Google has launched Contributor by Google, a brand-new program designed to be an alternative revenue source for publishers.

The cost very small from a visitor perspective, asking only $1-$3 per month. Currently, you can select which websites a visitor wants to support, however this may change in the future as right now there are only 10 beta publishers in the program. Google does take a portion of the contributed funds made towards each site.

The advertisements don’t completely vanish off the website. Instead, the ad units are replaced with a thank you message from the website instead.

The thank-you notes are served up through Google’s existing advertising channels, and Google still takes a cut of each contribution. According to Google, the $1 to $3 users pay essentially covers the cost of that ad space. But all of this is subject to change, she says, as the platform develops. “At this point, what we’ve rolled out is very much an experiment,” a Google spokesperson tells us. “We’re getting the publishers on board today. We’ll see not just how it works but also the public interest level.”

Is also seen as a way that Google can still monetize webpages that are choosing not to use advertising for a subset of subscribers or members. And it is another option for publishers, particularly newspaper sites, to monetize in a different way from the traditional pay walls that they use.

Google has brought on board 10 publisher partners at this time. The sites include Mashable, Imgur, WikiHow, Urban Dictionary, Science Daily and The Onion. None of the publishers appear to have any information about the Contributor program on their websites of this time.

For publishers who are interested in testing the program, Google has a sign-up form available to join the Contributor by Google waitlist.