At a glance, the facts that you like money and other people like free stuff don’t seem to fit well together, right?  A sort of secret, though, is that people like free stuff so much they’ll sometimes try to express their gratitude.  Also, yeah, there’s the guilt factor.

Consider, if you will, what Radiohead did not too long ago with one album: make it available for download, and tell people to pay whatever they wanted.  The experiment worked out well overall, with Radiohead making lots of cash (and tons of physical CDs selling when they were released, too).

The makers of a game called World of Goo are also giving this model a try.  Plus, if you want to sort of stretch the concept, even GM’s new 60 day return policy might fit, since car dealers are trusting that people won’t basically borrow their vehicles for two months.  (Note: there may be measures in place to stop them . . . your humble author just hasn’t done all of his research.)

So whether you want to give away something that you normally sell (at least for a short time), or just stick a cyber-donation jar next to your best free work, you may be surprised at how well the test works out.

Fair warning: just consider what sort of customer/visitor your site tends to attract, and don’t forget about the recession’s effects.