Written on December 2nd, 2004 at 07:12 pm by Darren Rowse
2005 Australian Blogging Conference
Just found a site for the 2005 Australian Blogging Conference. Not much in the way of details of a time and place yet - except to say that it will be in Melbourne sometime in February 2005. Suits me fine as that is my home city and apart from two days February is looking very empty in my diary so far!
I’ll be interested to see how it all unfolds in terms of content, turn out and its success.
Written on December 2nd, 2004 at 07:12 am by Darren Rowse
Monetizing Blogs
In stark contrast to the last post, Jasen Dowdell at marketing shift predicts that Bloggers will start to get more and more attention from Ad agencies. He predicts:
‘- Ad agencies will seek out A-List bloggers who have strong relationships with other A-List bloggers to head up their blog placement departments.
- Someone will step up and create a blog taxonomy that shows the key players in specific blog verticals. This will identify the “people to know” if you want to succeed with your blog pr campaign.
- Large PR Firms and Ad Agencies will spin off subsidiaries dedicated to blogs to increase their relationship with bloggers and appear to be experts in blog product placement and blog pr.
- Blogs will continue to increase their focus on specific areas whether these are niche verticals or niche subject areas.’
Read more of this interesting (and hopeful) article at Monetizing Blogs
Written on December 2nd, 2004 at 07:12 am by Darren Rowse
No Money in Blogging?
Steve Smith from EContent writes that there will be no dollars in blogging in 2005 for bloggers or networks (like Gawker and Weblogs Inc) who are directly blogging. He writes:
‘The wild and wooly blogosphere itself will not make money for many, including blog networks like Gawker Media and Weblogs Inc. Nevertheless, blogs are already proving to be powerful audience retention devices for known media brands. Some B2B sites report that up to 10% of daily traffic now goes to columnist blogs. Blogging is less a business model than a thoroughly compelling communications model that keeps users coming back two and three times a day more effectively than standard content refreshes. Accept it and get sponsors for it.’
This is the second such article I’ve seen arguing this this week (the first was here).
Once again I wonder if Steve is perhaps being a little short sighted with this statement. I acknowledge he says this approach will not make money for many - leaving things open for a select few to make money blogging - but I would argue that quite a few have already stumbled upon formulas for making money directly from blogging and that 2005 will see the number of those making a living directly from the medium explode - likewise I predict that we’ll see those already taking this approach start to earn some very big money. In fact I think 2005 will see a number of bloggers earning $1 million and over. If they’re smart they will probably keep these figures to themselves - but it will happen - if not next year it will happen in surf zone.for sure.
As I talk to pro-bloggers and reflect upon my own experience in two short years I’ve noticed that the trend is a for a very slow start to levels of earnings - but that there comes a tipping point where the growth becomes exponential. Most bloggers exploring the income side of blogging give up before the tipping point however and never see the reward for their efforts. Of course it is not just a matter of time and patience - it takes some smarts, hard work and a little luck along the way.
Update: Steve Rubel spotted this same article and has a few things to say on the topic also. I particularly agree with his observation about the lack of overheads for bloggers. My biggest overhead is my own time. The opportunity cost of me putting my time into another job or business is significant because I choose to blog virtually full time - however apart from this I have virtually no expenses apart from a small ISP, hostings, design and home office costs.
Update: Wayne at Blog Business World has also entered the discussion and writes - ‘As blogs become more deeply entrenched, within both the mainstream media and the mainstream consciousness, money will flow naturally in their direction. If other companies discover the power of blogs, as an advertising vehicle that returns highly targeted buyers, you can be absolutely certain that savvy marketers will put their cash into blogs.’
Written on December 1st, 2004 at 07:12 am by Darren Rowse
American Roulette
American Roulette is an interesting case study of a blogger using the medium to make a few dollars. Its written by a ‘professional casino cheater’ who gives thoughts on casinos and gambling. The site isn’t highly monetized at this point - Income streams so far seem limited to Amazon affiliateship and another affiliate program - but if he can get his traffic to a high level with a topic like this he could be making some serious money.
Interesting concept - its a quirky enough topic that its likely to get some interesting link ups like it did today from Boing Boing.
Written on December 1st, 2004 at 07:12 am by Darren Rowse
JenSense - it’s all about the AdSense…
JenSense will be a blog to watch if you’re using Adsense as it is run by ‘Jenstar’ who is a legend in Adsense forums where she is a moderator and guru. I’m putting this on in my RSS tracker as we speak - sure to be some useful tidbits in this one for all of us using Adsense - whether old hands or newbies.
Written on December 1st, 2004 at 07:12 am by Darren Rowse
Online Retail Traffic Surges on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday
Clickz reports that ‘Online Retail Traffic was up on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday - ‘The market share of U.S. visits to the online shopping category was up 27 percent this Thanksgiving Day over Thanksgiving Day last year. Shopping visits on Black Friday this year were up 24 percent over figures for Black Friday a year ago.’
This is no surprise to me as I have done a bit of an informal survey of my problogging friends via MSN the last couple of days and found that most of them report increases in earnings from affiliates and contextual advertising over the last week - including Thursday and Friday. Those who especially saw gains were those blogging about consumer products. Whilst traffic on personal and political topics was down for most - those with a topic mix focusing on electronics, toys and other gift ideas have found their traffic and income stream surging in the past week.
Written on December 1st, 2004 at 07:12 am by Darren Rowse
Price Rise Fuels Online Ad Increase
‘Online advertising grew 2.5 times as fast as overall U.S. advertising in the first three quarters of 2004, according to data released by TNS Media Intelligence/CMR.
Online advertising in the U.S. totaled $5.59 billion for the first three quarters of this year, up 25.8 percent over the $4.45 billion measured over the same time period in 2003. That growth was well ahead of the year-over-year increase of 10.3 percent in overall U.S. ad spending to $102.47 billion from January through September, from the $92.90 billion spent in the same time period in 2003. The figures come amid other signs of stabilization within the online advertising market in recent weeks….’
Read more at Studies: Price Rise Fuels Online Ad Increase
Written on December 1st, 2004 at 07:12 am by Darren Rowse
Blogs - Diamonds in the Rough
Richard Zwicky writes that ‘Blogs are Diamonds in the Rough
Blogs are a potential diamond in the rough for your businesses marketing effots. The material posted on an ongoing basis to blogs are a veritable gold mine of insights for readers, provided by business leaders, market leaders, innovators, philosophers, marketers, political commentators, and many other opinion makers who never before have enjoyed such easy access to a simple and unmoderated public forum in which to share their opinions, ideas and insights….’
Written on November 30th, 2004 at 06:11 pm by Darren Rowse
What Every Blogger Needs To Know About Their Target Audience
John Taylor writes on the topic of keeping your reader in mind as you blog….
It doesn’t matter what kind of web site you have you must understand your target audience and know what it is that they want. Please notice that I used the word want and not the word need. There is a world of difference between wants and needs. For example you might need a means of getting from A to B and almost any vehicle would fulfil that need; but what you really want is a top of the range BMW!
I write my blog with just one person in mind. In my minds eye I have come to know that person intimately, I understand his goals, his dreams and his aspirations and I know the things that really interests him. He is my ideal reader, he soaks up every word and he clicks every link I include in each blog post.
Clearly, you can’t please all the people all of the time. So, the best strategy is to focus on pleasing the people you can influence. You don’t want passive readers, you want people who will take action. Readers who will click a link because you have recommended a new eBook or a new software product. Readers who will click the “Buy Now” button and earn you an affiliate commission.
So, what do you need to know about your target audience?
You will get two types of people coming to your site… People with whom you have built up a relationship and who like to read your blog. People who have come to your site for the very first time. You have two jobs to do. You have to keep the first type of people coming back and you have to grab the second type of people’s attention, persuade them to stay long enough to engage their interest and to convert them to loyal readers.
Just think - when you are online what is it that you want to achieve? The majority of people online are looking for
something. It’s unlikely that they are just surfing in a random fashion, although some people will do that. When online people are usually looking for specific information or seeking the solution to a problem.
Your job as a blogger is to make that information, and those solutions, available so that they can be found. In other words your content must closely match the wants of your target audience.
Make sure that your blog has a well defined theme and try to stick to making posts that stay on topic. Keep up to data with the news within the theme of your blog and provide your readers with your opinions on relevant and interesting items. Encourage feedback and always respond to questions from your readers.
Use a blog script or service that allows the easy addition of RSS feeds so that your blog site has fresh new content as soon as it is available.
Above all remember that each and every visitor to your site is a real person with feelings and emotions and be prepared to reveal something yourself in your posts. Your readers are much more likely to trust you if you allow them to get to know you.
Resource Box:
Written on November 30th, 2004 at 07:11 am by Darren Rowse
Clicklab Releases White Paper on Click Fraud
‘Clicklab, a leader in the emerging field of click fraud detection and prevention, announced the release and general availability of the white paper “How to Defend Your Website Against Click Fraud.”
http://www.clicklab.com/white-paper
The white paper is released shortly after Google has filed first-of-a-kind click fraud lawsuit against AdSense publisher. The lawsuit filed in a California Superior Court, alleges that a Texas-based website publisher generated fake clicks on its AdSense ads and paid a number of individuals to do the same.
Earlier this year, a California programmer was indicted for allegedly attempting to extort $100,000 from Google to prevent him from releasing Google Clique, the software he wrote to generate fake clicks on AdSense ads.’
Read more at Clicklab Releases White Paper on Click Fraud as Google Files First Click Fraud Lawsuit against AdSense Publisher
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