I’ve signed up with Flattr, now what?
Welcome! Let’s walk through all the options that Flattr gives you whether you’re someone who creates and shares content or you simply want to support your favorite blogger, coder, web comic artist…*
[caption id=”attachment_5806" align=”alignnone” width=”600" caption=”Use this easy flow to figure out what’s next for you. (Click for larger view.)”]
[/caption]
Broadly speaking people sign up for one of two reasons:
1. Givers — want to support content they enjoy
2. Authors — use Flattr on their site to offer a simple way of supporting
Often the authors are givers themselves too, hitting Flattr buttons on their own favorite sites. And likewise the givers could easily turn into authors.
I want to give
1. Add funds to your account — without this you won’t be able to click Flattr buttons you find on the web or in our Catalog (this is the place where all flattrable content can be found). You can add funds with PayPal, credit card or bank transfer.
2. Set a monthly budget — this is what you’ll be giving away when you click the buttons. Let’s say you added €10 and your monthly budget is €2. Your funds will last you 5 months and no matter how many Flattr buttons you click in a month you only spend €2.
However, if you click very many buttons then your average click won’t be worth much so if you really enjoy the content you might want to increase your budget a bit.
[caption id=”attachment_5811" align=”alignnone” width=”600" caption=”Some of the supporters who have flattred Amnesty International”]
[/caption]
3. You’re all set — find Flattr buttons (if you don’t have anyone in particular in mind then browse our Catalog with all flattrable content), click buttons, collect karma points :)
4. When you flattr someone then let the world know — use the share to Facebook and Twitter feature and drum up more support from your friends. It’s a nice way of giving back for the efforts of someone who’s work you’ve enjoyed.
5. Subscribe to the best — if you click a Flattr button twice then you get an option to subscribe to this author. You can pick the period of your subscription and from now on every month this author is automatically flattred by you. Just make sure you have some money on your account.
I’m an author
1. Put Flattr buttons on your website — visit our Get Button page to see if we have a plugin or a guide on how to put a button on your site (it depends on how do you host your site, if it’s Wordpress, Tumblr, hand coded site…)
2. Tell your audience — this is probably the most important thing to really make the most of Flattr. Explain what it is, how it works, why you’re using it, how do you plan to use the money you make. Fans and followers like transparency, people genuinely like to support people who give them value (be it useful, entertaining, interesting or practical content) and feel more invested and engaged with the site if they have a stake (even if it’s just 50 cents) in it.
3. Follow our blog to read case studies with other authors on how they are using Flattr.
*Content, authors and creators — what’s this?
Because Flattr can be used to support a wide spectrum of “things” it’s hard to find a very good word to describe it all and that is why we’re saying “support content”, “support authors/creators”.
It’s bloggers, podcasters, coders who share their software for free, it’s open source software projects, web comics (and the artists drawing), charities, it’s poets, musicians, photographers, crafters who share knitting patterns, do-it-yourself how-to videos, tasty recipie, style advice, the list is endless…
If someone is creating something of value and sharing it then you can Flattr it. That’s the beauty of today’s internet — anyone and everyone can become a creator.
