Are You Tired of Blogs About Making Money?
Jesse of Blogspoke is; I, myself, am not. I've been talking to him about it at his blog, and I think it's a great conversation to have.Sure, blogging-for-money is a wading pool of low expectations. Low barrier of entry, little-to-no risk and, frankly, full of folks easily amused by splashing around without accomplishing much of anything.
However, it's full of potential; and - as I told Jesse - although it's easy to get snarky about all the wannabes out there (which I do on occasion, and could be accused of being one, too,) there are people out there with a vision for how they want it to be, who raise the level wherever they go. Walking the talk, so to speak.
Technology will eventually get us to a place where our online activities become a part of - or even integral to - how we earn our income. Will that future have room for lowest-common-denominator thinking, writing, and marketing to the level that it exists online today? I don't think so; but getting there will be a process, and people who are long-term thinkers will shape it. That's how we'll turn the wading pool into something with depth.
I'm not tired of money-making blogs or blogs that make money - I just want them to evolve into something better. I know I'll be thinking about how to raise the level; will you?
Part of me is a bit tired of all the SEO and how to monetize your blog blogs as it seems like they are the blogs that generate the most traffic but heck, I keep reading them anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe same tactics that are used to generate revenue are used to generate traffic and most bloggers want more readers if not revenue.
I feel that blogs have to evolve -they have become a 2nd life for more and more people; they live their real life and then write and create their online life. Somehow the 2 will become more tightly coupled.
Hey Ms. Q,
ReplyDeleteI can't really stand most SEO sites. o O There are only really a few that I keep an eye on, and the only one I actively like is Andy Beard. He covers a lot more than SEO, though.
I like the way you think. Web 2.0 is too disjointed right now to really have a digital self. Blogs, flickr, bookmarking, myspace, etc., can't be combined in an elegant way to represent a complete person. But things are going that way.
-j
Web 2.0 . . . that's so, that' so five minutes ago. The seven people who know what it is still haven't told anybody and I'm no longer interested.
ReplyDeleteSocial networking is really online business card collecting without that "lovely" cheese and wine table at the "meet and greet" that I could stand by to watch people when I was bored to tears.
I'm not tired of blogs about making money because most of them aren't.
I am doing something about it. This is where the aforementioned BIG idea comes in it's web LIZ, but the liz part isn't really important. :)
I don't trust anybody who says they're trying to make money online and I completely refuse to have anything to do with a blog related to it! ;)
ReplyDeleteHey Liz,
ReplyDeleteWeb 2.0 is a superfluous title given after the fact to something that didn't really need a new name. But the video was cool.
The marketers did latch on to social networking, but they don't own it - they're just loud. o O
And I like web LIZ, especially because the Liz part means something else. :)
-j
Yo Kumiko,
ReplyDelete"Make money online" is the original phrase that virally encouraged short-term thinking. So vague as to be meaningless, really. "Monetize your blog" is a more recent one (as if a blog could be monetized, short of selling it).
I think we should mistrust all the presuppositions that initially draw new bloggers. There's more than one elephant in the blogging living room - not that you'd know it from all the established names living there.
-j
Ok, now this is what blogging to me is all about. Here we are, a group of human beings located in totally different parts of the world, having a conversation about something we all deem to be relevant in today’s society. We’re not trying to sell each other on ideas or new products; we’re freely expressing our points of view, and in doing so, sharing a small piece of each other’s individual identities. This is a wonderful phenomenon!
ReplyDeleteI’ll tell you one thing I’m really enthusiastic about. You know when you have a normal face-to-face conversation...Each person is often already thinking about the next thing they’re going to say while their counterpart is still talking. What does this mean? We’re not totally listening to each other. Another factor to take into consideration is what’s on your mind when the moment of conversation arises. If you’ve got to make a meeting, or are worried about your sick partner, you won’t be able to give the conversation your whole focus.
What I like about these blogging post/comment dialogues is that you can read over someone’s thoughts several times if necessary, spend a bit of time formulating your response using all of your focussed mental faculties, and then write your ideas and opinions without having to be too concerned with the time restraints often associated with oral communication. There are no rude interruptions or misunderstandings due to not listening...How often does a mobile/cellular phone call interrupt a powerful idea-exchange, only to cause the moment of clarity to fade away into oblivion? How often do you feel comfortable, or that it’s safe to have a serious discussion about an important issue that’s important to you with someone you don’t personally know on the street?
This is the only reason that I’ve been critical about the tidal wave of ‘money-bloggers’ that have suddenly inhabited the Blogosphere. I’ve been writing about blogs for several years; this is a new fad. I’m really just hoping that people on the whole don’t miss the point of what blogging can do for our collective society as well as our individual identities. Just look at this conversation: On ‘Finding the Money’ and on Blogspoke we’ve already had very intelligent comments from people of different nationalities as well as from very different walks of life.
On Blogspoke’s comments page, Econoclast (a non-blogging economist) really put me through the wringer with the depth and integrity of their challenging argument. I’ve now had to reshape my opinions relating to this whole ‘money-blogging’ topic, and ironically, I’m happy about doing so. Through the true essence of blogging, my fellow species has informed me with their perspectives, forcing me to see their side of the coin, and inadvertently, causing me to learn in the process. Blogging can help us learn from each other.
I still don’t really get into ‘money blogs’ on the whole, but I do realise in the validity of some of their existence, and I also realise that some of the people who create them have much more to offer than their one ‘money blog’. John’s right when on Blogspoke he says that his whole identity comprises many other facets of personality, which in turn affect his writing, making it individual, thus causing it to stand out from the herd.
John (and other readers/bloggers),
ReplyDeleteIn the past I've sent out a couple of questionnaires to random bloggers about important topics, and the results were interesting-people really seemed to like sharing their minds. I've just made a new questionnaire called 'Questionnaire 3: What really drives so many people to join the blogging game?' at permalink:
http://www.blogspoke.com/page/blogspoke?entry=questionnaire_3_what_really_drives
If you've taken part of this conversation or are interested in the topic please come and share your ideas/opinions.
P.S. I really like Ms. Q's idea about how blogs can become a 'second life' for people. This could be another topic of discussion. Can one's online life accurately represent our real lives?
Me Strauss: Do you really think social networking is like a 'meet and greet' sharing of business cards? Come on! Blogging is so much more than that...via social networking we can learn from people who have similar interests to our own. It's the next step in human evolution.
Kumiko: You've got to be joking! I guess you're being facetious in saying you won't have anything to do with money-bloggers...Your most popular blog is called 'Cash quest'. I guess you don't have anything to do with yourself-that makes for an interesting existence. :-)
Yo Jesse,
ReplyDeleteI don't think blogs about making money are a fad at all. I think they're a reflection of a demographic shift in the internet and the needs those folks have.
What are the financial and technical requirements for making money online today, compared to five years ago? You can build a relatively high-quality blog for free today on a library computer (or an ancient PC with a free dial-up connection), complete with Adsense, affiliate programs, and so on. Getting some modicum of traffic isn't really difficult, either.
The financial and technical barriers are coming down, and with them are coming bloggers with different priorities than the relatively well-off demographic of the tech/IT geek, developer, entrepreneur, corporate drone, male, etc.
Yes, many of those blogs lack validity, sound ethics, or are otherwise crap; but the need is valid. The supply isn't going to go away unless the need does - but the supply needs higher standards.
-j
I agree that blogging for money has lots of potential. I think the whole online income thing is just getting started.
ReplyDeleteThere are lots of new people getting on the internet now with he vague idea that they can make money-bu no real idea how to do it or how much work it can take in many cases.
It is up to established make money blogs like your's (and your's too, Kumiko) to point them in the right direction. Just do it in a way that helps you at the same time.
James
Yo James,
ReplyDeleteAnother reason I'm not tired of blogs about making money is that such blogging is a social-business hybrid (the good ones are, anyway). Might as well say you're tired of people who work for a living.
While finding a good niche/vertical is still a sound business strategy, a blogger's uniqueness can be a niche unto itself, just like a person's social sphere of influence in the real world.
We can't all be A-listers, but would we really want to? The boredom of writing the mass-appeal stuff they produce would burn me out in a heartbeat. Maybe that's the best route to 5 figures a month... but do we all really need 5 figures a month?
-j
Interesting post, I just made a post about blogging for money on my site. Id be curious to hear what you have to say about my comments :)
ReplyDeleteYo Playa,
ReplyDeleteThe link to your profile isn't working, fyi. o O I'll give your post a look, though.
-j
"a blogger's uniqueness can be a niche unto itself" - John
ReplyDeleteSeriously, the best advice that I have ever read on the internet about blogging. Many people devote entire sites to blogging advice but that one sentence captures it better than all of them and all the 'make money with my e-book' sites combined! :)
Kumiko
I think you've already got a great handle on that advice, Kumiko.:)
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of people who don't believe in the value of their own unique perspective, shying away from displaying personality and strong opinion; and then they wonder why they aren't getting attention.
Others may differ, but I choose my blogs just like I choose my friends - based on what makes them unique - not on how successfully they can be everything to everyone.
-j
John, I think you made a brilliant point: "...people who are long-term thinkers will shape it. That's how we'll turn the wading pool into something with depth."
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, so I'm not concerned about low-quality blogs about making money. They won't last.
The good ones will thrive... and newish bloggers like myself will learn from THEM, or fade away.
Blogging is simultaneously the same as, and totally different from, other forms of communication that can be "corrupted" by greed.
My once-favorite radio station has an 11-minute commercial break every 30 minutes. 11 minutes! I don't like commercials; I change the station; I'm no longer a listener.
A blogger that makes earning money the top priority--over providing value to readers--may have some short-term gain, but won't last. UNLESS that blogger reads and heeds comments and other bloggers' posts that "show the way."
With a community spirit and worldwide communication, bloggers can quickly learn the errors of their ways and adjust their course.
Unlike sucky radio stations. :-)
Hey Bonnie,
ReplyDeleteI like your thoughts about community; it makes me wonder where the disconnect is between the idea of making a blogging income and the principles required to actually get there. Hmm... you're giving me ideas. :)
-j
John thanks for the kind words
ReplyDeleteIn answer to the question in the title: - no
I think also that many of the sites aren't aware that they are repeating content that has been previously written, or feel it is justified in writing their own version on the same subject for "completeness"
There are 100s of sites that have details on how to do CSS positioning, and you quite often pick up a new tip every time you visit a new one, or just a better way of visualising it.
Damn erm useless make money blogging sites.
I could be equally stereotypical and discuss blogs that give blogging advice and discuss the wrongs of the blogosphere that have such horrible navigation systems that neither man nor machine will ever find what you were talking about more than 2 months ago.
I did actually try to navigate Jesse's blog but gave up when I got to January 2007 - Google would probably do exactly the same, though might go a little deeper into the categories.
Making money blogs concentrate on 2 primary subjects
1. Making it easy for people to find what you are talking about.
2. Making some money from the people who eventually find you
I would even say that writing high quality content falls into the first category, making it easy to find you, because:-
Good content encourages links
Clearly expressed ideas normally have lots of LSI related keywords
Additional expression can be from links to related content with good anchor text
Conversations on blog and between blogs is networking and linking.
Links are the lifeblood of the internet, and actively persuing links is the internet equivlent of leading a healthy lifestyle.
Do you want your blog to die of hardened or clogged arteries?
Yo Andy,
ReplyDeleteYou make interesting points as usual. I think you're right about how 100 posts on the same thing each have the potential to valuable in their own way. At the same time, the amount of information out there is definitely growing faster than our means of filtering it.
How we can we connect each person to the point where one great piece of info gets to the right people? Right now, we have word-of-mouth, social networking, search engines, etc., but collectively they still aren't enough.
We've also got people who are rejecting the no-follow concept which removes some of the obstacles to being connected to the larger conversation, but again, valuable information can still easily go unnoticed, even with sound promotional techniques.
At the same time, we're still inundated with info we're not interested in at all. So it's the filtering mechanisms that really need to evolve, whether that be by how we're connected, or maybe by a collectively better understanding of what we're looking for.
-j
Peace n howdy??
ReplyDeleteI'm not tired but still the rokie in this biz. And all my blog for make money still not have page rank yet. And that's make me so slow earning with adsenseee and so on.
Who knows how many month usually after we start a blog then Google will give page rank??
Best regards
:)
I wouldn't say I'm tired about blogs about making money blogging... yet. It's relatively early in the game. The blogosphere is young, the gold rush is on, etc. Eventually we'll all realize that the only way to make money with a blog is to produce good quality content and figure out the money for ourselves... at that point sites like this one will lose traffic and become irrelevant. While there will always be a need for blogs about blogging, the focus will change as the industry matures and more questions are answered.
ReplyDeleteEveryone these days seems to have some kind of input on the subject of making money online but in my opinion it all comes down to diversification. I think too many people focus on one website or online money making project and while it may be really great, it's not going to line their pockets with money unless it's one of the best out there. So, if the best you can do is average to goo, you're better off having many rather than just one. Not sure if that sounded like a bunch of randomness but it was def intended to make a point.
ReplyDeleteNo, I never get tired of trying to make money. I hope you do not stop helping people learn all they can.
ReplyDelete