to focus on and we’ve worked hard to establish relationships with each major manufacturer’s local representation. This year we’ve covered flagship launches for HTC, Samsung, Motorola, Sony and LG and we work with Vodafone, Optus and Telstra to cover their products, often to the point that we’re concerned we’re covering carrier news etc too much. We’ll bear your comments in mind when deciding on future coverage. The mobile ads are something we’ve been experimenting with, and are happy to discuss… Read more »
Happy to have ads on the mobile site (banners etc) as long as it isn’t that one ad at the bottom of the screen
I mean, I would rather have non-intrusive ads on your site just so you can support yourself.
While I’ve been an avid reader of Ausdroid for years, I have a hard time allowing myself to commit to an ongoing monthly payment even if it’s $1 a month. I would much rather donate what I have now like a one for payment of $12.00. Then if I have some spare cash next month I’ll donate more. Can you guys set up a PayPal way for this?
Bitcoin or Paypal icon somewhere on your page would be nice, please?
I tend to agree. I won’t commit to any ongoing monthly payment for anything, not even charities etc as they try to get you to do nowadays. But I’d be happy to hit the donate button every once in a while to help out. And wouldn’t expect any ad free perks or anything. This would just be like a random donation to any other place. I realise this is more to try to get some kind of predictable monthly income that can be planned ahead.
$5 per month from me. Hope you guys manage to get a good response.
Much appreciated, thank you!
Okay. 5 bucks.
I do this for a few of my favourite podcasts nowadays.
It’s small money.
It’s only small money, but we really appreciate it.
Thanks! A number of us also pledge to support some of our favourite podcasts too! We’re honoured to be considered at that same level. 🙂
No one-time donation option?
There isn’t through Patreon, though we can accept one-off donations via PayPal if you’re really sold on that option 😛
Sorry, but no – that’s not how the support model works. The idea is to provide a constant level of funding so that we can plan how we’re going to use the funds with confidence each month instead of depleting a lump sum and then having to find more funding.
Love your work guys. $6 a month to your Patreon
Thank you Phil!
Boom! first $25 pledger. don’t spend it all at once boys
Boom indeed, thank you !!
I was looking at the $1 one then I realised that I have ausdroid open on my computer all week at work (for productivity enhancement reasons) and I would be bummed if you guys didn’t get to the support you deserve.
That’s amazing, thank you so much Will!
My pleasure matey.
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Q: Will Ausdroid’s content only be available for subscribers in future, or is this more a donations drive?
The short answer is no. We’re not going to put Ausdroid’s content behind a paywall, or restrict it to subscribers only, or subscribers of a certain tier, or anything like that. We thought about it, but what we’re seeing in the online news industry is that (a) paywalls piss people off more than advertising and (b) they kill your SEO unless you have a workaround in place, and (c) that workaround basically defeats your paywall anyway. There might be some content that we release to Patreon subscribers only, which will primarily be behind-the-scenes type news, i.e. what Ausdroid is working… Read more »
If Ausdroid goes behind paywall, then androidaustralia and the likes will take off like a rocket.
Never going to happen.
Q1. Tax deductable?
Q2. I don’t want a recurring donation, but I’ll support you if you sell an Ausdroid branded mug or T-Shirt. In the works? (I already bought an item from your store, simply because you supply an Australian charger and competitive pricing (when overseas shipping is taken into account).
Q3. I’ll attend your sausage sizzle meetup BBQ fundraiser. Will you have one in Melbourne?
Q1) Sorry, no. We’re not a charity.
Q2) We don’t have Ausdroid branded merch for sale at this stage. This stuff usually involves a setup-fee and minimum orders, unless we offer them for sale through something like Zazzle.. and even then, there’s very little in it for us.
Q3) We’re half planning one for Sydney. If we go ahead with it, we’ll try to organise something like this for Melbourne too.