A good working definition of a blog is simply a journal or newsletter that is frequently updated and intended for timely reading. It often provides opportunities for unfiltered and immediate feedback, sports an informal or even partisan attitude, and is written in a more personal style than traditional press outlets.
Blogs come in all shapes and subjects, from the maunderings of troubled teen souls to displays of classical photography to breaking news and commentary. They can be online journals, locked with a password shared by a few trusted friends, or they can be page after page of source code, sharing useful and free computer programs with the world. A blog may be an online journal tangential to a company’s main business, where users of a company’s products give feedback and ask for help. Blogs can be hosted by single individuals, shared by teams, or produced by entire companies. They may be hosted on a dedicated blog server using fancy templates or lovingly hand-crafted in HTML on a page that resembles a bulletin board.
But a blog is not simply a syndicated column or a newspaper that's been thrown online. Many news outlets feature their content online and even allow readers to respond to stories. However, the newspaper’s business doesn't change just because it has a new medium. Editors and writers still do the same jobs they did before the advent of online distribution; the newspaper doesn't view itself as any different from what it always was.
And perhaps therein lies the difference: attitude. The newspaper sees itself as presenting all the news that’s fit to print, written by objective professionals, while the blogger sees her/himself as presenting a piece of her/his own world and her/his own expertise from her own perspective. As blogs become more popular (if that's possible), more columnists are becoming bloggers and more bloggers are becoming professional in what they write. Perhaps in a few years, the distinction between the Old Media and the New will be irrelevant in the mind of writers; for many readers today, it already is.
The Blog As A Business
Most blogs are small potatoes. The vast majority are online journals where teenagers talk about their lives to a readership made up of their closest friends. A growing minority, however, are businesses in and of themselves. They balance costs and income; they purposely seek out content providers, advertisers, and paying customers. They make a profit. They are, in fact, Blog Empires, ruling over a reader-defined section of the blogosphere as the go-to site for millions who come to get the news, buy promotional merchandise, and donate money to keep their favorite bloggers fed and happy.
That’s where you come in. You can draw millions of readers, because what you have to say is important. You can accumulate advertisers, because they'll pay to reach your readers. In short, you can build your own blog empire, and it’s easier than you think.
It'll take a lot of work (what worthwhile thing doesn’t?) but you may find that being a blogger, and building a blog empire of your own is the most fulfilling work you’ve ever done.
The Components Of Your Blog Empire Business
A blog empire, like any other business, is made up of three major components: a supplier, buyers, and the products for sale. But a blog in many cases differs from the average business because you're bringing together two sets of customers and delivering two sets of products. And you’re not even selling the main item you produce.
Sound confusing? It’s really not. Let’s take a look at the component parts and illustrate just how simple it is.
The first component is a supplier. That’s you.
It's your words, your opinion, your research, and your art which can bring thousands or even millions of readers to your blog. You'll be the attraction, the broker, and the king/queen of your blog empire. If it weren’t for you, the blog wouldn’t exist. Because of who you are, what you know, and what you do, it can thrive.
The second component is a buyer, a customer.
While the vast majority of your customers will be your readers, other customers will include companies that pay you to feature their links and advertisements on your blog. “Traffic” (those millions of readers out there who care about what you say) is the lifeline of your site: you’ve got to find them and bring them in. Once they're there, your advertising customers will pay for access to your reading customers, and your reading customers will pay for your information and merchandise.
The final component is a product.
Like all businesses, yours can’t exist without a product to sell. But what do you sell when you’re giving your opinion away for free on a blog?
The first product you sell is yourself: your opinions and your expertise. Without selling yourself to your readers, you'll have no customers. They may not always pay you directly (though we’ll see that in many cases they will) but if they don’t buy what you’re saying, they won't buy anything else.
The second product you sell is your space. You lease it to advertisers who'll pay you to put information in front of your millions and millions of readers. Whether text links or flashing popup banner ads, your advertisers will pay you for a small part of your readers’ attention.
The final product you sell is your merchandise. With a properly-branded name and a reputation for excellence, your readers will purchase coffee mugs, t-shirts, bumper stickers… anything you can imagine.
In your blog empire, your reader is a customer and a product, and the more customers you have, the more products you can sell and the more profit you can pocket. You can turn your labor of love into a digital cash cow by building a blog empire business that brings customers and buyers together. The rest of this post will show you how to do just that.
Deciding What Type of Empire You’ll Build
So you've set your mind to building an empire. Great. However, unlike historical empires that relied on unique military tactics, advanced technology, and slave labor, your empire will rely on a single person: you. You’ll design it, you’ll build it, and you’ll people it with readers who return to it day after day, becoming in a small sense virtual citizens of your blog empire and eventually your happy customers. You’ll use the same tactics as others, but you’ll use them more efficiently. You’ll use the same infrastructure as others, but you’ll use it more effectively. You’ll compete with other empires for your readers’ time, and you’ll do so successfully. A blog empire is an empire of customer service and you will not only be its ruler, you will be the servant of all who enter it. Sound like fun? It can be, if you design your empire with one person in mind: you.
It seems a dichotomy to say that a blog empire should be built around the provider rather than the customer, but there’s a simple reason for it: it'll be you who updates it day after day. You'll be the editor, the designer, and the main focus of the site. Your expertise, your hobby, or your insight will provide the service that the citizens of your blog empire want. You can’t sell from an empty cart and you’ve got to be in it for the long haul. That means you’ve got to provide content that features what you know and what you love. You're the key, and every part of your blog empire must be designed with that in mind.
However, before you can lay the foundations, we need to review a few options. Let’s take a look at a few successful blogs and generate some ideas. Then we’ll come back for a good look at the one who can make it all work: you.
The Makings of Empire: Choosing Content That Provides Value
Unless you're a successful newspaper columnist or a famous actress who's able to draw hordes of readers by your reputation alone, your blog is going to need a theme. It may be a narrow one, like “Libertarian politics in the Massachusetts Governor’s race.” It may be a broad one, like, “art focusing on life and love.” But whatever your theme, your blog is going to keep readers by presenting them with the valuable content they expect. Not coincidentally, it’s also going to be a theme you love and will not be tempted to stray far from.
Because there are literally millions of blogs available, successful blogs reach one kind of reader, and they do it well. The reason is obvious: a reader who might share your interest in model trains may not share your love of fine wines. He may not care about your vacation in Paris. Unless he’s a personal friend, he may not care about your new car. That means you’re going to have to pick a subject and stick with it. A good starting place is the following list of popular blog categories: political, spiritual, society/culture, rant, business, hobby, technology, art, news, reference.
Of the most popular blogs, measured by Technorati.com, a popular blog search engine, a significant percentage are political blogs. This should not be surprising: with the exception of religious opinions, opinions on politics are some of the most fiercely held and vociferously debated. Political opinions make great blog fodder. But there’s a catch: everyone has an opinion, but not everyone has one that millions of readers will take time to read. Successful political blogs, whether the liberal Daily Kos, the conservative Red State, or the law-oriented Volokh Conspiracy, all have one thing in common: they have important and timely information (not just opinions) that can be relied upon by serious political junkies. They have high-level political connections, access to rumors, or expertise to share. If you are connected in politics or law and have serious light to shed on the issues of the day, a political blog may be your blog empire. The same case holds for spiritual blogs, hobby blogs, and technology blogs: the successful blogs are those run by experts (that is, of course, why we’re going to build your empire on your own expertise) who can tell readers what they don’t know and want to know.
There are, however, successful blogs that are not run by experts; they are run, in fact, by someone who had a brilliant idea. As of this writing, the third most popular blog on Technorati, linked by more than 25,000 other blogs, is Post Secret. On Post Secret, the readers do all the work, creating a picture that represents a secret the contributor wants to anonymously reveal to the world. The secrets may be “I once made a student repeat a grade so I could flirt with his father for another year,” or it may be “I find it amusing when my blind dog crashes into furniture.” In every case, the entries chosen are skillfully presented (the blogger IS an expert in picking interesting content) and readers laugh, they cry, and they relate. But most importantly, they return again and again.
Post Secret illustrates that all you need is a well-presented good idea to build a blog empire.
News, link, and reference blogs require an abiding interest in one subject and the tenacity to find relevant, timely information. Successful ones cover their subject so well that they are considered valuable references by serious news hounds. A good example of this type of blog is Zero Intelligence. Zero Intelligence gathers every relevant story about “zero tolerance” drug and weapons policies in public and private schools and presents them with commentary. It follows stories through the press cycle to resolution or disappearance and serves as a trusted clearing house for relevant information. Another reference blog is “Literally, a Weblog,” which documents the popular press’ misuse of the word “literally.” If a writer needs an example to make a point about the use or misuse of “literally” in the arts or media, “Literally, a Weblog” can provide a fitting example for any story.
No idea is too small, too silly, or too pretentious so long as you present your content in a manner that makes your blog a valuable reference. If you have an abiding interest in a specific subject more than any other, then a news, link, or reference blog may be the place to start.
The final category is, alas, the largest category of blogs and the one that makes up the smallest percentage of professional blogs: the rant blog. Rant blogs are generally “brain dump” blogs, where the blogger simply writes what’s on her mind, tells about her day, or whines about her boss. It's a cathartic project, designed for the blogger’s mental health, and while it may be interesting – at least to the author - it'll seldom draw much of a crowd. Unless your life is interesting enough to write a book about, the rant blog is to be avoided. If your life IS interesting enough to write a book about, it’s probably best to write the book.
If the idea of sifting the news 20 hours a day for blog material gives you the willies, don’t panic: get a partner. One of the most popular blog formats (or rather, the format of many popular blogs) is the multi-contributor blog.
Well, What Do You Know?
Now that you know what you can build, let’s take a look at what you want to build. The first step in the process is looking at who you are, what and who you know, and what you love. What do you have to offer the millions of potential readers who'll join your blog empire while they sip their morning coffee?
To find out we’re going to answer the most important question for your future success: where you’re going to build your capitol, the headquarters of your own blog empire. Basically, we’re going to brainstorm and free associate. There are no right answers, no wrong answers, and nothing is too crazy to write down at this point. Remember, if you love it, someone else probably loves it, too.
Okay, Here We Go
Take out a blank sheet of paper and get a nice, tall drink. Then answer the following questions as best you can. Some, like your age, may seem silly or irrelevant. Some you may simply not have an answer to. That’s perfectly all right. Just be as thorough as you can.
Question 1: Who are you?
What's your age? What's your gender? What's your race? Are you religious? Are you a dazzling urbanite, a laid-back rural, or something in between? Do you think about these issues every day? Do they matter to you or to your friends? HOW do they matter? What languages do you speak? If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Try that last one again, honestly this time.
Question 2: What do you know?
What and who do you know? Where have you gone to school? Where do you work and what do you do? In what areas are you an expert? Who else shares your love, your passion, your expertise? What work, education, or hobby-related areas could you be said to have a reputation? What do you have a reputation for?
Question 3: What do you want to know?
When you log onto the internet, where's the first place you go? What are you looking for? What do you expect to find? How long does it take you to find it? Is everything in one place? How many sites do you visit before you’re satisfied? What do you WANT a reputation for?
Question 4: What are you passionate about?
What makes your blood boil? What makes you jump up and click your heels? Have you ever written a letter to the editor? What was the subject? Did you check the paper every day for responses? What politicians or issues do you love enough to walk door-to-door for? Why? If you were king, what would be the first thing you’d do? If you won the lottery, what would be the first thing you’d buy?
Assess your skills and knowledge
Next, we’re going to examine some skills that are necessary in order to create certain types of blogs. Be as honest (even as harsh) as you can in your self-appraisal. Remember, if you really can’t write well, your readers are going to know. If you can create first-rate artwork, now is not the time to sell yourself short.
- I can write: very well / pretty well / are you kidding?
- My writing has been published by others: Y / N
- My sense of humor can be described as: dry / sarcastic / ironic / witty / are you kidding?
- I can write well in the following languages:
- I can program computers using the following languages:
- I have written computer programs that are in use by others Y / N
- I can create professional quality artwork: Y / N
- I have used the following graphics packages:
- I have taken the following arts or graphics classes:
- My artwork is currently being used by others Y / N
- I’m consistently surprised that people ask my opinion about:
- I have a million stories about:
- I know more than anyone else about:
- People would pay for my knowledge about:
__Artistic
__Business
__Hobby
__News
__Political
__Rant
__Reference
__Society/Culture
__Spiritual
__Other:
For example, if you're passionate about technology and know more than anyone else about RS-232 serial interfaces, then a technology blog may be the beginning of your blog empire business. If you're fanatical about gun rights or racism or personal privacy, but can’t write, then a news or reference blog may be right up your alley.
If your skills overlap multiple categories, that’s okay as well. You may be able to create a category that no one else has tried! But pick your category carefully: the success of your blog empire is going to depend on whether you can consistently offer your readers the content that they'll return again and again for. Your mental health will depend upon whether you love it enough to stay the course.
Develop a Blog Theme
Every successful blog has a theme -the idea or subject your blog is about more than anything else- that makes it a go-to site in the minds of readers. In order to make your blog a success you must be able to contribute something unique, and that something is going to make up the theme of your blog. It might be a comical take on the news. It might be in-depth tutorials for a certain software package. It might even be rumors you hear in your daily job as a top-level political analyst. It may be short stories or fascinating photographs. But you have to find that certain something that only you can contribute and that people want to read or see.
Your blog’s theme can be summed up by what you want your blog to be famous for, the one unique thing your blog presents or contributes. Pick three or four key words that describe your content and your presentation of it, based on your skills, abilities, and knowledge (e.g. “satirical partisan political commentary” or “sentimental love poetry”). Then complete your theme:
Blog Theme: My blog is known and respected as the best place on the internet to find: ______________ ___________________ ________________ ____________
Branding – Developing A Name And Image That Will Stick With People
Every empire has a name. It may be regal enough that “Rome” says everything there is to say. It may try to ride off the success of others, as the “Holy Roman Empire” attempted in the Ninth Century. Whatever name you choose, however, will establish your brand. It'll be the name that people remember, and it'll be with you forever. Think it’s not important? Just imagine what would happen to Coca-Cola if its name was changed tomorrow to Sparkie’s Soda. Would you still buy it even if it tasted the same? Would they still be the most popular cola in the world? Their name, built carefully for more than a century, is the most valuable asset they own. Your brand will do the same for your blog empire business.
The question immediately arises whether your name needs to be descriptive of your content, and the answer is, unfortunately, “maybe.” Sometimes it helps, as no one going to Red State would expect anything other than GOP-friendly commentary. The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler is descriptive of both commentary and style. Post Secret says everything there is to say about the blog.
On the other hand, many successful blogs have names that are simply memorable. Little Green Footballs, with more than 100,000 visitors a day, is a political blog concerned with the War on Terror. BoingBoing describes itself as “a directory of wonderful things.” Both have memorable names; neither has a meaningful one.
Branding Idea Generator
In order to come up with a few brand ideas to choose from, we’re going to perform a little brainstorming session. It'll involve picking words that relate to you and your content or your interests, and matching them with other words. As an idea generator it'll be worthwhile even if you have a name and image picked out. After all, almost any idea can be improved, but if yours is already the best, this little exercise should prove that, too.
Repeat your theme here:
Blog Theme: My blog is known and respected as the best place on the internet to find: ______________ ___________________ ________________ ____________
Now, take a look at your key, content-related words and write them here:
1)
2)
3)
4)
Write your personal nicknames (if applicable) or a couple words that describe you here:
1)
2)
3)
Write five words or the names of particular objects or subjects you enjoy writing, researching, or talking about here (they need not be related to your theme):
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Now, go online to dictionary.com and look each up in the thesaurus, picking out unique synonyms or words you like the sound of. Write them on a separate sheet of paper (you should end up with at least 30 words).
For each of those words, write two words that are related, like “captain – ship, quarters” or “car – hot rod, spinning wheels.” Try not to be too obvious.
That’s a lot of words, some of which will be related to your content, and some not. Now, just play with them and combine them however you like, noting those combinations which sound powerful or – even better – interesting. Change a few words to interesting but similar words (e.g. “pillar” to “pillage”). Write down a few phrases (even clichés) that the words appear in. Just have fun with them!
Then grab a half dozen of your favorites and just let them stew in your mind. Give it a few hours or even a day. When you come back to them you’ll know which one you like best or whether you need to start the exercise over, and you may even have dreamed up matching artwork for a few of them.
Blog Entries
What stories are to a city newspaper, blog entries are to your blog empire business. And while your layout is important, readers won't return again and again to admire your layout or ruminate over your clever title. They’ll return again and again to read your writing or view your artwork or check the links that you provide. In other words, while they may read because of your layout, they'll return because of your entries.
An entry is simply a published piece of material, and your readers will have definite expectations for your entries that you'll need to meet, day in and day out, in order to woo them into coming back tomorrow. Luckily, most of those expectations are set by
you in prior entries. Those expectations are insight, relevance, timeliness, accuracy, and consistency.
Insightful and Unique Content
Whether your blog provides photographs of the rain forest, reviews of Pacific Northwest restaurants, or the largest collection of ethnic jokes on the planet, your readers expect that every time they come there, they’ll find something new, unique, and worthwhile. They’ll expect to find something they can’t find anywhere else or find by themselves without searching all over. In short, they’ll expect you to provide insightful and unique content on a certain consistent subject or issue. Your insight and your dedication to providing quality are what will draw them back.
Links and Commentary
On a news blog, for example, your readers expect that your commentary will provide interesting and relevant news, probably with a link to an original story or a source site. They'll also expect you to provide expertise that they don't possess, information they haven't found elsewhere, and an up-to–the-minute take on relevant trends and rumors. They want to read the entry and come away feeling they now know more than they did, that they learned something interesting, and that they leave with a reason to return.
A blog that reviews restaurants will meet those same expectations in a different manner. Timeliness is less a factor – restaurants don’t change as quickly as the daily news – but relevance and thoroughness become more important. Your readers aren't going to return for your reviews of Portland’s collection of Subway restaurants, nor for your fifth review of Kell’s Irish Pub, even if you think it's the best place in the world to eat. They demand an expanding collection of useful content, and they want each entry to tell them everything they need to know to make an enjoyable dining decision. They want you to be clear, honest, and thorough.
Perhaps your blog is a reference blog, collecting and publishing links by subject. While readers may not have expectations for your commentary, they will expect the links to be accurate and present a thorough overview of the subject from all angles – or at least from the angle your readers have come to expect from prior commentary. Consistency and thoroughness are again the watchwords.
Whatever the theme of your blog, your readers will expect every entry to be timely, relevant, and accurate.
Are Images Necessary?
When designing a blog or blog entry, one of the immediate questions that'll arise is whether it'll demand a picture or image to give it “life” or “zest.” If your blog is an art blog that'll feature visual presentations, the answer is obviously in the affirmative. But what if your blog is a political or technology blog? If your blog’s content is mostly information rather than visual art, an image can occasionally help get your message across, especially if it helps to illustrate your content.
In that case, an image, which will necessarily be small in order to fit on your page, can be hyperlinked to a larger version in order to give your readers access to more information or detail should they desire it. In this case, it’s helpful to have the image open in a separate browser window so the original story remains in the main browser.
Images, like your entries themselves, should be consistently sized. They don't have to be exactly the same, however, because not every image will be the same shape and shouldn't be forced into an arbitrary mold, especially at the expense of proportion. A skewed image is generally worse than none. However, it's important to avoid haphazard sizing, especially when you feature multiple images close together. Images of vastly differing sizes will scream ‘unprofessional’ at your readers.
Successful bloggers will occasionally use humorous or “cute” pictures to illustrate content or to make a point. This is acceptable so long as it's used only occasionally and doesn't detract from the image you’re trying to create for your blog. It also provides a nice break for your readers if your content has been heavy, repetitive, or intense. They deserve a break just like you do.
However, unless your blog is a humor blog, overuse of humorous or ‘cute’ pictures can damage your blog’s reputation. Because you seek to be serious and taken seriously by your readers, it’s important to design every entry in a way that supports and furthers your reputation.
Of course, if your blog is dedicated to holidays or cheerleaders, then by all means, load it up with as many pictures as will fit on the page!
Becoming A Relevant Portal
It bears repeating that a primary strategy of your blog is to generate traffic. It’s to provide information and services for your readers and to provide readers for your advertisers. That's accomplished, not by fancy tricks to draw new readers, but by creating a reputation as a portal, a clearing house if you will, for a certain kind of content. Every potential entry must be checked against your blog’s theme to ensure that it advances that theme. When it does, your blog will become a portal for those looking for the kind of information you provide.
A portal is a site that leads to other sites and to other relevant information. In the blogosphere, a portal is a blog that can be counted on – and is counted on by millions of faithful readers – to have all the news that’s fit to read about a certain subject. When that subject is hot, your readers know where to go to find information. When a reader is researching that subject or looking for relevant quotes and data, she knows that your site has it archived.
With your site as a portal, your readers – and the other bloggers that link to you – will know that they can find what they need by visiting you again and again. That’s what traffic is, and traffic is the reason for every entry you make.
Blog Hosts
Every blog ‘exists’ somewhere. It may be on a server dedicated to nothing but blogs or it may be on privately-leased space a half a world away from the blogger. But in either case, the blogger needs to create his blog empire somewhere, and that somewhere will have implications for your blog as it grows into a household name.
Free vs. Subscription
With the popularity of blogs exploding, a large number of blog-specific servers and companies have arisen to meet the demand for fast and easy blog creation. Many of them provide software that allows the blogger to quickly and easily set up a blog, sometimes in mere minutes. They allow certain modification (colors, columns, etc.) and provide tools that can have your blog looking sharp, even if you’ve never typed an entry in your life.
But they have drawbacks as well, especially for blogs that want to be more than just an online diary. They may not provide statistics. They may not allow you to host your own ads. They may even drop your entries once those entries roll off the front page. The solution, in many cases, is to pay a subscription fee which will free up features you need to make your blog profitable, unique, and professional.
Here’s a list of some of the more popular blog-specific sites:
Blogger: This is Google's answer to our blogging needs, and is very user-friendly. It allows you to easily monitize your blog with gadgets that are very quickly and easily added from the dashborad, and using Blogger has the added advantage of already being "liked" by Google. Those who understand HTML will be able to create nearly any layout they desire.
Wordpress: Here's a very popular blogging platform that's relatively easy to use, and easy to monetize. Wordpress has thousands of add-ons, called plug-ins that you can use to add, manipulate or monetize your blog with.
Blog-City: One of the easier blog-specific sites to use, Blog-City offers a wide number of pre-made layouts that do not require HTML knowledge to use. Functionality is limited, however, and some features are only available to those who pay an annual subscription fee.
Blog Drive: Blogdrive offers free blogging with objects such as tagboards, RSS feeds, and ready-made header graphics.
TBlog: offers free “basic” service which must be upgraded to add features like comment management and image support.
Xanga: is dedicated toward the “online diary” end of the blogosphere. It offers free but limited image hosting and WYSIWYG editing, but downloadable archives are only available by purchasing a premium subscription.
Each host – and there are many others - has many unique attributes and prices, and before you decide to use one of them, it’s wise to become familiar with what each offers. By the time you’ve finished this book, you’re going to know precisely what features you
need to build your Blog Empire. So review each host carefully; if it turns out they don’t offer what you need, it’s often difficult to take your traffic with you when you move.
If you choose a free host, one of the first issues you’ll deal with is the blog’s URL. If you choose Blogger, for example, your URL will look something like “elborak.blogspot.com” with “elborak” being your blog’s name. That name must be unique across the host, and with millions of blogs out there, that’s not an easy task. And if your blog is named, “Spackle News,” it’s going to be harder for readers to find your blog at “spacklenews.blogspot.com” than if the name is “SpackleNews.com.” Fortunately, there are a few solutions to that problem.
The first solution is to use a forwarding service, like My Domain. You buy a fitting domain name for a few dollars a year, and My Domain will forward your traffic from SpackleNews.com (or whatever your blog name is) to your blog. You can even decide to view your blog within a frame, so the URL appears as SpackleNews.com, while the browser is pulling data from another server. Frames do have the problem, however, of “holding” any document you link to within that same frame unless you do some fancy coding. That makes it harder for the user to escape or find specific data on your blog, a situation which neither of you will appreciate.
A second solution is to choose a host that'll allow you to directly assign a URL to your blog even as it remains on their server. Be sure to check the features of any blog host you examine to see if they offer the ability to assign your own URL.
A final solution is to simply rent normal web space and install a software package that will manage your blog. Depending upon the features you want, it may cost you a few dollars, but the features you get will usually exceed those of free or dedicated blog services by a long shot.
Here are a few of the popular packages and what they can provide:
Greymatter: Open-source and full-featured, Greymatter is a good choice for those who have some familiarity with CGI files and layouts. Free.
MacJournal: MacJournal is the leading journaling software for MacIntosh users who blog. It includes a full suite of Mac-specific features and offers the ability to manage multiple journals. Free.
Pico: While not as full-featured as some other packages, Pico is small and fast. Written entirely in Perl, it weighs in at a svelte 14k of disk space. It’s easy to install and it’s free.
Rocketpost: Published by Anconia Software, RocketPost is a full-featured package designed for business users and serious bloggers. It comes with a 30-day free trial and a $37 total cost.
All of these packages are available in either demo or full version at CNET’s Download.com.
Now We're Getting Somewhere: Profiting From Your Blog Empire
Generating Profits
Your blog empire business, in order to be profitable, must generate sufficient income to cover not only your actual costs, but to pay you for your time and expertise. The costs you can keep under control by intelligently managing the money you spend on promotion and bandwidth. Potential customers you manage by attracting and keeping interested readers. But to make a profit, you’ve got to make a sale, and there are two ways to accomplish that: selling clicks or coffee cups.
The first method, selling clicks, means placing ads, like banners, on your site. When your customers click the ads (or occasionally when they simply view them) you collect a payment from the advertiser. In this case, your customers are companies to whom you sell access to your readers.
The second method, selling coffee cups, is not limited to ceramic drinking devices, but to anything you sell directly to your readers. In this case, your readers are your customers, purchasing from you products that advertise your site or information only you can provide.
Selling clicks is the easiest and most popular of the two methods, so let’s take a look at it first. But first, let’s take a look at your readers.
Readers don’t love ads. They don’t love banners. They don’t love intrusive, flashing distractions and you’re not going to please them by placing ads on your page. Thus you must take the advice Machiavelli offered his prince six centuries ago: “While it may not always be possible to be loved, it’s critical to avoid being hated.” That advice, delivered in a political context, holds true in an advertising one. It’s critical that if your ads don't attract readers to your site (and it’s a guarantee that readers aren't coming to admire your banners), you should at least make an effort not to drive them away.
That’s a problem, because those ads which are most hated by readers are those which are most profitable to you: popups and java applets.
Popups we all know and hate. They're ads that open in a new window, usually displaying the advertiser’s own site or an ad with a link to it. They cause your page to load more slowly (especially if your reader is on a dialup connection) and they aggravate a reader who's not interested in the object advertised. Multiple popups on a single page should be avoided at all costs – if you open 6 browser windows on your reader’s desktop, it’s virtually guaranteed that reader is not one you’ll see again. Of course, most modern browsers and several specialty software products are available to banish popups altogether, and if your readers have them, your popup campaign will probably be strangled in its cradle.
The second hated ad type is a java application that floats across the screen, necessitating that the reader close it before he can read your page. It’s an aggravation (most of them scurry around the screen, making them difficult to close) and an aggravated reader isn't going to be receptive to your content. He may even decide your page is not worth reading before you have an opportunity to make a good impression.
Avoid the temptation of featuring these kinds of ads. The reason these ads are more profitable than unobtrusive pay-per-click ads is that they're more effective – your reader must interact with the ad in order to get to your content. But the reader’s reaction may be to avoid your content altogether. In that case, you've lost both a reader and a potential customer.
Google AdSense and Pay-Per-Click Programs
You’ve seen the towers on hundreds of sites: ever-changing boxes of text ads that reflect the content in front of the reader’s face (an example is at the top right of this page). If you're reading about an election, the ads may be related to political parties. If you’re reading about automobiles, the ads may be hawking car parts. Whatever the ads are selling, they're somehow related to the content and therefore of interest to the reader. This is called contextual advertising for those of you who don't know.
The most popular ad program of this nature on the internet is Google’s AdSense program. Google ads can be found on thousands of blogs and retail sites, and there’s a reason for it: with AdSense you don’t need to choose which ads you’ll display and you don’t have to find your own advertisers. You simply sign up for the program and Google will scan your page, assigning advertisements based on your content and displaying them in a box (or tower) on your page through a small piece of code you integrate into your design. When a reader clicks on the ad, you receive a commission for delivering that reader to the advertiser’s website. Because the ad content is related to your page, the odds of a reader clicking are much higher than random ads you might otherwise feature.
But Google’s AdSense is not the only choice available; the number of blog-ready ad programs has multiplied with the popularity of the blog business. Other choices include programs dedicated more toward blogs, give you control over the advertisers on your site, and pay your commissions online, even in small amounts.
A few smaller programs worth exploring are:
Blog Ads
Crisp Ads
Grokads
Tagword
New ad programs arise every day, but it’s important to decide, before you commit, if a programs will give you the best return on your limited ad space. Check a few of your favorite blogs to see what they're using. Compare the content of the page to the content of the ads. Decide if you feel motivated to click on an ad. If you feel the temptation to follow an ad to another site, chances are your readers will feel it as well.
The second pay-per-click type is less direct but perhaps more profitable in the long run: associate or affiliate-based programs. A one-time option (called one-time because you’ll get paid once for every sale) is available through online retailers like Amazon.
Have you ever seen a book review that featured a clickable link allowing you to buy a book right at the time you’re thinking about it? Chances are that the site you’re reading has a deal with the retailer for a cut of the purchase price. Amazon’s Associates program will provide you with a user id and code for any item they sell, giving you a kickback from any sale made via your site. There are literally hundreds of retailers that offer similar programs, so if you routinely talk about any item sold online, be on the lookout for ways you can profit from the interest you are creating in your readers. If someone is going to profit from your writing, shouldn’t it be you?
But other associate and affiliate programs are available that may continue to pay you even after the first click. For example, if you’re talking about junk email and review a site like Spam Arrest, joining their affiliate program ahead of time can result in a lifetime of profits from a single post and banner. In the case of Spam Arrest, readers can sign up for a free mail box guaranteed to reduce the spam they receive. If they purchase the ability to download spam-free mail to their desktop, you receive a percentage of the sale price. If those customers become affiliates, you receive a small percentage of their sales. It’s multi-level marketing – not a Ponzi scheme, which is to be avoided at all costs – and can result in a growing number of referrals. When you mention the product on your site, be sure to feature an unobtrusive banner or text ad. It'll remain on your site, continually building your customer base, even as those customers seek customers of their own.
It's important, however, not to post simply for the purpose of selling, because your customers come to read your content, not your ads. It’s doubly important to check the reputation of any company you advertise. The internet is full of scams, and your customers won't appreciate you taking part in any scheme that bilks them out of money. Your reputation is paramount: protect it even at the cost of missing out on a few dollars of short-term revenue.
Selling Banners By The Impression
A final type of banner ad is sold by “impressions.” Less popular than pay-per-click ads because the advertiser is simply paying for his ad to be seen and not acted upon, they can still be a profitable way to sell ad space once your readership grows. Let’s say, for example, that your blog is dedicated to investments in the natural resources sector. Your readers are also potential investors in the companies that inhabit the market you talk about, but there's no way to know if a reader buys (or sells) stocks or investigates companies based on your writing.
In this case, selling ad space directly to a company that will pay you to simply feature their banner can be worthwhile. You promise the company that a certain number of people will view their banner or that it'll remain on your site for a certain amount of time, and they pay for the link. You’ll know how much revenue to expect every month and you won’t have to share it with an agency that takes a cut for bringing advertisers to you.
While potentially more profitable than pay-per-click programs, selling banners by the impression has several drawbacks, the most difficult of which is convincing advertisers that you're worth their money. That’s why your expertise and contacts are so important in choosing your blog topic. Once you become a clearinghouse for information, you can be sure that companies – especially small ones in small industries – will know you. If you have a million readers a month and are an acknowledged expert in their industry, they may be happy to pay to have their name in front of their readers, especially if they can measure the number of people visiting their site as a result of your ads.
But watch out for conflict of interest, real or perceived. When you feature a company’s ad, you may feel (and will be perceived by your readers to feel) pressure to treat your advertisers with kid gloves. It’s a part of the deal: your advertisers are not paying you to have you bad-mouth their company on your pages. So it’s essential that you be upfront with your readers when mentioning companies, informing them if you're a shareholder or that the company is an advertiser. It’s often best for your reputation to never mention a customer company or its main competitors directly, and while this can reduce your ability to sell these profitable ads, it can also help you avoid the reputation of being a shill and can help keep your commentary (or at least readers’ perceptions of your commentary) independent.
Donations – “Ask and ye shall receive”
Have you ever visited a blog that displays your name in a banner ad? Maybe your eyes have snapped across the page when you caught the sight of your own name, preceded by “Hello,” and followed by, “please make a donation.” You’ve found a site that that is practicing the easiest way to raise money from satisfied readers: simply asking them.
One popular system for soliciting contributions from readers is the Amazon Honor System. The Amazon Honor System provides a secure process wherein your readers can make a discreet contribution by credit card to you for as little as one dollar or for as many as fifty dollars.
Once you sign up with the Amazon Honor System, you’ll receive HTML code to add to your blog. This code displays one of several non-intrusive banners with a button that allows the reader to get more information or make a donation (if your customers are Amazon customers, they’ll even display the customer’s name in the ad). If that customer makes a donation, Amazon will collect the money, deduct their commission, and pass the rest on to you with a note telling you who made the donation. You may want to make very occasional “thank you” posts (be very careful, however, about identifying givers and never reveal the amounts they donate). This is a nice way to thank those readers who donate while reminding others that bloggers have to eat, too.
A second popular site for collecting donations is Paypal. A Paypal button allows anyone who has a Paypal account to make a direct donation to your site. Like Amazon, Paypal allows the reader to make a donation by credit card. Paypal, however, can also be integrated into another donation-type project you may also want to consider, that of special reports for your readers and a subscription or pay-per-view basis.
Subscriptions and Special “Insider” Reports
Most people are willing to pay for information they find valuable. They buy newspapers, magazines, and books, so why wouldn’t they pay for your information? The first reason is that you are giving it away for free. While some readers will voluntarily make a donation to keep you warmed and fed, the vast majority will not.
But if the information you provide is valuable, especially if it is of a financial nature, you may consider holding some back, offering special “insider” or “in-depth” coverage for those who wish to learn more.
One way to do so is to set up a special, secure website to archive your individual special reports. When readers send you a subscription payment, you email them a password that will expire after a certain period of time. A good example of this is George Ure’s Urban Survival, a blog dedicated to unusual and unorthodox economic trends. Ure publishes a special weekly report, known as Peoplenomics, which lays out a weekly examination of one or more issues discussed in Urban Survival during the week. Back issues are cataloged on the site, so any subscriber has the right to go back into prior years, even when such reports are outside the bounds of their subscription period. When readers’ passwords expire, they are simply removed from the master database. Setting up and maintaining a separate list of passwords will not take a lot of time until you have dozens of subscribers. By that time, your revenue will certainly cover one of the many commercial database management tools on the market.
The second way is to provide the reports through an autoresponder or via email. With email, you simply create a list of email addresses and send your reports to them as they are written. While this is easier at first than establishing a completely separate site, eventually your readers are going to request back issues or are going to lose emails, necessitating you spend a lot of time re-sending information. This manual process, if established, ought to be quickly transferred over to a dedicated site. It’s a good beginning, however, if you’re just testing the market to see how your readers respond to the offer.
There are two caveats to consider, however, before offering special reports and information. The first is that the commitment you're making must be kept, even if you have only one subscriber (and you will, at some point, only have one). You must decide if the extra time and effort to make a special weekly report is worthwhile. That subscriber is entrusting you with his money and expects that you'll keep your end of the bargain by fulfilling your promises. There’s no easier way to alienate your most faithful readers than by not giving them what they pay for.
Other than the time you spend providing the information, the most important consideration is whether the content is really valuable enough to demand a subscription. If you have proven and useful insight that’s worth paying for, giving your readers access to it can be a paying proposition. If you give the same information away on your blog two weeks later, or if your “insider” information is readily available elsewhere, your reader will rightly conclude that you have tricked them.
Remember, the long-term success of your blog empire business relies on your integrity. Keeping your promises, especially when they are directly tied to a financial contribution on the part of your readers, can make or break your reputation and your bank account.
The First Entry – And Where It Leads
Now it’s time to write the first entry. It’s time to take the first real step to building a blog empire business for profit.
You’ve decided what unique contribution you can make to the blogosphere, found the place where you will carve out your niche and establish your capitol.
You’ve pored over blog designs, scribbled up logos, picked and discarded a hundred names, finally settling on one that will tell your readers who you are and what they can expect in your blog empire.
You’ve picked advertisers, designed coffee cups and sweatshirts with your logo on them, maybe even ordered a few for yourself and close friends.
But now it’s time to give your readers all you can. Your first entry is the cornerstone of your blog empire, and it’s time to lay it.
Once you write it, you’ll probably find that the second flows from it, and then the third from the second. In fact, all those ideas you have that you want to share with the world will inspire other ideas and reveal more genius and more creativity than you ever dreamed you had.
The first entry doesn’t need to be the best you’ll ever write. In fact, as you write hundreds, even thousands of entries, you’ll hone your skill, improve your delivery, and sharpen your message.
The first entry doesn’t need to grab the world by the throat. In fact, it may be the least-viewed entry you’ll ever write, as each entry brings more readers who become voluntary citizens of your blog empire.
But the first entry will be the most important entry you ever write, because with it, you dedicate yourself to building your blog empire business that will bring you enjoyment and profit until the day you decide to go on to bigger and better things. It'll be the most important entry, because if you never write it, your blog empire will remain only a dream, and the Blogosphere will be denied all the enjoyment and information that you can uniquely bring it.
And you’ll find that when you pass the thousandth reader, the millionth page view, the first month after you decide that being a blogger is something you want to do and can do full time, you’ll look back on that first entry and realize it was the cornerstone of a blog empire of which you are immensely proud.
Additional Resources
Video Course Shows You How To Blog Your Way To Celebrity Status
Good luck building your blog empire, and don't forget to have fun along the way.
Until tomorrow,
Terry
