An interesting quote from “A-list blogger” Jason Calcanis, who yesterday announced that he is retiring from blogging:
Bloggers spend more time digging, tweeting, and SEOing their posts
than they do on the posts themselves. In the early days of blogging
Peter Rojas, who was my blog professor, told me what was required to
win at blogging: “show up every day.” In 2003 and 2004 that was the
case. Today? What’s required is a team of social marketers to get your
message out there, and a second one to manage the fall-out from
whatever you’ve said.
Playtime is over for those who want to make money from blogging. It has become a serious media business now. Another quote from Calcanis:
I’m looking for something more acoustic, something more authentic and something more private. Blogging is simply too big, too impersonal, and lacks the intimacy that drew me to it.
As Brian Oberkirch pointed out – the “conversation” touted in the Cluetrain Manifersto has turned into a transaction.
Of course, these comments apply most to those people who are ambitious to gain more attention, and make a living from doing so. The true essence of blogging, I believe, remains with the amateur enthusiast who writes about the subject she believes in and participates in a community of other amateur bloggers who have a similar interest in the subject.
Hi Dave,
I was having a conversation about this on Saturday night (with someone else, not by myself)
Do we have any full-time or “A-List” bloggers here in South Africa who are making a comfortable living from their blogs?
Are we heading in that direction, or will our market forever be too small for this to be sustainable?
Hola Cape Town’s Favourite Son:)
Adii does for sure. Would Keo be considered a blogger?
Tertia and Peas on Toast do too, but I think they both draw most of their income from other ventures.
Ah, forget about Adii. I think Keo just republishes his print articles though, so wouldn’t classify him as a blogger per se. Also, most of the income derived there comes from the magazines Monarch are publishing.
That’s an interesting point Shaun makes, about the market ever being big enough to actually make a living from it. Reading Nic’s post this morning ( http://nicharalambous.com/2008/07/13/bloggers-money-and-moving-out-of-the-box/ ) raises the point of brand association, and while most of the tech blogs do tweak around with SEO, to get hits, and then hopefully convert these hits to clicks on their Google Adsense/ Traffic Synergy etc adverts, I think brand association is a good point.
Having your company associated with a reputable brand is worth a lot, even if people don’t click through to it. It’s about cementing a brand in people minds through regular exposure to that advert. Also, if you run a trusted blog, people will trust that these brands you associate with are reputable and will be likely to use them.
Kind of like Adii and his host company, Fused Networks.
I’m no expert on this, but it seems like it’s very difficult to create a solid income from pay per click hits, and it would be very stressful to live in this uncertainty, living on who clicks on your adverts.
Ideally you would want to be like College Humour where advertisers pay to be on the site regardless of clicks(Well according to Thecoolhunter- http://www.thecoolhunter.net/profiles/ )
But I suppose the real way is by becoming a well known blogging figure of sorts, where you are trusted in the blogging world, and then people in the business world take notice and want the help of your services/ expertees(Expertise?)
But I’m not in thew whole tech thing so just an opinion!
Hey Sean. Good point. If I wrote a very well respected blog in a micro-niche subject (such as 1800’s stamps or similar), PPC ads would suck because I would get very little traffic, and not probably very little money per click. Whereas, the value I could deliver to an advertiser who is interested in my micro-niche could be huge. I’d far rather sell advertising directly for a fixed rate based on the strength and focus of my community of readers.
I think it can go beyond a niche market though where you create a brand that is “cool”, and people want to be associated with it. The big thing is creating a name or brand, but it seems there are so many blogs focusing on the same things, especially in the marketing/web 2.0/ technology field that it is difficult.
Obviously you take your skills outside into the real world, doing presentations and working with clients, and this is effective and you are good at your job.
But I think for full time blogging(i.e sitting behind a computer, never doing “real world” work) you want to create a unique name, and I know not many people like Seth (Of http://www.2oceansvibe.com) but he has created a name through his various businesses and his blog that allow him to get things for free, endorse things such as Skyy vodka, and allows him access to things in Cape Town that the average person may not have access to.
Obviously he does things outside of blogging, but I think he is as close to being the sort of A-list blogger Shaun talks about.
But my worst is affiliate advertising, where you carry a companies logo, but only get paid if a customer clicks through and buys something from that website. You are basically giving them brand recognition with very little chance of you making any decent money.
Even if I carry an ad for kalahari.net, and people do click through, the chances of them buying right away are slim. They might come back later, but then log in directly to kalahari, leaving you with no profit.
Anyway I’m way off the topic of the post now, I believe!
Lol! No problem.
I must say that the indirect rewards from blogging (such as business opportunities, freebies, and connection) far outweigh any money I could imagine making through direct advertising revenue.
Thanks for your comments Sean:)
I can’t believe this, this is a topic I’ve discussed sooo many times with various bloggers such as tertia and coda! The blogging realm has moved away from the origonal idea of a blog, being a personal weblog, emphasis on personal!
There’s no doubt about that, Chris. I must say, though, that the realization that there are two broad approaches to blogging (professional or amateur) makes it easier for me to decide what I want to be – Amateur. Blogging supports my work, and helps me get feedback on ideas, but I’m not prepared to put in all the time and effort necessary to make a decent living directly from blog revenue.
Oh, btw, I forgot: Backpackers.com is an enormously successful and profitable South African blog. It is written by Pia who also writes http://www.mothercityliving.co.za
Same page Dave! I think the part that most people miss is that making a living off blogging is a lonely path for a long time, stabalizing an income off a blog is something that would take several years of LONG hours, longer hours than a normal day job. It puts a person into the position where they live purely online and lack human interaction completely. Although the web allows us to all communicate, nothing will beat face to face conversation (webcams don’t couch!).
Do you think more people will realize this and a recession will occur?
Dave, I agree with what you are saying in principle. However the lines become very blurring. What would classify as a professional blog/Blogger? Would I? With SA Rocks and nicharalambous.com? SA Rocks earns me a nice sum every month. Not enough to survive on only.
Then my personal blog has acquired me two jobs. Surely that makes it a professional blog? Even though there isn’t money directly from that blog, there is still benefit. I do blog personal stuff on there. Can I be a personal blogger and a professional at the same time?
Good point Nic. I think with your SA Rocks hat on , you’re a pro blogger, but with you Nicharalambous.com hat on, you’re an amateur enthusiast. Blogging simply supports what you do.
Thing is, I fear that it is becoming more difficult for individual blogs to make the level of impact that yours has. There are many more blogs now, and more knowledge around how to be successful in blogging.
Wise words Dave. As Seth Godin himself says, “Write what you believe, not what sells.”
I think the time is over for small blogs. I have been blogging for a year now and am now a full time blogger with more than 50 blogs. For the small ones they dont really do as well but with the main blog I can easily take over a topic and get hits for it.
The more content you have the stronger your chances of making it. Its like that unfair system that those that have made it are the only ones that ever will.
But with a bit of seo and blogging knowledge you can make it.
If you know what you are doing and willing to suffer a few months then you can most certainly make it, but those that start a blog and thinking of updating once in a while should not attempt to waste their time. So if you start a blog you better be in it and take risks by wasting hours of typing and writing if not, you will fail.
@esvl Agreed, it’s certainly more competitive. I do think though that amateur blogging is still the heart of it. Isn’t what you’re doing moving beyond blogging and more towards being a media owner and businessman? At some point (if not already) you’re going to have to hire people to update and maintain your blogs and to focus on SEOing them.
Yes thats true.
Interesting discussion – somewhat of an eyeopener for an amateur blogger like myself virtually starting out (no pun intended). After trawling an incredible amount of blogs – I’ve been mindblown by the amount of impersonal blogs out there lacking the human touch. I’d like to think I’m blogging for the love of it. But then again I could be on the early slopes of a learning curve. Either way, catch my random ramblings at http://www.africanaspects.com
African Aspects looks great – nice going on applying the CC license too:)
Cheers Dave – thanks for stopping by. The CC license was the least I could do in view of the rogue elements amongst us. Your blog is a leading light by the way. Stay well!
Since every body is always on the
Net I think blogging is good like the last time I was reading in this blog that Mercedes-Benz SA (MBSA) announcing plans to slash jobs – a move believed to impact about 140 salaried employees. So we talking about at the office so you see it’s not that old.
im new to blogging. only 2 months. catch me at http//.www.bluefrog.iblog.co.za
I’ve been looking for this very subject for awhile now – no one has content just like this. Really glad I found this site. Are you willing to be a guest blogger on my site? I’ll email you with some details if you want.