When and How to Add Paypal Donate Button

Hate receiving charity? Even I do.

But if receiving it enables you to serve your customers and visitors better, adding a simple Paypal donate button is not a bad idea. In addition, there are many people in the world who don’t like to take something for free if it provides genuine value for free (ok, there are maybe very few of them – maybe just 0.01% of the total population, but those are your targets). On the other hand, if you plan to start a NGO site, donate buttons are compulsorily needed.

So what are the circumstances when placing a donate button would indeed help your purpose of making money without making you look like a cheapskate.

1) Don’t place a donate button unless your site is well established and has struck a chord with the visitors. If you hurry in placing the donate button, you are projected as one money hungry blogger (which you don’t want to be).

2) Always offer something unique to people who donate. It may be as simple as allowing them to see an ad free version of your site, or as simple as adding a nice link to their site for the next 5 posts in your RSS feed.

3) Tell them the exact reasons how and where the donation money may be used which can serve them better in return. The best example was Wikipedia which recently asked for a donation to manage their increased costs. People donated willingly because Wikipedia is a great service. But most importantly, throughout the campaign, it was emphasized exactly where the donation amount would be put to fruitful utilization.

4) Always allow for smaller donations starting from $1. This allows also the smaller fish to contribute to your kitty.

How to add Paypal donate button on your website or blog

Sign up for a Paypal account. Paypal is a ecommerce business venture which allows for the safe transfer and receipt of money through the internet in a secure medium. It is also the most commonly used medium of transferring money over the internet.

The important thing to remember is that Paypal uses your email Id as your username for all transactions. So make sure that the email-id provider is secured one like Google, Rediff, or Hotmail.

After signing up, login into your account and follow the steps outlined below:

1) Head to your Profile tab.
2) Click “My Selling Tools” from the drop down menu.
3) Find PayPal buttons listed under Selling Online and click “Get Started”.
4) Select “Donations” from the dropdown menu.
5) By default, you will be directed to the page with HTML code for a Website, copy this code and add it to a text box on your main page (or wherever you want the button to appear).

Once you place the donate button on your blog, promote actively the benefits of making a kind donation to your blog. And you are ready to see the money flowing in.