Please explain blogs to me

Step one: Write a blog that is popular.
Step two: Be able to prove it. (traffic accounting, see statcounter.com for more info)
Step three: Sell advertising on it.


Bet you can guess which step is hardest.

In a way, it is kind of like getting published. You have to have, or be able to create and maintain, a platform. And you have to stick with it. You have to keep making the entries, keep being informative or entertaining, and you have to keep marketing it.

There are a number of details, obviously. But that really is it, in a nutshell.

well-explained. I use my blog more as a stream of consciousness thing, although it is proving to be an effective marketing tool for my writing. Maybe one day I might be able to sell ads on it, but I'll just wait for that gilded pony to come on in.

nancy sv said:

I admit it. I'm an idiot. I've been reading here that a lot of people make money writing blogs. For some reason, I thought blogs were just a form of journal that people write. Obviously, I'm wrong. Would someone explain to me exactly what these things are?? And how do they make money?? Thanks!

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Actually, you are correct. They are nothing more than a form of Dear Diary. Everyone and their dog blogs and most of it is rambling nonsense that is taking up valuable cyberspace resources. I have no idea why anyone would actually pay to read most of that tripe, but I admire anyone who can successfully scam people into paying them.

Shadow_Ferret said:

Everyone and their dog blogs and most of it is rambling nonsense that is taking up valuable cyberspace resources.

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But if you're one of those who can write sense, you'll certainly stand out.

But then, too, not everyone will sell ads. I wouldn't. But if you can, kudos. You're probably doing something right.

May I recommend going over to the blogging forum and looking around? We have several members who do great writer blogs, health blogs, general topic blogs - and some, DTng, for example, who do rather well using blogging as an adjunct to other work, for pay. Holly Lisle (not to imply she's a member here, because I don't know that she is, it's just another example) uses her blog very well in her writing oriented business. A lot of blogs are fluff, but cream does rise to the top.

I love you Shadow Ferret, but your post was a bit cruel. I hope it was tongue in cheek. Blogging is more than just a meaningless exercise for a lot of people.

Shadow_Ferret said:

Actually, you are correct. They are nothing more than a form of Dear Diary. Everyone and their dog blogs and most of it is rambling nonsense that is taking up valuable cyberspace resources.

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Actually, such resources are ridiculously cheap (most blog sites have basic signup for FREE, and you can get a domain name and host it for a lot less than you pay for Internet access), which helps explain the large numbers of blogs out there. Online text (unless you download encyclopedias or other large tomes) presents very little "load" on the Internet.

Shadow_Ferret said:

I have no idea why anyone would actually pay to read most of that tripe, but I admire anyone who can successfully scam people into paying them.

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Actually having to PAY someone to read their blog (or email newsletter or similar online writing) is fairly rare. As someone said, the main business model is to have enough ("free") readers to make it worth selling advertising on the blog (then readers have to want to read your stuff badly enough to not be too annoyed by banner ads - they still read for free).

Shadow_Ferret said:

Everyone and their dog blogs

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Said the Ferret with the blog

I have a question about liability on blogs. If it's a journal, is it true life and do bloggers name names? ( of private citizens not Paris and Brittany)
Can you be sued or held liable if people think you are talking about them?
Thanks

talkwrite said:

I have a question about liability on blogs. If it's a journal, is it true life and do bloggers name names? ( of private citizens not Paris and Brittany)
Can you be sued or held liable if people think you are talking about them?
Thanks

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Yes, of course you can.

You can be sued or held accountable for anything you print or say virtually anywhere. What you have to ask yourself is, what's the value of posting the information? Is the gain worth the risk? How likely is a lawsuit to actually happen?

I'm not an attorney and am not offering legal advice, but it's my understanding that the criteria for bringing suit involves doing harm to the individual in question. Harm is not necessarily physical.

I think of blogs not as online journals and diaries, but the modern-day equivalent of underground/alternative newspapers, magazines, and literary journals.

It's so nice of Birol to think of blogs that way, and yes, that's true of the blogs you should be reading - but I guarantee my blog is none of the above It actually fit's Shadow Ferret's description pretty well.

Those places want people to post about products and services for them in their blogs. It basically turns a blog into a paid advertising site. There's a lot of discussion about it out in the blogosphere - not all of it positive. See http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/008295.html for one point of view. don't forget to read the comments section, too - it's always an important part of the overall discussion. By the way - Making Light is one example of a blog that's not just a big fluffy online diary.

If you're up front about what you're doing, I don't see any problem with making a couple bucks. But if you're turning your blog into a stealth shill site, that just seems rather unethical. And if you're taking money for posting stealth adverts in the comments of other blogs, I think that's pretty universally abhored by the blogging community.

You also seemed to have missed the point about many blogs NOT being just online diaries - it really devalues and demeans the great number of people who are doing serious work online using the blogging form as their medium.

MidnightMuse said:

Said the Ferret with the blog

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Oh, sure, point that out why don't you?

benbradley said:

Actually having to PAY someone to read their blog (or email newsletter or similar online writing) is fairly rare. As someone said, the main business model is to have enough ("free") readers to make it worth selling advertising on the blog (then readers have to want to read your stuff badly enough to not be too annoyed by banner ads - they still read for free).

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If you have advertising, aren't you then having someone pay you? I didn't mean that readers pay the blogger directly. Although that would be nice, too, wouldn't it?

Dawno said:

I love you Shadow Ferret, but your post was a bit cruel. I hope it was tongue in cheek. Blogging is more than just a meaningless exercise for a lot of people.

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Aw, I love you, too, Dawno. But I don't recall saying EVERY or ALL. I did say MOST. And I think that point stands. MOST of the blogs are sheer nonsense, my own included. But, there are a FEW that are exceptionally written and worthwhile. But isn't ALL of life like that? Only a FEW succeed, only a few excel.

Dawno said:

It's so nice of Birol to think of blogs that way, and yes, that's true of the blogs you should be reading - but I guarantee my blog is none of the above It actually fit's Shadow Ferret's description pretty well.

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Well, it's true. Last year, there was a young, pregnant woman who went missing. Unlike Lacy Peterson, there was no news coverage of the event (she was poor, single, and African-American), until the blog-o-sphere made a concerted effort to get the word out. Only then did CNN do a news segment on her disappearance.

Bloggers do that type of thing everyday. They are the real alternative news sources and alternative media mainly because they aren't controlled by a corporation. The people who write them are able to choose what they want to write and publish. A few have started publishing fiction, too.

Shadow_Ferret said:

Actually, you are correct. They are nothing more than a form of Dear Diary. Everyone and their dog blogs...

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Even Bob Loblaw has a Law Blog.



(Say it out loud. And then watch the 3rd season of Arrested Development.)

I'm actually going to be organizing my blog a little better. I was using it just as a kind of place to dump all my thoughts - mostly as a 'here's what I'm woriking on, here's what I did today' blog. Kind of a way to connect to readers who happen by.

I'm going to be organizing it more. Certain features on certain weekdays. Tuesday Teasers, that kind of thing.

Actually I'm working on getting small (I call them 'indie') publishers to send me information so I can feature them, and then indie published authors to come and talk about their books.

I've been blogging for a couple of years now and think it's time for me to do this. How much nonsense about my life do you really want to read. LOL.

I like blogs. I think they're a (mostly) untapped field of potential creativity for writers. Mostly, I use mine to complain and occasionally muse, but a good blog is a delight.

It's the same as anything business related. Figure out something that people want. Find an angle that gives it in a different way. Deliver it where it's needed. Now if only it were so simple as that.

I think that, as with many things, if you approach writing a blog from the standpoint of making money, you're coming at it wrong. Do it for the joy of the thing and if it makes money, neat.