How does Patreon work?

Many changes occurred as a result of the sudden migration of many aspects of our lives to the Internet. Online schools, online shopping, and online companies, in general, have become inextricably linked to our daily lives. We stopped visiting retail malls or coaching courses and started buying everything online.

For many, online work has become the primary source of their monthly income and a full-time job. They create content for selling and sharing on their platforms. Each time, it is crucial for every content creator to decide on a particular crowdfunding site or donate platform to get financial support from their fans.

What is crowdfunding?

Image source

 

According to Investopedia, ‘Crowdfunding is the use of small amounts of capital from a large number of individuals to finance a new business venture. Crowdfunding makes use of the easy accessibility of vast networks of people through social media and crowdfunding websites to bring investors and entrepreneurs together, with the potential to increase entrepreneurship by expanding the pool of investors beyond the traditional circle of owners, relatives, and venture capitalists.’

So, in other words, it means donating money by the fans to support their favorite content creators, usually via a crowdfunding platform, like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or Patreon.

In today’s article, we would like to take a closer look at a particular funding site called Patreon.

What is Patreon?

Patreon is a crowdfunding site service that connects content creators with their supporters and fans. It primarily provides financial tools that allow fans to subscribe to projects, providing creators with a steady source of cash as they continue to develop content.

The platform provides a fresh take on the traditional patronage model.

Image source

 

Artists such as painters, musicians, and playwrights have historically relied on wealthy patronage to fund their work. These days, Patreon gives a chance to allow a far bigger audience to support artists and favorite creators they enjoy at a much lower monthly price. Podcasters, YouTubers, musicians, and writers are among the artists who use Patreon today.

Sam Yam and Jack Conte co-founded Patreon in 2013. It has over three million active users and is situated in San Francisco. Donors can become long-term supporters of their favorite creators’ work through Patreon. Some creators have just been on Patreon for a few months, while others have been connecting with fans and receiving direct support for years.

To get more familiar with Patreon, we will go into detail about these topics:

• How does Patreon work – The difference between Patreon creators and donators
• Things to know before starting using Patreon
• Pricing plans
• Can you make money on Patreon?
• Two sides of Patreon – Pros and Cons
• How to make money from selling online courses

How does Patreon work?

Image source

For Creators

Patreon can help you monetize some of your works, whether it’s a podcast, video, music, webcomic, or something else. For access to your work, your admirers, or patrons, can pay as little as a few dollars/pounds per month or each post. You’ll be paid every month or whenever you produce a new product. You may even manage prizes for each tier, which is very useful if the upper tiers require meeting patrons or bespoke work.

The number of people who are currently supporting you is always visible to other Patreon patrons on your page. Additionally, the feed on their page is the key means of communication with your fans. You can use text, images, videos, and polls to express yourself. Patreon also allows you to restrict certain postings to certain tiers. You can, for example, limit new posts to those who have contributed at least $1. Patreon also supports custom RSS feeds and integrates with Discord.

For Donators

Patreon allows you to become a member of your favorite creator’s community and reward them for creating the content you enjoy. If you pay $2 per video and the artist releases three videos in February, your card will be charged $6 for the month. This means the artist is compensated on a regular basis every time she produces new work, and you become a legitimate, real-life supporter of the arts. Being a Patreon supporter and choosing to support an artist qualifies you as a “bonafide, real-life patron of the arts,” according to Patreon.

Becoming a donator has many advantages. By supporting creators, you can gain early access to exclusive uploads or new work, ad-free material, new videos, tutorials and other free content. In other words, you support your favorite creator and get rewarded with many exclusive, not publicly posted, contents. Provide different benefits at various membership tiers.

Things to know before starting using Patreon

Age restrictions

Unfortunately, the FAQ on the Patreon page informs us of existing age restrictions. You must be at least 13 years old to establish a Patreon account. If you want to become a patron of a creative or grant membership to a creator, you must be at least 18 years old or have parental or guardian consent.

Patreon utilizes tighter procedures to ensure their safety as we welcome persons over the age of 13, which eventually translates to a zero-tolerance policy for sexualizing minor individuals on Patreon. Our reporting collaboration with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is part of our commitment to safeguard the safety of underage Creators (NCMEC).

Fees

Patreon informs about four different fees you have to deal with as a creator. These are subsequently:

Fee for the platform

The Platform Fee is a portion of all membership payments that are successfully completed. This implies that we only profit if the author profited. The percentage is computed on processed payments, excluding any sales tax (i.e., VAT, GST, etc.) that may have been added to your patron’s contributions. The percentage number varies depending on your creation plan.

Fees for payment processing

This is the fee for transferring money from your patrons to your creator account. Payment processing fees cover the costs of accepting payments from your customers, such as recurring invoicing, recovering denied payments, and preventing fraud.

Fees for payouts

The fee for transferring money from your creator account to your bank, PayPal, or Payoneer account. This cost is not listed in your creator earnings dashboard’s fee breakdown. This is taken when funds are transferred from your Patreon account to your bank account.

Fees for conversion

Patrons can pay for their membership in the currency of their choice. On any patron donations made in a currency other than the creator’s payout currency, Patreon levies a 2.5 percent currency conversion fee. Any payments that are reimbursed to patrons are exempt from this cost.

Services

To make it easier for content creators, Patreon provides many integrations such as:

‘Format – Website builder with everything you need to showcase your work

HIFI Labs – Creative support, ideation, and content development for musicians.

99designs – Make your merchandise look amazing with custom design

Pietra – Create uniquely branded merch that goes beyond t-shirts for your fans

Pop Domo – Collab with artists to drop art prints and merch.

Sonix – Quickly convert your audio to text in minutes, timestamps included

Studio Now – creativity on demand

Wix – Showcase your talent with a professional website

Zapier – Automatically update your favorite workflow tools when a patron adds/updates/deletes their pledge,

Pricing plans

There are three available pricing plans available at Patreon.

Image source

Lite

The most simple pricing plan, delivering the basic functions. ‘Simple tools to set up recurring support from your fans.’

The fee: 5%of the monthly income you earn on Patreon (Plus payment processing)

Features:

• Hosted creator page
• Patron communication tools
• Patreon workshops

Pro

Recommended pricing plan. ‘Everything you need to build a thriving membership business that provides meaningful income for you and a rewarding experience for your biggest fans.’

Fee: 8%of the monthly income you earn on Patreon (Plus payment processing)

Features:

• Hosted creator page
• Patron communication tools
• Patreon workshops
• Membership tiers
• Analytics and insights
• Special Offers promo tool
• Creator-led workshops
• Unlimited app integrations
• Priority customer support

Premium

‘Dedicated coaching and support for established creators and creative businesses, plus premium features that save time and reward your patrons.’

Fee: 12%of the monthly income you earn on Patreon (Plus payment processing)

Features:

• Hosted creator page
• Patron communication tools
• Patreon workshops
• Membership tiers
• Analytics and insights
• Special Offers promo tool
• Creator-led workshops
• Unlimited app integrations
• Priority customer support
• Dedicated Partner Manager
• Merch for Membership
• Team Accounts

Can you make money on Patreon? – The highest-earning Patreon creators

According to Patreon’s blog, these are the top 5 Patreon creators, earning over $200,000 a year.

Chapo Trap House

Patrons: 36,929

Chapo Trap House, a popular socialist podcast, is described as “rowdy” by the New York Times. The hosts’ unique blend of sarcasm, f-bombs, and in-depth political analysis is unrivaled. By saying whatever is on their thoughts, Chapo Trap House allows listeners to explore the boundaries of political debate without fear of being judged.

Whether you join Chapo Trap House’s $4.70 or $5 tiers, you’ll get access to the podcasters’ collection of premium episodes, which include guests like Naomi Klein, a writer and social activist, and Tim Heidecker, a comedian and actor.

CGP Grey

Patrons: 13,979

According to Patreon’s description, CGP Grey’s videos are for you if you’re having problems calling out the correct answer first. The YouTuber explains complex concepts in physics, history, and mathematics with colorful cartoons and simple English. It’s never been more fun to learn about the Electoral College. For their Patreon donators, CGP Grey has eight tiers with monthly fees ranging from $1 to $100. Discord access starts at $1, but to get a shout-out on the YouTuber’s website or to ask him questions in a live Q&A, patrons have to join the 7$ or the $9 tier.

The Last Podcast on The Left

Patrons: 12,288

If you enjoy being freaked out, you’ve probably already heard about The Last Podcast on the Left. From real-life horrors like eugenics in Nazi Germany to urban legends like the Slender Man, the show delves into every aspect of horror.

The hosts have a flair for combining in-depth research with a humorous conversation, bringing fun and insight to sometimes harrowing issues. Even though The Last Podcast on the Left is only available on Spotify, their Patreon is where you can get extra content. For $5 a month, patrons get access to additional interviews, and for $10, ad-free episodes and unique video content.

The Glass Cannon

Patrons: 10,341

‘Hopefully, throughout the pandemic, your twenty-sided dice aren’t collecting dust. Whether you’re virtually questing with your fellowship or not, the Glass Cannon podcast is a wonderful way to get that tabletop RPG fever. Since 2016, people all across the world have been following these five friends as they play through the D&D spin-off Pathfinder.’

Patrons who pay $5 a month get a lot of perks, including unique access to live-action podcasts like “Raiders of the Lost Continent” and “Legacy of the Ancients.” Physical prizes, such as a Glass Cannon bottle cap, are given to $10 customers, while $25 patrons get first dibs on new gear.

Easy Allies

Patrons: 8,187

GameTrailers, a video gaming/review website, was shut down by Defy Media in 2016, laying off nine brilliant employees. Because they were too preoccupied with launching Easy Allies on Patreon, they didn’t have time to wallow in their misery. Since then, Easy Allies has established itself as a weekly source of high-quality video game reviews, podcasts, and live streams in the gaming community.

Easy Allies has 11 membership tiers from which to choose. Access to Patreon-only content, such as their podcast, Spoiler Mode, which starts at just $1, is one of the highlights. And, if one of their $5 backers has a question for the gang, all they have to do is ask it on their Patreon page, and it will be addressed in an upcoming Easy Allies episode.

Description source

The advantages and disadvantages of Patreon

Advantages

• Consistent funding for creators
• The platform supports the distribution of rewards.
• Unlike some other crowdfunders, there are fewer content limitations
• There are several subscription options available.

Drawbacks

• There are no advertising tools built-in
• When it comes to collecting donations, some creators have had problems.
• A large number of people have expressed their dissatisfaction with the situation. Explanation:

Over the last few years, Patreon authors have identified a number of severe difficulties with the company and its procedures. Adult content makers have encountered increasing restrictions on what they are permitted to upload and monetize, despite Patreon’s official policy of allowing types of “adult content” that aren’t actually pornography.

Many of these creators are facing the abolition of their Patreon pages, frequently with little or no explanation from Patreon. Other users’ accounts have been suspended for no apparent reason (some of whom deny even having an active campaign). Other users have complained about insufficient customer service, with multiple emails to the corporation going unanswered. Several other creators have also had billing troubles. Patreon now has a Trustpilot average score of 1.3 out of 5 due to the frequency of these complaints.

Make money from your online courses.

New e-commerce platforms sprouted up at a breakneck pace. On the Internet, various objects, physical products, and digital goods are sold. The demand for online courses is increasing all the time. The problematic scenario of pandemics has increased the demand for e-commerce and e-learning. Many bloggers, YouTubers, and other content providers choose to deliver content and attract new members by using social media. The online business is growing more and more each year. One of the most profitable areas of online marketing is selling online courses.

The unlimited amount of online course-creating platforms make it challenging to decide on only one. In the era of online learning, choosing an appropriate online course design platform is crucial to your success in teaching. You need an intuitional layout, view your students’ achievements and progress or worksheets, and a face-to-face interaction solution. In short, you need GroupApp.

GroupApp gives you a platform to share and sell your own course materials in the form of PDFs, Audio, and Video files. Unlike physical items, selling digital products will endlessly increase your income. Provide your community with extra content and online courses and benefit from the same item numerous times.

Custom Domain: ‘Maintain a consistent branding experience and drive community traffic to your website by using your custom domain with your community.’

With GroupApp, you can build a thriving online community and create a stronger relationship with your audience. With our assistance, learn how to deliver the highest quality online courses to your audience.

Choosing an appropriate online course design platform is crucial to your success in teaching. You need to have an intuitional layout, original templates, a view of your student’s achievements and progress or worksheets, and a face-to-face interaction solution. In short, you need GroupApp.

Earn a significant amount of money by providing your subscribers with exclusive content, membership platform and much more. Here at GroupApp, you can choose whichever monetization model you like. You can build a thriving online community that pays you to do what you love by setting up membership subscriptions. Setup recurring subscription plans or one-time payments, include a trial period and drive sign-up with coupon promotions.

We know that creating an effective and engaging online course might seem a little bit complicated, and that is why we come to help you with our easy-to-use online course builder. GroupApp delivers all of the tools you will need to create a high-quality online course. It has all of the features you may need to reach and please your audience.

GroupApp enables you to create and publish online courses directly inside of your online community. You can unify your online community with your online class for better community support and improve the learning experience.

It also gives you an option to manage your community from an admin dashboard, where you can manage members, moderate the content and track engagement and subscriptions metrics. It works as an LMS (Learning Management system) – tracks, automates, reports, and documents your online course delivery.

One of GroupApp’s advantages is accessibility. GroupApp offers a mobile-friendly experience for all devices, so you and your students can engage with the community from every device. It is available for all devices and platforms and both on iOS and Android. GroupApp allows you as well to connect with other media that will improve and automate your workflow.

You also get additional features such as:

• Members Profile: ‘Community directory that allows members to discover and connect with each other.’
• Activity Feed: ‘Community activity feed that allows members to share a post, leave comments, and follow topics.’
• Posting Types: ‘Creators and members can write a post, upload photos, ask questions, and share videos.’
• Notifications: ‘Send in-app and email notifications to your community members with a simple click of a button.’
• Invite members: ‘Invite members to join your community with your community invite link and email invitation.’
• Privacy Settings: ‘Share your community with the public or set your privacy setting to members only.’
• Paid channels: ‘Share premium content in specific community channels and have members upgrade to access it.’
• Export Data: All of your member’s data and data management is up to you
• Custom Domain: ‘Maintain a consistent branding experience and drive community traffic to your website by using your custom domain with your community.’

As you can see, GroupApp delivers the best quality platform for you to design online courses. It has so many advantages and options that you will indeed find something fitting your teaching strategies.

Final thoughts

We hope this article helped you get acquainted with the Patreon platform and the advantages of making money online.

At GroupApp, we provide you with all the support and features you may need to start making a profit from your online products. Do not think about it too long! Sign up for our membership and begin your journey with your virtual school.