Content Content Content
We all start blogging for different reasons. Some people blog as a sort of newsletter for their friends, creating a regularly updated mass email without all of those little arrow thingies on the left margin. Some do it because they picture themselves to be the next Kottke or Dooce or Gawker. Some blog because they want to be writers and blogging is the best way to get their writing out there to be read. Some people blog as a form of therapy. Some blog because they think it’s an easy way to get rich. Boy do those Bloggers have a surprise in store.
As you stroll through the blogosphere, it’s incredibly easy to tell whose blogging for the blog of it and who is trying to make a quick buck. How? By their content. Not to bite the hand that feeds me, but blogs that are full of nothing but sponsored ads and affiliate links are a huge turn off. The great thing about Blogitive is that it requires its Bloggers to produce real content too, not just create quick advertisements and text links. Not all of the sponsored blogging sites out there have that requirement. It shows.
Beware of the sites that promise you fast cash for blogging. Most likely they’re a “revenue sharing” site. They tell you to set up a page and update it as frequently and with whatever content you like. Then they pay you a share of the revenue from the ads that they tack to your header or sidebars. Often, the share is very small. If you’re blogging to make enough money to buy an extra cup of coffee once in a while, that’s fine. If you’re trying to make a living…well, good luck! Also, beware of the sites that promise you huge dollars through affiliate linking. Most of those require that the click-throughs end up in a sale and have a minimum payout before you see a dime.
Also beware of your fellow Bloggers, should you choose to take the make-money approach. A lot of Bloggers consider it very un rock and roll to have your site covered in ads. And a cluttered template will get clicked away from faster than you can say “no traffic.”
And finally know that making any sort of money on your blog requires a certain amount of “street cred.” That “cred” is built through the creation of real content, creation that takes time. Blogitive looks at your blog before they approve you for sponsored posting. Most other money making ventures, if they are legitimate will too. And if you’re very very lucky, your content alone will bring the advertisers to you. Be patient. It takes time to flesh out your blog and its content. Even Kottke, Dooce and Gawker had day jobs when they started out.
Erin Steiner
November 12th, 2006 at 8:29 am
On many of my blogs I also personally find it tacky when all I have to write about are ads. It takes away from the reason I started writing to begin with, so it’s good to see a requirement from Blogitive and other sites that ask their publishers to return to writing content. This is a good thing even thought I’ve seen many a complaint on this issue. Having your own content also adds weight to the blog and gives advertisers a more quality ad (IMHO).
November 12th, 2006 at 2:44 pm
Just wanted stop in an applaud your post. Would the “un rock and roll” happen to be a “Gilmore Girls” reference?
November 12th, 2006 at 7:08 pm
Great points Erin and a great ideal to strive for on a blog.
It seems to me that this ideal is pushing more and more blogging collaborative groups.
A blog seems to be better suited towards supporting multiple layers of ad monetization when the content is both good and pleantiful. So blogging with a group of people on the same site, becomes a way to get lots of contributing content and allows people to focus their attention on providing that good content.
Then the monetization guru of the group can focus on building the site out, marketing it up, and finding sponsors. Not so mention placing the ads and other placements in areas that do not detract from the blog.
A blog with just an article a week is not going to be able to support much in the way of advertising (possible exception if the article is say 500-1000 words and more of a white paper, but that brings with it other complications).
In the end, I don’t have a good solution for the challenge, other than to keep trying hard to produce good content.
How many light bulbs did Edison have to make wrong before he finally made one right?
I don’t recall the answer, but it seems to me that writing a good blog requires a lot of heart and a lot of trying at it. Somedays you’ll do much better and somedays might be a struggle. You have to amp up your passion for what you are doing on those days when it feels like a struggle so that the struggle doesn’t bleed between the lines and turn off your readers.
November 17th, 2006 at 2:42 am
I like the way you summed it up brettbum. Exactly! “… writing a good blog requires a lot of heart and a lot of trying at it. Somedays you’ll do much better and somedays might be a struggle.”
But as bloggers, we have an element of responsibility to come with a good content related to what our blogsite is all about in the first place.
that’s why I agree with Blogitive that we post at least two in between.
December 2nd, 2006 at 11:32 am
I agree that content is good and most of the how-to-do-this-and-that blogs usually rake a lot of hits and interest but i would think that one can somehow male a play of subject and words so that the blogitive offer can still be worded “as if” it’s part of a personal blog:)
February 11th, 2007 at 12:05 am
Hi! I’ve been into blogging for almost a month now and I have done this at a blogsite which is still on its alpha stage. According to my income section I have already made some earnings with them. My problem is that I have contacted its admin for their rules or policies but until now I have not received any response. I am now a bit uncomfortable because I have already done a lot of blogs there, mostly about my life. Can you take a look please and see if I can be a member at Blogitive? My blog is at www.blogchex.com/everydaywear. Have a good day!