Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Bloggers Unite! And Start Making Some Money
Unless your name is Matt Drudge, you're probably not making millions with a Web log.
But more and more bloggers are working their blogs as a business, producing some income. And advertisers are increasingly paying attention.
As veteran Boston blogger Adam Gaffin puts it, advertisers are less interested in your blog about cats than they are in 100 blogs about cats put together.
Banner Ads: "Aggregation is what it's all about," says Gaffin, who's also executive online editor with Network World. "It's amazing how you can make money off these little niches right now if you aggregate them," he says.
Gaffin has been blogging since before they called it blogging. His Boston-oriented universalhub.com is running banner ads from job recruiter Monster, Internet phone company Vonage and others.
The reality of blogonomics are tough. It's not a get-rich-quick thing, nor is that why most bloggers are into it. Gaffin concedes he's not making much money off the ads -- a few bucks for every 1,000 times they're viewed on his site. But, he says, "If you become successful and become really popular, sure, you can make some serious money."
Blogger Nick Denton made news earlier this year when his Gawker Media inked a US$25,000 ad buy from Sony to sponsor Gawker's new LifeHacker gadgetry software blog. Bloggers are learning to let other companies do the ad sales work for them -- companies such as Google, Blogads.com and Burlington-based Burst! Media. Burst sells packages of Internet sites, including a growing number of blogs, to advertisers.
Traffic Growth: Gaffin says the more specialized the blog, the smaller the audience is likely to be. But that specialized audience may be one advertisers crave. Burst is bundling blogs and other Internet sites focused on similar topics into "infinitely customizable packages" and selling them to advertisers.
Gaffin says few of the bloggers writing about Boston are selling ads, though some appear to be thinking about it. Last month, Jon Petitt launched Bostonist, a blog about all things Boston and part of the Gothamist blog network, with blogs in nine cities. Bostonist isn't selling ads yet, but that's in the plan. "As traffic starts to grow, it entices advertisers," Petitt says. "Traffic has to reach a critical mass before you can sell advertisements."
Others say the greater blogonomic opportunities are less in advertising than in other forms of marketing. Gaffin says the money is in selling things. He says he made "a killing" last fall in selling Red Sox merchandise through an affiliate marketing program that linked buyers to Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) through his site.
People are also paying popular bloggers to link to their sites. "It's not just about having a link from any blog," says Steve Turcotte, president of Backbone Media, a Waltham search-engine marketing company. "If I had one from a gardening site it wouldn't do me much good, but if it's from a known authority, that's more valuable to me."
No Media Empire: In 2003, Drudge, founder of the hugely popular Drudge Report, estimated making about $1.2 million a year working out of his Miami Beach condo. Gaffin says most bloggers working out of a spare bedroom won't be building a media empire. But, he says, "If you're making $25,000, $30,000, $40,000 a year, pretty soon you start thinking about giving up your day job."
More information at Guardian eCommerce.
Brought to you by the Guardian eCommerce Safe Site Privacy Seal Program.
But more and more bloggers are working their blogs as a business, producing some income. And advertisers are increasingly paying attention.
As veteran Boston blogger Adam Gaffin puts it, advertisers are less interested in your blog about cats than they are in 100 blogs about cats put together.
Banner Ads: "Aggregation is what it's all about," says Gaffin, who's also executive online editor with Network World. "It's amazing how you can make money off these little niches right now if you aggregate them," he says.
Gaffin has been blogging since before they called it blogging. His Boston-oriented universalhub.com is running banner ads from job recruiter Monster, Internet phone company Vonage and others.
The reality of blogonomics are tough. It's not a get-rich-quick thing, nor is that why most bloggers are into it. Gaffin concedes he's not making much money off the ads -- a few bucks for every 1,000 times they're viewed on his site. But, he says, "If you become successful and become really popular, sure, you can make some serious money."
Blogger Nick Denton made news earlier this year when his Gawker Media inked a US$25,000 ad buy from Sony to sponsor Gawker's new LifeHacker gadgetry software blog. Bloggers are learning to let other companies do the ad sales work for them -- companies such as Google, Blogads.com and Burlington-based Burst! Media. Burst sells packages of Internet sites, including a growing number of blogs, to advertisers.
Traffic Growth: Gaffin says the more specialized the blog, the smaller the audience is likely to be. But that specialized audience may be one advertisers crave. Burst is bundling blogs and other Internet sites focused on similar topics into "infinitely customizable packages" and selling them to advertisers.
Gaffin says few of the bloggers writing about Boston are selling ads, though some appear to be thinking about it. Last month, Jon Petitt launched Bostonist, a blog about all things Boston and part of the Gothamist blog network, with blogs in nine cities. Bostonist isn't selling ads yet, but that's in the plan. "As traffic starts to grow, it entices advertisers," Petitt says. "Traffic has to reach a critical mass before you can sell advertisements."
Others say the greater blogonomic opportunities are less in advertising than in other forms of marketing. Gaffin says the money is in selling things. He says he made "a killing" last fall in selling Red Sox merchandise through an affiliate marketing program that linked buyers to Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) through his site.
People are also paying popular bloggers to link to their sites. "It's not just about having a link from any blog," says Steve Turcotte, president of Backbone Media, a Waltham search-engine marketing company. "If I had one from a gardening site it wouldn't do me much good, but if it's from a known authority, that's more valuable to me."
No Media Empire: In 2003, Drudge, founder of the hugely popular Drudge Report, estimated making about $1.2 million a year working out of his Miami Beach condo. Gaffin says most bloggers working out of a spare bedroom won't be building a media empire. But, he says, "If you're making $25,000, $30,000, $40,000 a year, pretty soon you start thinking about giving up your day job."
More information at Guardian eCommerce.
Brought to you by the Guardian eCommerce Safe Site Privacy Seal Program.
