What Does Web Monetization Mean to Me?

Web monetisation is a lot of things to a lot of people. The Coil-and-Africa-Hacks-sponsored SheCodeAfrica Web Monetization Challenge Hackathon for the She Code Africa community (...or SCA queens as we love to call ourselves) drove me to read far and wide on this oft-talked about topic. But does that mean I know it all? Of course not! I'm still learning but no one ever learnt anything by just simply reading about it. You've got to get your hands dirty; dig in and practice. And from the little knowledge gained in my literary travels these past couple of days, I was able to build a web-monetized MVP (minimum viable product) of a very interesting project. Even better, I had so much fun doing so. But that’s a story for another post!

In this post, I’m going to try to explain as simply as possible (no tech jargon) what I understand by the term 'web monetisation'. But first, I would start with a story. A couple of years back, I started a football blog on Wordpress. My blog focused on the journey of several top-tier soccer clubs as they vied for a chance to win the coveted European Champions League trophy. I spent nights drafting and refining articles, watching football matches, highlights, and even replays all with a view to understanding the tactical strategies of each team and consequently explaining same to my readers....all with a full-time job in the very stressful banking sector.

As you'd suspect, it was very hard and draining. But then, I was happy doing what I loved and so I plodded on. I got lots of compliments and thumbs-ups from colleagues, friends, and even the surprise guest visitor who enjoyed the blog content. And while these helped to boost my confidence, I still lacked the needed financial support to continue the good work. I planned to move the site to my own personal domain but I had no funds, and soon it became a serious struggle to continue putting out good content in return for little or no gain.

The sad end of this short story is that I eventually abandoned the blog. And I still feel a pang of regret even as I write this. But more importantly, I feel my story is one almost everyone that has tried pursuing their hobbies and passions (blogging, programming, making DIY tutorials) has gone through in one form or the other.

Experienced bloggers would tell you you have to work for it. No pain without gain. You must first 'suffer' to make your site rank highly on Google before you can start getting paid for it.

But web monetization tells a different story. By monetising your website, you’re able to earn from any single content you put up whether as an upcoming blogger, a newbie developer working on personal projects, or even a professional with a well-established customer base. For everyone who visits your website and reads your content, you get paid as long as they are subscribed to a Web Monetization Provider.

Enter Coil. Coil is a platform that provides web monetization services to both content creators and site users.

When you sign up to Coil as a creator, you can monetize your personal website as well as other platforms you create content on (Hashnode, Wordpress, Twitch etc.). Once your site or platform is web-monetized, you begin to receive micropayments to your account for every Coil-subscribed user that visits the site. So while a user is reading or watching a content, Coil pays the creator.

In a separate post, I would explain how to set up web monetization whether on your own personal website or on other platforms and also how to make certain content or web pages exclusive to subscribed users. Today, we just want to understand what web monetization is and why we need it.

So, you might say to yourself

Oh, I don't put out content or own a website or anything. What does this have to do with me?

Well, think of it this way: the world will be a very boring place without all these content on the internet. Coil provides users a valid way of appreciating good content and the efforts behind them. A user subscribes to Coil for $5 a month, and this subscription works on all sites that are web-monetized. No matter the number of sites you visit, your $5 will cover for the whole month. So while you're enjoying great content online, you're also giving back to the society. A win-win if you ask me!

In conclusion, web monetization is a very simple concept with so much benefits for everyone, be you a creator or consumer of content.

...And I just might reopen my football blog again....this time with web monetization.