Last week, I opened my Patreon page to the public, you can visit it here. If you haven’t heard of it before, here’s a short video that explains what it’s about:

https://youtu.be/Ebqi-1FOC7U

In short:

• Patreon is continuous crowdfunding, like Kickstarter but with monthly support instead of a one-time donation. You can use PayPal and most major credit cards.
• There are different tiers at different price levels, each offering specific rewards. When you pick a higher tier, you automatically get all the rewards at the lower tiers as well.
• You can stop at any time, go to a lower tier or go to a higher tier.

That’s pretty much it. It’s a simple and robust platform that works exactly as advertised.

Why am I using it?

When I started my first site in 1999, I promised wife at the time that I wouldn’t invest money in it, only time. I’ve tried to stick to that promise and worked with advertisers to cover the cost of hosting this blog. I don’t want to be too dependent on too many of them so I kept it limited. The last few years, the number of visitors has risen consistently and it’s come to the point that my current web host isn’t good enough anymore. Then there are the projects like my webcast, that I want to turn into a podcast, but that also needs some investment. To make better videos, I need to invest in equipment, etc. You can read all of the goals on the left side of the page.

I am using Patreon as a membership site, which in essence means two things:

• I’m creating content specifically for it and you get to see it right away when it’s done, no delays. Some content will be unique to my Patreon page and not get published elsewhere.
• You’ll have access to me. I’m going to be active in different ways: comments, videos, Q&A sessions and more.

My ultimate goal is to have my Patreon page be something you enjoy, find useful and feel you are getting your money’s worth from.

What now?

In less than a week time and with only a handful of patrons we blew past the first two goals. With their support, I can now:

• Upgrade my blog to a much better web host. This will improve the speed, up-time and overall user experience for all of you. I’m comparing the plans of a few web hosts right now and am almost ready to pick one. Then the migration process can start. I’ll let you know when it’s done.
• I can turn my webcast into a podcast as well. It will be available on Youtube as before, but also in audio version here on my blog and on iTunes.

I hadn’t expected to reach those goals any time soon. Everything I read about Patreon told me you need to work hard and be patient as patrons slowly trickle in over the months. It’s humbling to see how my patrons stepped up and signed on right away, even when there wasn’t a lot of content just yet. So here’s a big thank you to Andy, Pieter, Tino, Jose, Jan and Michael. You guys rock! I’m busy creating lots more content every day and I’ll do my best to reward your confidence in me.

If you want to support my blog, there’s two ways you can do so:

• Sign up and become a patron here. Support can be as little as $1 a month at the lowest tier; every bit helps and I appreciate all of it.
• Share my Patreon page with people you think might be interested. The more people take a look, the more chances one of them signs up. The more people sign up, the more everybody benefits as it’ll allow me to create more and better content.

As an added bonus, I’m offering a special surprise reward for the first 50 patrons, regardless of which tier you sign up for. So don’t wait too long if you are interested.

And to those of you who spread the word: thank you. I very much appreciate it.