Many free and open source sites across the web are kept alive by donations, user contributions and sponsors. WeAreRonin.com is no exception. This page is here to help explain several of the most popular ways of supporting free web applications and open source web sites.
Here is a summary of the different kinds of links, banners and services you will find on our support page.
Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising
(Google AdSense, Yahoo! Search Marketing, Microsoft AdCenter)
These ads pay out a small amount for each successful click-through and they are the most common type of advertising on the web, particularly among the open source community. Generally speaking the more traffic your site generates, the more successful you are likely to be with a PPC campaign.
Referral Programs
Referral ads are a bit more involved than PPC ads. In most cases a successful referral is one that ends in a purchase. It’s wise only to offer referrals to services you know and trust as referrals to low quality services can reflect poorly on you.
Donation Services
Donating is the most generous way to show your support. A donation service simply makes the process fast, secure and anonymous (if you prefer to remain anonymous). ALL non-anonymous donors will receive a personal “Thank You” from our staff and will be added to our list of donors for all the world to see.
Link Exchanges
In some cases a link exchange can result in revenue but in most cases link exchanges are used to generate new leads and drive traffic to your web site from other sources. Without links, the internet would be a very static place so we embrace the opportunity to exchange links with our users, donors and sponsors.