I am thinking about this issue because of two recent threads at Blogcritics. A particularly callow young person more or less demanded that participants in the group blog contribute $10 to an advertising fund. He said he believes we should give money to the blog out of a feeling of appreciation. I do exactly that sometimes. The increments are small, but well meant. Of more importance, it is my decision to make the contribution. I would no more respond to a demand that I contribute money to a blog than I would post a demand that people contribute money to me on my blog.
So many other participants in Blogcritics responded the way I would have that I did not need to comment on those entries. Several of us, including Natalie Davis, bhw and myself, have written for pay for years. Some of the material we post to weblogs is of publishable quality. So, we are contributing something worth money, though not money itself. Other Blogcritics may not have written for media, but they are contributing their time and elbow grease to the effort.
I think it somewhat unrealistic for any blogger to expect to make much money from his weblog unless he has a way of displacing the top ten hit makers in the blogosphere. The bulk of contributions go to them. But, I do not believe that even the big guys make enough money from independent blogs to compensate them for their time and effort. I recall Atrios having to make a special request when his car needing repairing. Glenn Reynolds has a sinecure as a law professor and the income from his sponsored blog or he might find himself in the same situation. The only certain way I know of to make money blogging is to publish pornography. However, I have yet to see a blog where pornography and well-written entries coexist. Usually, the weblog just becomes another pornography site.
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.