It is springtime. The temperatures are rising. Flowers are starting to bloom. Grass is growing back faster after a fresh mow. Your allergies are staring to kick up. You know what that means? It is fundraising time! It’s time to start our yearly renewals. Coming up next month is our domain renewal. After that will come our hosting renewal. I know money is tight right now for a lot of people, but this is where we need your help.
One of the goals of our donation push was to make the podcast self-sustaining. Allowing us to pay off the costs of maintaining the website and help improve the quality of the podcasts. Now, I know that my consistency in keeping up with the shows has been lacking, but that is where I am changing.
Obviously, one of the main goals is to keep the domain name. We have had it for sixteen years. Though most of that time, I have carried the cost of the domain. There have been a few years where my brother spotted me the money or a listener helped. The goal for this year is to renew it for a few years at a time. Simply kicking it on down the road year after year isn’t cutting it.
The last time I paid for the domain was in 2023 when I was able to pay it for three years. Now, it is coming due. Renewal on a multiple year basis allows us to not worry about losing the name for a bit. Some may consider that is still kicking it on down the road. However, there is no real way to permanently own a domain. Much like life insurance, you have it as long as you continue paying for it.
Fundraising is always a tricky business
Try fundraising via social media is always tricky. Especially when you use social media to promote it. This in an era where if you don’t pay into their advertising model, you are lucky to get some views. Not only that, like on Threads, posting articles don’t exactly get promoted. Making random pop culture or political statements can get you a couple of thousand likes.
Coming up after that is hosting. Now, this isn’t for hosting the podcast. We currently have a free hosting company that we’ve been using for a while. It was something that I have been using since I didn’t want to be linked to Spotify. The hosting we’re currently using is for the blog. The second half of the online presence. When we started – and a couple of times since – we had resorted to free hosting from the likes of WordPress.com.
It is definitely not desired.
Having a separate hosting company allows us to use the site to its full capability. There are no restrictions on what you can post or players you can use. Since WordPress.com made a deal with Spotify, you can only use a Spotify player to post on their site. Meaning, we can’t use the native player for Acast that hosts our podcasts. Not to mention, there are no real ways to customize the player. So it always looks sort of tacky.
If we have anything left over, we’ll get ice cream
Of course the question comes along, what if you receive more than you need from fundraising? Funny you should mention that. One, I would like to switch hosting companies. I am using IONOS, and I hate them. They made it a nightmare to start the site and right when I got it where I wanted it – they did something on the backend to break it. Their customer service was not all that helpful. Which is why I am trying fundraising.
I tried a hosting company, Skystra, when I left Bluehost – they were amazing. Their prices are very reasonable and usually run good deals. Unfortunately, I was going for the lowest price to get this thing going. I know. You get what you pay for. However, if I paid their regular price, I would be so pissed.
Anyways…
After that, I would attempt to upgrade some equipment. Maybe move off Audacity and pay for the evil empire of Adobe for Audition. I love that program and allows me more freedom than Audacity does. I know – because it is the internet – people will say “works fine for me”. Like when I said that Apple Podcasts app was annoying. Others were like it does what it’s suppose to do. Like they’re invested in Apple themselves.
I moved away from GIMP to Affinity. While it has a learning curve, I found it easier to navigate then GIMP. Plus some of their processes has a smoother interface by mixing vector, pixel, and layout. So, there is less purchasing I have to do with getting better programs I need.
With the extra cash, I could get Oliver some of his bougie food. More treats. Maybe even some toys. I’ll be honest, if you have been following me for a while, you know I wouldn’t be around if it wasn’t for him. He has suffered much of the same issues. None of it was his fault either. Maybe I can get a new desk chair. The one I’m using is a hand me down that slowly sinks if I stay on it for more than five minutes.
If you would like to help, you can click on that “donate” button to the right (or further down depending on how you’re seeing this), or click here. As far as everything else, I will bring back The Lazy Geeks next week, and drop my newest show then as well. We shall see how this fundraising goes and I’ll get back to you. In the meantime, if you would like to help – please do. You’ll be my bestest friend. And Oliver’s too.