Three things not to do when asking for money

The 15-year-old blogging platform Xanga is about to shut down. To revive the site, they are asking users for $48/year.

However, Xanga demonstrated three things not to do when asking for money.

1) Don’t use two spaces after periods.

My goodness. We live in an age where nobody uses typewriters anymore. Why would you ever use two spaces after a period? Remember this: On typewriters, you use two spaces after a period. On computers, you use one space after a period.

If you are asking people for money, please demonstrate that you know how to use a computer–especially if you are asking for money to keep a website alive. Otherwise, you might as well just keep your website on your typewriter.

2) Don’t squish your logo.

This should be clear if you are asking for money, make sure your request at least looks professional. Don’t squish your logo or any images on your site. When you squish your images, it makes it look like you don’t care.

If you are a website that is currently ranked as the #5000th most popular site on the internet, at least show some respect for your brand.

3) If you mention Kickstarter in your request, then you should use Kickstarter.

Kickstarter is a fantastic way to reach people to help you achieve your dreams via fundraising. It is THE number one place to do this online for the past year.

Xanga said:

So we are launching a Kickstarter-style fundraising effort, with the following rewards:
— A year-long Xanga blogging membership ($48)
— Two year-long Xanga blogging memberships (i.e. One membership for you, one for a friend… $96)
— Three year-long Xanga blogging memberships ($144)
— Four year-long Xanga blogging memberships ($192)
— Five year-long Xanga blogging memberships ($240)

However, that link doesn’t go to Kickstarter, it goes to crowdhoster. What? Crowdhoster? Please. When are asking people for money, you need to remove all barriers to donating. Crowdhoster is yet another platform that people have to sign up for. If you are going to put your fundraising campaign on crowdhoster, then don’t even bother mentioning Kickstarter. It only confuses people. When I clicked that link, I was expecting to go to Kickstarter, not crowdhoster.

When asking for money, don’t be like Xanga and do those three mistakes. I really do hope that Xanga survives. They are currently hosting my very first blog post made on March 12, 2001. It’s very short and probably doesn’t count as a blog post, but it’s there. However for me, it’s not worth $48/year to save it. Unless if maybe people gave me $48 a year to save it. 😉