When I began blogging, a year and some months ago, I had two objectives. I wanted to communicate information about topics I am interested in. I also sought to enjoy myself by writing pieces just because I want to. Having written one thing or the other, with a deadline, since I was 15 years old, the latter goal is liberating. I did not seek to earn money with my weblog. Mac-a-ro-nies has never carried advertisements.
During my first months blogging, PayPal contributions were enough to cover a bill here and there. I received gifts from my Amazon wish list that made it feel like Christmas at least once a week. Frankly, I appreciate the gifts more than the cash. They make me feel as if the donor cares enough to learn something about me as a person instead of just hitting the PayPal logo. A novel by Balzac may not cost $25, but knowing someone appreciates his writing as much as I do makes it valuable. I was fortunate in having entered the blogosphere as a contributor to several well-known blogs. My weblog also won The Truth Laid Bear's New Weblog Showcase. So, for a while I as was a favorite in the blogosphere and contributions reflected that.
Time marches on and it marches quickly in the blogosphere. I believe the number of blogs included in what we call the ecosystem has at least quadrupled since I began blogging. Some readers who favored Mac-a-ro-nies have moved on to weblogs that did not exist six or nine months ago. It didn't help matters that I was on the receiving end of an ugly attack by some hypocritical 'liberals' when I became a popular blogger. The outcome of these factors was a decline in contributions to both my PayPal account and my Amazon wish list. I've checked with a few blog friends who have been around for a while. They say that familiarity has made blog readers less generous to them, too. Another possibility is that new readers of blogs differ from the previous demographic. Perhaps they are less well-off economically. Maybe they sprinkle a few bucks here and a few there. Whatever the reason, I am now lucky to get one of the items on my gift list instead the multiples people sometimes sent last year.
Article comments
1 - Mac Diva
The irrepressible Phil Wolff has said something at A Klog Apart that I've also thought about in regard to the influx into blogging -- which is probably a main reason blogging for profit is not feasible for most of us. The link is broken, so I will quote him.
The emphasis is mine. I believe Phil has identified the main reason why expecting to score big bucks by blogging is irrational.
2 - Anita Campbell
Mac, Insightful quote in your comment.
When you boil it down, weblogs are just a category of website (or media). And like any other site, a weblog has to compete for eyeballs.
I do, though, believe there is money to be made from blogs. But only if you treat it like a business.
Making money won't be any easier or any harder than making money from any other kind of website.
Like any other site, if you intend to make money off of it you first have to have something to sell. Typically that means selling (1) advertising, or (2) stuff (e.g., merchandise, eBooks, software).
Then you have to get enough people to your site to buy whatever you're selling or to see the ads. To do that you either have to be an indefatigable genius at guerilla marketing, or you have to invest in marketing.
And that's where the rubber hits the road. Most bloggers holding down full- or part-time jobs have neither the time nor the online marketing skills -- not to mention the desire -- to build up sufficient traffic.
Also, few bloggers are willing to pay for marketing (e.g., shell out bucks for Overture ads, print magazine ads, direct marketing campaigns), which is the other way to draw traffic. And of course, unless you want to keep paying for traffic over and over, you'd better have high quality content to keep them coming back.
Bottom line: it is possible to make money from a blog, just as millions are doing today from other types of websites. But most bloggers WON'T make money, simply because they have little real interest in doing what it takes to make money. Most bloggers didn't enter into this for the money.
And who can blame them for not enslaving themselves to the quest for the almighty dollar? Not everything in life has to be a business. There is a lot of satisfaction from just doing what you love.
So, keep doing what you love, Mac Diva!
3 - Mac Diva
Excellent suggestions, Anita. I hope people who are interested in blogging for money take note. I am going to bite the bullet in regard to ads. My blog apparently passed muster with one of the touchier ad sellers. I will be happy if I just make enough to cover my bills at Starbucks.
4 - Eric Olsen
Thanks MD and Anita, very good and realistic post. The advertising and merchadise model can work as the overall blog-reading population continues to rise and the traffic gets into the range of many "mainstream" publications. I don't see this trend changing and I am very optimistic for the future, but that future is Darwinian, that's for sure, and at this point it isn't enough to live on.
5 - Mark Jones
What's interestig to me is how blogs are becoming an extension of existing businesses. Most of us have day jobs - and it's here that I see the payoff. It's not just in media circles, but there are plenty of vendors out there with blogging executives. Might be hard to quantify the hard cash value, but the PR, marketing, and thought-leadership metrics are worth considering seriously.