Help support a unique and diverse voice and a platform for Black designers and developers! We’ve linked up with Tugboat Yards, an awesome website that helps digital publishers find their true fans, establish new revenue streams, and foster meaningful relationships with their supporters.
Just click the image here to go to our Tugboat Yards page!
If you’re subscribed to our monthly newsletter (and if you’re not, you can do so here), then you got word about this when it was rolled out on March 31. Here are some answers to the most frequently asked questions.
Why are you doing this?
Managing the site, recruiting, scheduling, conducting, and editing 4-5 interviews per month, posting them to SoundCloud, and keeping Revision Path’s social profiles on Facebook and Twitter takes a lot of time for one person. Your patronage will help provide the resources to ensure Revision Path lives on into the future!
But you’ve been doing Revision Path for free for a year now.
True, and the site will still remain free. (I’m not charging for access.) I also own a design company and I’m a teacher, and splitting time between my clients, my students, and Revision Path has now caused them all to suffer. In order to help grow Revision Path and provide what our community is asking us for, this is what has to be done to make that happen.
What is the money going towards?
Your support will go towards helping Revision Path in a number of ways!
- Move to a more secure web host
- Improve the quality of the podcast (hire an audio editor, have podcasts transcribed, etc.)
- Commission writers to create original articles, tutorials and editorials
- Hiring an intern (or two!)
- Marketing and advertising
- Merchandise
- And a lot more!
Why Tugboat Yards? Why not a Kickstarter or an Indiegogo Campaign?
Honestly, I’m not convinced a crowdfunding campaign, even for a small amount like $500 or $1,000, would be successful. Kickstarter and Indiegogo are all-or-nothing, and Indiegogo’s Flexible Funding option takes a varied amount from 10%-15% depending on whether or not you reach your goal.
Tugboat Yards uses WePay, and the fee is 2.7% + $0.30/transaction. Much cheaper, which means more of your money would go towards helping Revision Path.
Plus, Tugboat Yards is a startup company, their staff has been very cool and helpful, and their platform is geared specifically towards digital publishers.
What about sponsors? Advertising? Affiliates? There are other ways for you to gain revenue.
To be completely honest, the numbers aren’t great enough to make Revision Path an attractive buy for most sponsors. Our downloads are low. Pageviews are low. Remember our survey from last month? I only received a handful of replies, which doesn’t give me a lot of information to determine Revision Path’s audience so I can put together a media kit to court sponsors.
The same goes for advertising. Revision Path’s traffic isn’t great enough to make this a strong revenue source, whether through AdWords or some other advertising source. Plus, I really don’t want a site littered with ads. I’d much rather have dedicated sponsors who have an interest in what Revision Path is trying to do and support our audience.
Affiliate marketing is an option we’re pursuing along with Tugboat Yards, but that requires people to make a purchase in order for us to receive affiliate money. Again, our traffic numbers aren’t great enough to make this a strong revenue source. (Our 2013 Holiday Gift Guide was the first foray into affiliate marketing.)
You could just be doing this advertising thing wrong — why don’t you just hire someone who knows what they’re doing?
Because hiring people takes money. (Unless you want to work with us for free, in which case…send me a message.)
OK…fine…so how does this all work?
Glad you asked! Just visit https://tugboatyards.com/page/revisionpath and give your support at any of the following supporter levels:
- Tip Jar: You can donate any amount of money here starting at $1. This is a one-time fee.
- $5 Fist Bump: This is a monthly subscription, and you’ll be added to our special “Fist Bump Bulletin” email list, a weekly members-only newsletter with advance info about upcoming interviews, your chance to ask interviewers questions, and other behind-the-scenes information.
- Episode Sponsor: You can sponsor an individual episode for just $20! Your name/company will be read at the beginning and end of each podcast, and your name/company will be displayed on each individual episode page. (You’ll also receive the Fist Bump Bulletin. Bonus!)
- $5 Fist Bump (Annual): It’s the same as the $5 Fist Bump level, but you can pay for the entire year. This is limited to 25 slots. (And you’ll get the Fist Bump Bulletin.)
- Annual Sponsor: You can sponsor Revision Path for the entire year (which of course makes you extremely, extremely awesome). Your name/company will be included on the site’s homepage, all interview pages, and your name/company will be mentioned at the beginning and end of every show. This is limited to five slots. (And of course, you’ll get the Fist Bump Bulletin!)
This is too expensive for me.
You can always follow us on Twitter and Facebook and show your support there. Retweets, shares, and posts are free. (And Revision Path could use more of those too!) Share the site with your friends and co-workers and favorite sites. There’s plenty of ways you can help increase Revision Path’s profile without spending one dime.
I hope this has helped to answer any questions that you may have about Tugboat Yards and why we’re doing this. If you still have questions, just send a message. Thanks!