Well, the “Blogging for Money” meme is rearing its head again. Wired just ran this story which is kind of an overview:
Whether you are Calacanis, Denton or Hauslaib, to create a profitable blog requires much more than a keyboard, an internet connection and too much caffeine. You need a talented writer entertaining enough to hold an audience, a consistent publishing schedule, content worth linking to by other bloggers and worthy of press coverage, marketing savvy to sell advertising or enlist third-party networks and, as a culmination of all of this, plenty of traffic.
Says Hauslaib: “If a blog debuted with virtually zero startup costs, then it takes little to earn a profit. One ad will do it. But at the bare minimum, a lone blogger will likely need to attract high four- to five-figure daily visitor figures to even attempt a blog-based livable wage.”
And, there’s a new blog network that just launched: b5 media, with 13 or so blogs in the network. Their blogs range from the predictable, well-worn ground of Microsoft, movies and sports, to some more promising, interesting ones, like Literally Blogging (about literature), Unplugged Living (how to live off the grid, which seems ironic to blog about), and She Knows Best (terrible name, IMHO, but “lifestyle tips for guys” which could work).
So, when am I launching my own blog network? Riiiight. :)
I would so love to launch a local bloggers network, but I’ll be damned if I have the free time (or money to feed my family so I could persue it full time).
No guts, no glory.
So, have you looked at/subscribed to any of the b5 blogs? I write two – Cooking Gadgets and She Knows Best – yeah, the name is funny, I know. But, it seems to be working 😉
Yep, as a matter of fact, I’m subscribed to the b5 media blog, Literally Blogging, Cooking Gadgets and She Knows Best. Unplugged Living is interesting, but not my cup of tea. So far I like what I’m reading! 🙂
Go for it! You can doooo it!