Monday, March 06, 2006

Blogging: A True Profession

From the dot com bubble on people have made substantial sums of money using the Internet. The latest craze for Internet entreprenuers has been the blog. Blogs started as a chance for wannabe journalists to spread their opinion. Now, as blogs are being used to develop business plans and credible sources of news, will professionalization turn blogging into media-as-usual? Or will the idiosyncratic voice of the lone blogger prevail?

When blogging began it was a cheap way to self publish all the pent up thoughts most Internet users had. For little or no cost, bloggers established their sites, began posting and soon found themselves with offers from advertisers willing to pay for space on their sites. Soon those established sites began to turn a profit. Yet, many bloggers will never see a dime.

Blogs have begun to be classified like celebrities. The most read: A-List. Middle of the road: B-List. And the least visited or unread (like yours truly) C-List. Those blogs that fall under the A-List category have seen profits that range into the seven figures from advertising dollars.

The reason such A-List blogs can demand such high advertising rates is for of two reasons. First, most A-List blogs have readerships that surpass many local newspapers. Second, advertisers are attracted to these blogs because of the niche markets they reach.

With so many blogs not being read by anyone (like yours truly) and big advertisers offering to pay large sums to the most visited blogs, it seems that professionalization of the blog is not far off. “Blogging is increasingly becoming a survival of the fittest—and that all boils down to who has the best content. The blogs that are going to stand out are the ones who break news and have credibility.” For blogs looking to make a profit then they must continuously provide new, relevant and well written posts for their readers. And that my friends, sounds like a full time job to me.

Article:
Blogs to Riches


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