Today, on 16th January, 2012, I decided to Monetize this blog. Shall start accepting VOLUNTARY donations from readers.

Had a change of mind today. on 16th January, 2012, at around 5 PM, I decided to monetize this blog and accept voluntary donations from readers who feel like donating to support my efforts and help me generate better independent content. A few things happened, today, that made me think in a different direction, that made me change from a Not-for-profit blog to a For-profit blog. I did have Google Adsense on blog page in the past, but that was mainly to increase search engine connectivity (or so, I thought. I am not an SEO expert).

There was not much revenue in it. I have only made $60 from Google Adsense in the last 17 months, and Google does not pay out until there is a minimum of $100 in your account, LOL. Google Inc is stingy, indeed. You are getting rich with MY money lying around in your bank account, Google Inc, LOL !!! Well, the banner ads are like decorative pieces on the shelf. The blog would look dull / dry without them. And it helps, too, that Adsense throws up relevant content to the readers and trhe readers can benefit from them. It is a win - win situation for Google & me. This is exactly why Google is rich. Coz they always share the loot. They always create these Symbiotic, win-win relationships with clients :))) Go Google!

back to my point, the factors that made me monetize this blog or become a For-profit blog: 

• I noticed that my blog is now getting 6000 hits / views a month
• I saw that a few other blogs like mine are already accepting donations from readers
• I got a phone call from a reader today asking for advise about MBA application
• I realize my new born start-up company, "Som Group Consulting" needs to start generating revenue
• I realized that I am spending quite a bit of my time and energy on this blog. It makes sense to expect something for my hard work and to keep me going / keep me generating new content regularly to benefit the readers...
• MBA student life is expensive. MBA students are expected to maintain certain standards, LOL. One is supposed to wear decent clothes, attend parties and paid seminars. This, apart from textbooks, case studies materials, various online services, memberships etc... 

So finally, I decided that it is time to monetize my blog today. A change of heart :) So I have removed the name of the business school that I study in, from all the visible spots of the blog. I do have a registered business to legally permit me to monetize. I do have a HST account. I do have a PayPal account that I shall use to collect voluntary donations. And I shall pay taxes on the revenue generated. So all this is Halal / Kosher, legal LOL :)

There is a button on the right side bar of the blog that looks like this:

Not this one, silly :))) This is NOT the actual live link to make a payment. The one on the side bar on the top right hand side is :) Clicking there shall help the reader to make a voluntary donation to me :)

Clicking on that button allows a reader to go ahead and make a donation directly into my PayPal account. My Pay Pal email is gerrysom@yahoo.com . When a reader makes a voluntary donation there (no contract, no obligations), the money is directly deposited into my PayPal account and my bank account.

From my side, I hope to continue blogging regularly and generate good content for the readers. So far, this has been a one man show. I have done all the work here ON MY OWN ! I shall try to get some professional help in making this blog site pretty and more useful to the readers of this blog.

Cheers!
Gerry Som.
Blogger of www.gerry.in blog.
gerrysom@yahoo.com