Micro-payments and the modern web – monetizing the blog

Everyone has heard the term “micro-payment.” It has been associated with monetizing websites for nearly as long as the internet has been commercialized. Here's an outline for a simple way to monetize a site, using modern web technology and micro-payments.

The key here is to think in terms of cents, rather than dollars. If you do, then $5 or $10 can go a long ways toward rewarding your favorite bloggers.

The first time you use the widget, you'll be asked to create and fund an account at the provider's website (a slick modern site, by the way). From then on you can move money – pennies at a time – to the “accounts” of others using nothing more than a simple secure widget. The widget might have a slider from $.05 to $1, or may have an text field for a value. After you choose the amount, enter your pin, then simply click send. To avoid the 1-Click patent from Amazon, you may have to confirm the payment. Even if you were to allow a single click transfer, you may be safe because it isn't a checkout process on the provider's website. Either way, this is really simple.

Sure there's Paypal, but Paypal has the whole interstitial popup page with the the login and confirmation process. This process is simple enough for anyone to use… you never leave the site, or the page for that matter. The trick here is to be logged in on the provider's site, and subsequently in the widget.

Where do you make money? Here are some ideas: commissions, ad sales on the widget, a one-time setup fee, monthly service fee to the blogger over $x in sales, pro features (lose the ads, stats, etc.)

If you decide to implement the idea, let me know so I can set it up on my blog.