The document provides various methods for public libraries to earn money online with minimal investment. These include setting up a PayPal donation button on the library website, participating in Kroger's community rewards program where patrons earn cash for the library through grocery purchases, and selling used books donated to the library on Amazon or Half.com. The library can also start a blog and use Google Adsense to generate ad revenue. With creative use of these methods, the example Pioneer Memorial Public Library was able to earn around $2,000 in one fiscal year through various online money-making strategies.

1. The Pioneer Memorial Public Library, Harman,
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2. How to Make Money
For Your Library
on the Internet
(or, For a Few Dollar$ More)
By Mary Rayme
Pioneer Memorial Public Library
Randolph County, Harman, WV
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3. Does your library need money?
(If not, this presentation is not for you.)

4. • Methods we will explore today bring money into
your library from your locale and (potentially) from
all over the country.
• With a minimum investment money can be earned
for your library in continuous streams that don’t
require a lot of work.
Because librarians
really do rule the
world, that’s why.

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6. PayPal
Ever heard of it?
Do you use it?
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7. How secure is PayPal?
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8. • Place a donation button on your website.
• This allows your patrons to donate any amount
that they wish via credit card.
• Cash is directly deposited into
your library’s bank account.
“Get to know
a little bit about
HTML."
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10. Kroger Community Rewards Fundraising
Program
(Or, Kroger Cares.)
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11. • There are about 2,424 Kroger stores in
the United States.
• You can set up a gift card program that
you and your patrons may use to benefit
your library.
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12. • Patrons purchase a Kroger gift card
from the library for $5.
• Every time you go to the Kroger load
up the gift card with more cash at the customer
service desk.
• Five percent of all groceries or gas purchased
goes back to the library or nonprofit of your
choice.
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13. • Pluses: You don’t have to do a lot. Promote
the cards to your patrons.
Watch the cash roll in.
• Negatives: Patrons have to remember to go to
the Customer Service desk to refill their cards.
“Waiting in line at the
customer service desk
can be daunting.”
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15. Better World Books - pluses
• Keeps books out of dumpsters
• Fairfax County, Virginia
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16. • BWB resells books for you on 50+ Internet
outlets
“That’s creative book
recycling, Better World
Books.”
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17. • Your library gets 15%, plus
5% donated to a charity. (BWB has
8 literacy charities from which you may
choose.)
• BWB pays for your books to be shipped: at
least 6 boxes, and up
to 25. Zero startup cost for the library.
(They even send you the boxes.)
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18. Better World Books - minuses
• You don’t get as much profit as if you sold
yourself on Amazon or half.com.
• You have to pack up books and call UPS for
pickup.
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19. blog
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20. Google Adsense – Using Blogs
• Start a blog for your library
• Blogger.com is a great place to start and
it is free
“WordPress is a
good place to blog,
too.”
• Rural Librarian
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21. Link to your blog on your library website
Pioneer Memorial Public Library
Harman, West Virginia
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22. Post blog entry links on your library’s FaceBook
page.
(and/or
Twitter, etc.)
“Use social media
to promote your
blog!”
(And remember: Blogs also
have nonmonetary value in
that they help communicate
with your patrons, and
promote your library.)
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23. Google AdSense
• Apply for a Google Adsense account once you
have a handful of blog entries.
• By linking Google AdSense to your blog,
Google places ads on your blog pages.
• If and when someone clicks on
an ad from your page and buys something,
your library gets
a cut.
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24. • You can edit the content of your ads.
So, for example, I have removed all ads for
dating and alcohol from my library’s AdSense
account.
• Write your blog entries with
a meaningful link, source
materials, and good SEO.
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25. What is SEO?
• Search Engine Optimization is all about
getting Google to rank your pages better
• The better your page ranking, the closer to the
top of a Google search your review will go.
(which means more pages hits)
• Learning to write with good SEO is all about
understanding how people search the Internet
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26. What is SEO?
“Search Every
Octopus?”
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27. More Blog Ideas • Amazon
Associates
• Become an Amazon Associate by reviewing
books with embedded links.
• Every time someone buys a book from your link
your library gets a share of the profit.
• Patrons or friends may write book reviews for the
library.
• Use good SEO to write your reviews.
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28. Develop Backlinks to your Blog
• Find websites that might be interested in
linking to your blog.
• The number of backlinks that lead to your blog
give you a higher Google ranking, and
hopefully, more page hits
• This also brings more people to your blog,
which brings more people to your library.
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29. Bored Yet? Hope not.
Sometimes if you want to see a change for the better, you have to take
things into your own hands. ~ Clint Eastwood
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30. Using SEO – An Example
• If you are writing a book review of Janet Evanovich book
you will want to include phrases like:
• American mystery writer
• Funny mysteries
• Good beach read
• Even using a keyword
with a misspelling may
yield page hits,
such as “Evanovitch”
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31. Google Analytics
• Google Analytics won’t garner any income but it
can show you which blog entries are the most
popular.
• Use Google analytics to track your blog traffic
including page hits and bounce rate.
• Analyzing these stats may help you become a
better blog writer, which in turn, could generate
more income and page hits.
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32. Google Analytics
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33. Sell Books on Amazon
• Books that are donated that you don’t want to
add to your collection
• Books that are weeded out of your collection
but are still in Good condition
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34. Selling on Amazon • How to get started
• Invest in bulk bubble mailers.
• Seller obligations
– Mail sales quickly, within 1-2 days
– Mail via Media Mail
– Get delivery confirmation for books sold over $40 or
so…
• Tweak inventory once a week or once a month
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35. Selling on Amazon - Pluses
• Reimbursed $4 for shipping
• Profit goes right into bank account
• Keeps books out of dumpsters
“I would never have been able
to pass the Bill Clinton-Gary
Hart test. No one short of
Mother Teresa could pass.”
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36. Selling on Amazon - Minuses
• Amazon take a 20-30% cut
• Customers may be unaware they are not
buying direct from Amazon and are more
likely to ask for returns
• Have to go to Post Office regularly.
• Book inventory takes up space and has to be
managed well.
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37. Other Selling Venues
• Half.com is another place to sell books online
• Half.com makes a much smaller cut than
Amazon. The catch is that they are not as a big
a name and therefore you are less likely to sell
here.
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38. Feeling Lucky?
• You can list the
same books on both
Amazon &
Half.com, you
just have to be
vigilant about
deleting sold
inventory.
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39. Tips for selling books online
• Most books have little to no resale value.
• It can take years to hone your book buying and
book selling skills.
• Nonfiction generally sells better than fiction
• Bestsellers usually have little or no resale value
• Small press/academic press books may sell better
• Textbooks that are more than a year or two old probably have no
resale value
• Don’t sell large, heavy books. You lose money in shipping.
• Don’t sell books that are marked in or are in questionable condition.
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40. One Fiscal Year – Pioneer Library
• Amazon (selling used books) = $1,000
• PayPal = $0 – easy to set up a donation button
• Kroger = $500 – easiest method
• Google Adsense via library blog = $8
• Amazon Associate = the more reviews you have
the more income potential you have. Volunteers
can write reviews for cash, engagement, and free
PR.
$
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41. Create Products for Sale
• CafePress.com is a great place to create items for
sale. You create merchandise.
• People buy library-themed or region-themed
merchandise directly from CafePress.com
• As they are ordered, CafePress creates the products
and mails them.
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42. • Your library gets a chunk of change.
• You don’t need space for inventory, CafePress
does this for you.
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43. The Last Word
There are many other ways to set up
revenue sources using the Internet.
Be creative with ways that you use to promote
your library and make money all at the same time.
The work you spend may be well worth it…
for a few dollar$ more.
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44. Website Resources
BetterWorldBooks.com
Kroger Cares
Buy bubble mailers
More about selling on Amazon
Rural Librarian Blog
Any questions? Please feel free to email me at
mary.rayme@clark.lib.wv.us
www.pioneermemoriallibrary.info
Please ‘Like’ us on FaceBook!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pioneer-Memorial-PublicLibrary/124744294212614
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