Self-signing is exactly what I've done for all my sites.

But browsers are getting more and more restrictive about what they will allow their users to see. Right now technically ignorant people will be so confused and frightened by warnings they click away. That's okay, I don't care about those people. But for many it's a deal breaker. I give it about 3 years before the big corporate browsers stop allowing HTTP at all. Search engines already deprioritize HTTP and eventually they'll just delist. And it won't hurt their income one bit.

The number of sites that don't HTTP and just 304 to HTTPS is already frightening.