Slashdot Mirror
You're (Probably) Not Going To Be a Pro Blogger
ThousandStars writes "Contrary to what the specious Wall Street Journal article Early Transition to Blog Pro says, You're Not Going to be a Professional Blogger argues that not that many people can make money through web advertising. The WSJ article 'doesn't discuss how people actually use their blogs to make money, which is by selling ancillary services.'"
..web advertising rates have risen to the point where they accurately reflect the value they can provide clients rather than being bogged down by the dinosaur media forms of print and tv commanding increasingly outdated and thus artificially inflated prices.
Until we wake up to the future, we'll still be uselessly dreaming of the past.
Get your blog posted as a Slashdot article and watch the money come in.
WTF is that shit?
"Secret Money Machine"? He writes a book on how to make money, sells it, and makes money? Is his book only one page with the following typed on it: "Write and sell a book describing how people can make lots of money."
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Getting paid to blog is like getting paid to write. You don't just produce stuff and get paid (unless you're a novelist... good luck!), you produce stuff and get hired to MAKE SOMETHING LIKE IT.
It points out (correctly) that if you wanna make money blogging, you sell something that isn't just your content. Even if you're only a writer, you can still sell frickin' e-books at a few bucks a pop instead of always giving it away. (of course, holding ALL your work behind the golden door doesn't work either. You've got to strike a balance, even if the balance usually leans towards "give away most of it".
It's stunning how few people realize this.
"The WSJ article 'doesn't discuss how people actually use their blogs to make money, which is by selling ancillary services."
What ancillary services are we talking about here? 1/2 hour, 1 hour, or 2 hours "donations" for services rendered?
Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
I'm not sure many people want to be professional bloggers. I have a blog that has a small number of readers and having more readers is always nice, but blogging to me and to most bloggers is a hobby or a side element. Blogging professionally would involve a tremendous amount of stress as if every post isn't just perfect, readership, and hence profit, will suffer. Blogging would cease to be a relaxing activity. In fact, many so called professional bloggers such as say most of the bloggers at http://scienceblogs.com/ aren't professionals in the sense that they get large income streams but rather that is a convenience to have a small income stream in addition to their day jobs.
Also, apparently Firefox includes the word "blog" in its default spellchecker and "blogger" but not "bloggers" although "blogs" is included. Weird.
1. ??? 2. ??? 3. ??? 4. ??? 5. Profit.
Just wait until I get picked up in the first round of the draft. I'll be living the high life: macbook pro and a thousand twitter followers.
I like losing arguments, it just means that I can take your point and make it my own.
There are always people who are late to the party on trends, and stories like these target those suckers. It convinces them that the right entrepreneurial spirit will lead them to the path of success (one of WSJ's principles...that hard work pays off).
Nevermind that the sucker needs a time machine to go back to the period when they needed to start their blog to make decent money on it at this point (2000 as the article points out in its example).
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Is that what they are calling armchair journalists these days?
I'm a professional twit.
You should be exiled from the internet.
I've kicked around the prospects of making mula from blogging before. Generally it's not worth it. Blog for love of the subject, and if it eventually clicks with an audience, THEN consider the mula aspect.
Table-ized A.I.
I'm in about the same boat. The ads are really just on my blog as a sort of "just in case." Just in case I ever get Slashdotted or something I might make a little real money. Getting paid only for clicks makes me wish my readers weren't so savvy.
I need to find some more gullible readers...
Porquoi?
So basically what you are telling us is that Google ad sense has payed you almost nothing?
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
It's like any business, it takes hard work and time before you see any revenues. I have a blog at http://blog.magicode.org/ (http://mirror.magicode.org/ if it goes down, as it's hosted on my server in my home office) and I can tell you this, I'm not making a living on the ad revenues. ;)
I code for a living. Having a good, professional blog is a way of showing people what you can do, and it inspires confidence, unless you put up pictures of yourself partying down, or post derogatory comments abour your ex-boss (or ex-wife, which is mostly the same thing, hehehe).
At least I think it is. Writing is like any other talent that millions of people can do, but not all can do well. Those few who can do their talent extremely well get paid for it. It is just like sports. Millions of kids play little league, but only a few thousand play minor league or college ball, and only a smaller few play in the MLB. Compare this to writing blogs, millions do it, a few thousands have blogs with some advertising and a smaller few get paid big bucks to do it professionally.
Just because you are wrong and I called you out on it doesn't mean I am a Troll.
It depends on what you're offering.
If your blog talks about education (like yours seems to) or other high-profile niches, there's money in it. If your passion is in something more obscure like knitting in the round, don't expect people to pay you $.30 a click.
Step 1: Start blog
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Profit!
People who believe they will make their fortune from a blog need to read up on the internet bubble. Eyeballs are not dollars, as investors discovered. A blog is just another kind of website. If you are selling your services, a blog is a great way of showing your expertise. You must make your money by actually doing something, though, not by writing about it. The blog just shows prospective clients what you know.
That is, if your servers can withstand being slashdotted in the first place.
503-b Ad Revenue Unavailable
With millions of (mostly inactive) bloggs floating around, I don't know how people expect to stand out writing stories their dog eating a remote. Especially with CPM (cost per 1000 impressions in ad speak) in the pennies. I'm building a website about a far more popular subject and see no way to use advertising as a viable revenue source. I don't think the advertising model is dead, but will only make real money for the Googles of the world.
whether you have to spend time researching or just coming up with content that is germane to your audience and it's not simply a paraphrase of someone else's work. I blog for my site but it is primarily to communicate pertinent information and viewpoints to my users. I can't imagine being a professional blogger - not sure there is enough time in the day.
[since 1989] the only companies that have really made money from shrinkwrapped software are Microsoft and Adobe
Yeah, Symantec, Autodesk, et al. are merely figments of our imaginations.
Learn your history before you write a blog post describing it.
As more and more people discover the joys of Firefox and add-ons like adblock plus, isn't advertising gonna get less effective as time goes on? Hell, even without blocking the ads, people eventually condition themselves into ignoring adverts.
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1. Including /. and (now) the blog cited here (and the WP article that it refers to), I've been "told" by at least 4 media outlets about how boingboing is one of the most popular blogs in the universe, yet I've never visited it and have no plans to do so at any time in the future. So the blogger could be right--the author is not making very much money--or maybe the WP article is right--he's cleaning up.
Either way I'm still not going to visit.
2. It seems like it would be a good thing if blogging is no longer undertaken as a way to get-rich-quick. That would seem to mean that the ones who are still doing it are doing it for some reason other than money: i.e. for free. If it weren't for people who did things for free (or at least on spec) there'd be no personal computers, no Linux, no US Constitution and no Holy Bible.
Look at this way, maybe some blogger will come up with an open source religion, like "Jezux: Put the fun back in prayer."
"Hinduxism", with a six-winged penguin-god.
I'm not sure why people ever thought blogs could make money.
I've been writing a blog for years but I was never so deluded to assume that millions of people would want to read my rantings and sponsors would want to shower me with money. I just do it because I like it. There may be some people who enjoy what I write, but not nearly enough to warrant an advertiser spending $2000/mo on me.
Putting some Google Ads on your blog always struck me as sort of desperate looking, like you were imagining yourself as the next Ann Landers or something. And face it, you're not. Even if you are a great writer, part of the problem is there are so many blogs available. Even if we assume only a million of them are properly active and not shit, who in their right mind would think that the world (or in my case, the English speaking world) could possibly support a million little magazines with advertising? Multiply $2000/month by one million and the number that pops out is 24 billion dollars a year. A pretty big price tag for citizen journalism and obviously the advertising market isn't going to pay it.
Bibo Ergo Sum.
heh, it's not an original idea... I've seen a lot of infomercials and ads for books with similar "secrets to becoming a millionaire" and said secret I can oftentimes deduce from the ad is to "create something with low manufacturing cost and low retail price, advertise the shit out of it, sell a million and you'll be rich".
Said author probably bought a book from another author with the same message.
To be a "professional blogger," which is really just a professional writer who publishes on the internet, you have to already be interesting and well known enough to attract readers or start from nothing and prove that you are interesting and talented enough to be worth reading. Then you can either sell ad space/content from your own site or get hired to write for someone else. Both of those scenarios are possible and there are examples of each. Writing is just like any form of artistic expression. The majority of people simply aren't good enough at it to make enough money to survive without also having another source of income. Even many who are talented don't get enough recognition to allow them to quit their day job.
But I think that is missing the point entirely. I suspect the vast majority of people who blog aren't doing it to make money and they never hope to. Blogging is essentially free, and at that price point there are plenty of voices that are worth checking out that wouldn't be worthwhile at any other price point, and maybe some of those people will even mature into successful writers in the traditional sense.
So yeah, you probably won't ever be a professional blogger, or novelist, or painter, or musician but that doesn't stop people from enjoying those creative outlets for their own sake.
If you build it, nerds will come. Soylentnews.org
OBVIOUSLY, getting the clicks is the hard part.
Haven't you been paying attention around here? All you have to do is ??? and you can profit without those pesky clicks.
"Secret Money Machine"? He writes a book on how to make money, sells it, and makes money? Is his book only one page with the following typed on it: "Write and sell a book describing how people can make lots of money."
I realise you're making a joke, but it's interesting to note that the only reason that this doesn't work exactly as described is that people realise they're being fooled straight away.
You don't walk up to someone you want to cheat and say "Hey can I cheat you" and expect it to work. Likewise the one page book won't work. Instead what has really worked is to draw this one page out into about 200 pages and convince people that there are deep insights. By the time they've worked out what's happening (if in fact they ever do) they'll have recommended the book to friends and family and be talking about those deep and life altering insights, which in turn drives sales of the book.
The only real problem is that creating such a vibe is very hit and miss and you're much more likely to have a book that flops before you can achieve the critical mass through word of mouth. Fashion is fickle. However many self help books that have happened to succeed and make their author rich are exactly what I've described.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
Who would have thunk of that?
And guess what: This is the case for all websites, which do not sell real products or services that are worth money.
I also add: http://navid.radiantempire.com/pub/danke_hauptmann.jpg
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
Google is a shitty way to monetize compared to direct ad sales, ad sales from a large network, or affiliate marketing. You might get $0.30-$1.00 in a high paying niche, but that same high paying niche will do much better with other monetization methods.
The problem is people think that blogging about their boring lives for a weeo and throwing adsense up there will make you a millionaire. It doesn't work like that.
A Magic the Gathering Article and Forum Aggregator
Wouldn't it be in the best interest of someone who makes money at their blog to dissuade people from becoming competition? Perhaps by writing a blog about how difficult it is to make money at blogging, regardless of what the Wall Street Journal says?
Web 2.0 == Giant Blogspam Circle Jerk
Weblogs? Are we still talking about those? What is this, 2003? Honestly that's what I thought when I saw the article summary. MAKE.MONEY.FAST with your blog!
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
at best the web ads would help pay the ISP bill, but doubtful they will make someone a millionaire. Remember that most ISPs that host web sites charge per bandwidth. That means the more people that visit your web site blog, the more bandwidth they will eat up. You have to figure out a formula or use accounting software to figure out if your web ads are bringing in a profit.
Basically if you are going to blog professionally you have to have a blog about something interesting enough to get a majority of people to visit it, and deliver content on a daily basis that is original and entertaining or interesting enough to keep people coming back to it. Not only that but you have to try and avoid offending people so that you don't lose your audience. Plus it has to be something legal or else your blog can be shut down and you face criminal or civil charges.
The blogs that have been successful have used affiliate adds that advertise to sell a product from say Amazon.com or Barnes and Nobel or some other company that you link to a book or product that has something to do with what you are blogging on and they pay you back a fraction of the purchase. That means your loyal readers will have to keep purchasing the products you advertise on your blogs in order for you to earn money. Some readers will be annoyed that you have web advertisement and some will use adblock plus on Firefox or adblock pro on Internet Explorer to block out your web ads and you don't earn anything from them.
Some people claim that the free web is over, and that professional blogs only show most recent blogs and then charge a fee for membership access to look at the archive of blogs. Many newspapers are starting to do this, while others are going with eBook readers like Kindle to sell electronic versions of their newspapers. Basically a professional blog is like a newspaper, because you expect the writer to be more of a journalist that checks facts and cites sources and is more professional than the armature bloggers out there who don't always check facts and cite sources.
Some professional blogs blog by serving up audio and video files of themselves talking instead of writing text and then insert advertising into the file in order to pay for it. Others only serve up those audio and video files by membership fees.
Since the problem of people not wanting to pay for a membership or only want access to a few blogs or files, some professional blogs take micropayments in that it costs $1 to $5 per article or file to download it to your computer.
But the problem comes in that when blogs and other web sites go to membership only, how do you cite a link to their material when only members can access it and you cannot share your account? Sure you cite and link to the web site, but then people who cannot afford membership will refuse to believe you or ask you to cite a "free" web site that says the same thing.
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
Having some talent is one thing. But running a good blogging site is also a time-consuming job. Think about how much time it takes to write a quality post that attract a lot of traffic. Another thing is promote that blog. It requires constant attention. Don't reply to comments for a few weeks and you'll see the traffic drops significantly. So I'd argue that people who spend a lot of time blogging and promoting it have a chance to earn some money.
OutputLogic
It's the way for the future.
6.8SPC TR of 550, l xwind at 6, drift rt at 26" drops 77". AT has 503 ft-lbs at 1403 fps. FT 0.86
for the sake of $3 a month and not have adverts cluttering my site i would pay the difference out of my own pocket (if iam in business who cares? its a business expense)
plus why would you want to send your visitors to unknown (usually shady) unverified third parties ? surely you want your visitors to interact with your site/business/services,after all you just managed to get them there (via search/WOM/typed) and now you want to send them away to unvetted businesses via an advert ? to earn $3 a month?
and people wonder why nobody earns money
Actually, come to think of it, that's a better description of blogs and money making than any other I think I've read.
Almost nothing? So, it's like nothing, but there's not quite enough of it to be called nothing?
Indeed. Unfortunately, even vlogs, tlogs and n-logs are dead too. What we need is cloud computing, that will save the online journalists (although it might c-log up the internet)
Yes some are comics, deal with it.
I buy
Your book, (Schlock Mercenary)
Your mug (Glow in the dark messiah of the moment)
Your stupid grin on a signed photo.
Your MOM
Signed pictures of your cat (Hi Kyle Cassidy and Roswell!)
Your T SHIRT! (Yes you Dr. McNinja!)
Your verbally abusive T- SHIRT! (NUKE THE MOON!)
Your wordless T SHIRT! (WWWBatmanD)
Your rather funny T Shirt (Blogger, novelist of Better to Beg Forgiveness) -> BOOMY
Your hysterical mug if you had a damnable CLUE (Some comic that had a banner ad with a coffee mug emblazoned "Not for use with crotch" BUT DIDN'T SELL THE DAMN THING)
Your doodads (Alien Dice key fob thingies).
THE CUTE OMG THE TERRIBLE TEETH DESTROYING SUGARY CUTE (DMFA)
The strange T-Shirt (Oh My Gods)
In other words all the 'side bidness' you need to be able to EAT. :)
Feed your artists and authors people.
I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
I make a bit of side $ off websites but unless you plan on doing it 12hours per day every day dont expect it to replace your day job... atleast not for a number of years, For me its turned into more of a hobby like my Optical Illusion site which is more for fun.
Damn it, don't give out all the secrets away!
The business section of any bookstore is filled with writers who have perfected this business plan.
http://www.discussglobalwarming.com/blog -- talk about a hoax like global warming and the people go crazy.
Probably?! Despite years of steadfastly refusing to blog the best you can offer me is probably? I demand certainty! I will not be a professional blogger!
Now wash your hands.
... wake you up when the market starts preferring the internet to newspapers or TV?
You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
That's our solution to the global recession right there!
You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
I have been running a blog for almost a year now http://www.review-ninja.com/ utmost I have made about $100 dollars a month for the last 4 to 5 months, but it took a lot of time and effort to have it earn something, however I have a co worker that was able to buy a car using what google ads paid him but it took him years to earn much, once you start to focus on what you should earn it gets tiring really fast, so if your planning to do professional blogging it should be about something that you really love because it is a lot of hard work specially with the pressure of putting food on the table.
I've seen a lot of infomercials and ads for books with similar "secrets to becoming a millionaire" and said secret I can oftentimes deduce from the ad is to "create something with low manufacturing cost and low retail price, advertise the shit out of it, sell a million and you'll be rich"
or a website :)
Hear hear. This can be applied to most careers and hobbies.
I have a blog devoted principally to sharing my experiences of learning Japanese. I do this because
I have all sorts of reasons for writing a blog, and money isn't one of them. If it ever becomes popular, I'll seriously consider making money out of it, but even then I would become concerned about my motivation, because if you're writing for money rather than love, your goal will be to please your readership. It's an acceptable goal if that's what you always intended, but if you were trying to achieve something more tangible then it's likely to dilute the quality of your output.
So I'm always doubtful of people who talk about "professional blogging". If you're doing it to make money in the first place, I will always have concerns about the authenticity of your insight.
Meta will eat itself
If you're being paid for it, it's not a blog. A blog is where you whine about how uncool your parents are, or what that dick at work did. If you're being paid for it, it's an article... or something still not a blog. If you are writing a daily/weekly article for your job, it's not a fracking blog, even if you use wordpress to write it.
Utilizing the synergization of benchmark e-solutions to pre-workaround action items!
The WSJ published an article that didn't contain the word Socialist and the name Obama? Am I dreaming?
Don Lancaster is the guru of self publishing. He's been a traditional writer but realized that other people were making a lot of money from his creativity. (The lion's share in fact)
The book itself is a little dated, but the concepts are good, and he's translated them to the web well. By writing magazine columns, he's basically been blogging since the 70's.
The secret is to find something that you are good a creating, and make that your job in a self employed sort of way. You'll be a lot happier that way vs. the standard get a job working for someone else.
Anyway, I realize now that people thought this was an advert and took it the wrong way.
All ideas^H^H^H^H^Hprocesses in this post are Patent Pending. (as well as the process of patenting all postings)
All ideas^H^H^H^H^Hprocesses in this post are Patent Pending. (as well as the process of patenting all postings)
You're probably not gonna:
But, if that's the life you want, there's nothing wrong with trying! Just don't assume that, because you work hard, you're going to succeed.
No, I will not work for your startup