Advertising does work. It just depends on who you are.
Just read this here.
“First this: advertising does not work for the average blogger, even the above-average blogger. It only works for the big group blogs and a tiny handful of full-timers. Advertising as a means of support for bloggers is a complete, utter, and frankly, rather embarassing failure. If Fred Wilson can’t earn more than charity change for his blog - well-read, updated thrice daily, and a leader in an important category - than few others can. If Steve Gilliard has to hang out a rusty tin can on his blog and beg for nickels, then blog advertising has failed. If Joe Gandelman’s still on the ventriloquism circuit instead of sitting in a fine office, collecting fees for his incredible service to blog journalism, then advertising doesn’t work.”
I’d disagree with saying that advertising doesn’t work. It’s just that it’s not delivering what everyone wanted to believe it would. And anyway, in a lot of cases it does work - if all a blogger wants to do is earn enough to cover hosting fees, then what’s the problem.
Not everyone is trying to make a million from their blog.
The closest thing I can compare blogging to is professional sport. Sure, there are some superstars who make a fortune. There are also a huge number of talented people who make a decent living from sport. And then there are millions of people who look at it as a pastime or hobby that they love to do - yep, they dream about making the big time with their footie, golf or whatever, but time, family, and work, means that they’re generally content with taking part in local amateur contests.
So for some, getting your hosting paid with a few dollars to spare every month is the blogging equivalent of taking part in those local amateur contests. And winning them.
And in that respect, advertising works very, very well indeed.
Tagged with: advertising blogging income monetising a blog
Tom W. said on February 13, 2006 @ 12:59 pm...
See, here’s the thing - the folks I mentioned are blogging superstars and the money’s not there. I’d agree that advertising is working well - for the advertisers and the sellers thereof. But for 99.9% of bloggers not named Kos? Not yet…good site, btw glad to find ya.
Barry Bell (Profile) said on February 13, 2006 @ 1:11 pm...
Hey Tom - thanks for the comment. For those blogging superstars, how actively are they chasing advertising income, as opposed to just dropping advertiser code on their sites and hoping for the best.
In my experience, earning a decent revenue takes a lot of work (and the right kind of audience) to get it right. Blogging is only part of the equation.
B
Barry Bell (Profile) said on February 13, 2006 @ 1:14 pm...
For example, Fred Wilson’s primary audience will be the VC/tech crowd. I’m just speculating here, but I guess that they don’t have the same kind of affinity for clickety-clicking on ads that some other types of audience/information-seekers do.
Anton said on February 13, 2006 @ 4:08 pm...
I write advertising.wurk.net for the sheer enjoyment of the subject. I get more from that really than having the odd £ come in monthly.
I regard it more as my own space to rant and rave rather than make money from.
Having said that, reckon you could get me some ntl advertising action on my blog Barry?
raj said on February 13, 2006 @ 4:34 pm...
Well said, Barry. Yours is the best description of the reality of the blogging earnings curve that I’ve read to date. I like your sports salary analogy.
I’ve said many times that running a blog professionally means having to approach it from a similar angle as at least an editor-in-chief of a magazine. Managing a network properly means taking a cue from publishers of a group of magazines. Both roles require strategy and revelopment of plans. And some blogs in the network will always be losses - or only break even - and a few will make you money.
I may be putting the cart before the horse with my own blog’s blogging advice, seeing as I’m not yet making a living from blogging, but that in itself is proof that even someone like myself - a seasoned print writer, editor, and publisher - has to work very hard to even pretend that he’ll eventually make money from this form of freelance writing. It’s not just about blogging all hours of the day to post X number of posts that link to other people’s advice :)
Barry Bell (Profile) said on February 13, 2006 @ 4:46 pm...
Raj - A lot of people probably only spend an hour a day blogging. I just don’t believe it’s possible to spend (fewer than) part time hours to make a full time income - yet a lot of people read the blogging success stories and think they can.
Take Darren’s day-in-the-life post the other day (damn, it’s already on page 2) - that guy really does put the effort in, and it shows in his reader loyalty and income.
Again, it’s another one of those catch 22 situations that professional blogging seems to consist of. You’re not going to make the cash if you don’t put the hours in. And you’re not going to be able to put the hours in if giving up your day job is too big a risk - which for most people it probably is.
Anton - trust me, you really don’t want those ntl ads on your site. I think I made 20p of that in January. But it’s better eye-candy than the blogging-related Google ads that no-one clicks on anyway. ;o)