Studio Rockstar

After I published my article about making money from open source, I had a few people asking me if I could write a follow up on methods for making money off open source. So here’s my list. For what it’s worth, I can attribute all to almost all of Project W’s revenue to an open-source project of mine. That accounts for around $600 of revenue a month for giving something away. I’m going to let you in on a few secrets of how to make money off giving things away. And 100% guilt-free methods, too.

Find a relevant affiliate program

Most of my revenue comes from DreamHost affiliates. I’ve already talking about how to make money from DreamHost and it’s pretty simple when it comes down to it. My open source project is a Wordpress theme. Many people downloading themes need hosting. I use and support DreamHost: and I even give people a coupon.

Find a legitimate affiliate program and promote it (but don’t force it) on the download page. I’ve found the less you push affiliate programs, the better they succeed. Strange it may be: but you have to understand your visitors aren’t morons. Give them something useful, and make a quick buck at the same time.

Firefox comes to mind as the most successful venture of this idea: every search you make in the google toolbar earns money for Mozilla. I know that I love the Google search bar — so it’s a win from my side, and a win from Mozilla’s side. Mozilla earns enough to pay several full time developers, and spend money on advertising to boot.

Create a hosted / pay-for service

Another option is to create a service very much like Wordpress.com. Leverage your open-source project by offering more features or less barriers to entry for a small fee. This is a great way to fund your open-source project because it will make you want to develop the application even more — because when you enhance the project, you also enhance your revenue generator.

I think this would have been a great idea for Vanilla — if Lussomo had started up a hosted service for Vanilla, it would have been taken much better in the community. Furthermore, I believe moves like this are far more profitable than any affiliate or other traditional advertising out there. You also become in control of your revenue — which is a massive plus.

Charge for support

Along with any open-source project comes the inevitable support requests. Sometimes the number of support inquiries becomes overwhelming. So why not offer small fees for simplistic support? Maybe charge $15 for “premium” support — where your request will be answered no matter what. There are of course tiers of this idea that you can implement: and in fact I’ve got a project idea of my own trying to leverage this very idea ;)

Place a donate button on the page

A lot of people assume that people by nature won’t donate money. Why not try? Put a big prominent donation button on your download page and see how people react. You never know how it will work out. I know some developers making $XXXX per month in donations alone.

Find a sponsor

Last but not least: find a sponsor for your project. Sometimes companies are willing to pay developers to create free products if only to get their name and brand out in the open. If you’re really strapped for cash, start asking around for some corporate sponsors. You may be surprised how willing companies are to help you out.