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Designer Diary Publisher Website Link

There is only one place that DriveThruRPG will let you put an external link. That is on the left-hand column of your product pages and publisher homepage.

I noticed a while ago that people were using that link to point to their Patreon accounts. I thought that it could be a really good move. Your product page is the showcase for what you do, then the link to the Patreon where it was created.

I set my link up and let it run for about six weeks. Then I changed it back.

The problem is that the Patreon homepage is a pretty hostile environment. When you land, you get the tiers as a price list menu, then a curtailed summary of what you do, and then the posts as teasers.

Virtually none of the page is customizable to the point where you can hand hold new arrivals and show them what you do and what the value is to them. I am reminded of “Do, or do not do, there is no try.”

My idea of sales and marketing is about helping potential customers to find the right product for them. If the right product is one of mine, then great, I get a happy customer, and I earned the money. If the right product is somebody else’s book or game, then I have either dodged a bad review or got a potential ambassador that now understands what I do, knows it isn’t for them, but may pass on a good word to other people.

Patreon does not have that same mentality.

I pointed my publisher website link back to my own site because this is screen space that I own. I can choose what is on it, where the emphasis should be, and what my goals are.

My homepage changes almost weekly. I am constantly learning about what works and what doesn’t. I try things, and then if they don’t work, I try something else. This is something that I cannot do with a Patreon, or Facebook Business page.

YMMV.

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