I’m willing to bet that there is not a single one of you who a) blogs and b) does it primarily for the money. Am I right?
I was having a debate with someone recently about the value of easy monetization of blogs. If you could monetize your blog easier, you’d do it of course. But would you choose a blog that makes this easy over one that does not?
What are the factors that go into the selection of a blogging platform for you? For me, it was simple. It had to be a) free, b) well known and c) well liked. That was about it. I used WordPress for those reasons.
Why do you blog? And what factors made you pick your platform?
Popularity: 4% [?]
April 12th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
Interesting question!
I blog to meet people, teach some people about customer service, and help improve the consulting and writing end of my work. I’ve also found that an established blog helps give you credibility when you do approach someone about a job, consulting, writing, etc.
I agree with you - a majority of bloggers don’t blog for the money. Quite a few do, though. You can look at the major blog networks (Gawker, Weblogs, Inc., b5media) - many of their bloggers do indeed blog for the money. Quite a few people make their living from blogging. If they don’t make their entire living, I’m sure it helps pay for their gadgets, coffee, or whatever. If they don’t blog for the direct income from ads, they may blog for the indirect income (higher profile, more consulting jobs, future writing engagements, etc.). For example, my blog’s direct incomes pays for my hosting (for all of my sites) and has really helped in getting me additional writing and consulting work, which is worth far more than the ad income.
Putting the indirect benefits aside, I don’t think there is a person on the planet who would turn down what is essentially free money. Sure, the money may not be your primary motivation for blogging, but if you had the option to easily make money to pay for your hosting, your cellphone bill, or your daily Starbucks, why not? A lot of people don’t bother, because it isn’t working finding and setting up advertising for the $30 a month or whatever it may be. If it’s easy enough, though, I’m sure people would do it.
Regarding blog platforms, I chose the self-hosted version of WordPress because it offered the features I needed. While I would appreciate (and often require) the support a hosted blog (i. e. TypePad) could offer, I didn’t like the idea of paying lots extra to use my own domain, have limited email options, and so on. I wanted my own templates and my own plugins.
While WordPress as a software application may be free, I paid for it in other ways, though. I’ve spent many many hours configuring my blog (templates, my layout, Google Adsense, Text Link Ads, installing plugins, etc.) and it still isn’t “there” yet. I’d like to do things like “follow comments via email” or more advanced statistics, but I don’t have the time or patience to find them, install them, fix them, etc.
WordPress was and still is on par with the other platforms as far as that goes. I knew I’d have to do the same amount of work with Nucleus and knew I wouldn’t even have the option to configure it with WordPress.com or a basic subscription to TypePad. I also didn’t want to use any custom “theme editor” or “theme language” that the properitary ones use.
For me, I care about 1) the features offered suit my needs, 2) I can customize it however I want, but still have the “dumbed down” way, 3) it’s low maintenance (no upgrades, installs, etc.) and ideally, 4) I can get help with it.
With plugins and customizations, my setup gives me most of 1 and 2. It’s not 3 (WordPress releases security upgrades, plugins are updated, etc. etc.) and I have no way to get help.
April 12th, 2007 at 6:42 pm
I blog a) to promote my coaching business and b) as part of my social networking. I use Blogware from the reseller BlogHarbor and also WordPress: each has its advantages and drawbacks. Free as in WordPress is fine if you have the time and inclination to tweak, add plugins, deal with the problems I’ve had with upgrade compatibility issues for which no one has an adequate answer, and I’m not a techie, so it’s a real pain and an opportunity cost. $10-20 a month for a fully hosted service like BlogHarbor or Typepad, with support, is not even coffee money, petty cash for a business blog. And hopefully in these comments or another post you will share with us why you blog
April 12th, 2007 at 6:48 pm
I’ve used pretty much all the major blog platforms and eventually settled on WordPress for the reasons you cite. Additionally I wanted to be able to learn about plugins and serious backend tweaking, which is what kept me away from hosted solutions (though WordPress.com is occasionally tempting)
I didn’t start blogging for the money, but truth be told, the money has kept me from shuttering the blog on more than one occasion. My blog is part of a blog network these days, but my only compensation from the network is free hosting. I do all my own tweaking and monetization efforts. Of course, I bring them readers and traffic in exchange for the hosting.
I started blogging because I wanted to learn about the medium, and I had something specific to say. Nowadays, I’ve pretty much said what I want to say, but I’ve got traffic and readership and the blog makes a little mad money so I keep on keepin’ on.
Would I choose a blog that makes monetization easy over one that doesn’t? Well, yeah. Provided all other factors are the same, who wouldn’t? Monetization is difficult, though. If I didn’t already know that, I could see myself becoming disappointed if I had unrealistic expectations.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
Des - I blog for several reasons. My personal blog (this one) is really just me rambling as a way to keep in touch with my family and friends. On my work blog (ColoradoStartups.com) I blog to attract startups to come to me, because I love hearing about them.
April 13th, 2007 at 7:10 am
I started blogging because it seemed like a great way to help me think a little more deeply about technology and entrepreneurship (my two favorite subjects). I think writing helps me clarify my own thoughts. My blog also provides a way letting other people know a little more about me. I don’t do nearly enough writing and blogging, but I’m hopeful that will change.
I chose Typepad because it has the features I wanted and it’s hosted. In the not too distant future, I’ll probably begin hosting my own blog using one of the free blog engines, but for now, Typepad serves my needs well.
April 13th, 2007 at 7:58 am
I decided to jump into blogging because I saw it as a way to force me to kind of eat my own dog food. I work for AOL in our social networking group, and blogs are a big part of that. It was a way to force myself to take a closer look at the technology and companies around me, get a deeper understanding of our industry, and a tertiary benefit was it helped me hone my writing skills (at least I think it has). I did not do it for the money (I do run adsense on the right rail, but have not seen a dime yet), although if some was to come of it, that would be nice.
I started out with blogger, but quickly realized that it did not give me the flexibility / customization that I was looking for. I already was hosting a web site with a provider, so I bought another domain name and parked it there. They offer WordPress for free, so the decision to use it was simple. I have grown to really love WordPress and all that it has to offer. There are a ton of templates and plugins built for it, which is great.
Will
April 13th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
To avoid long winded replies to those “What have you been up to lately emails” and to get the baby picture hounds off my back.
April 13th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
First, my blog is in process and about to be launched. So if you visit it today you won’t get the full flavor, but give it another week or so and I would love visitors.
Why I blog? This adventure began in November 2006 when I decided I it was time for me to get my name out there and jumpstart my business. I am a professional speaker, facilitator and coach. I want to keynote and speak to more audiences and I want to coach more individuals. I want a global presence for my business and I knew I could use the internet to help me get beyond the boundaries of my community.
Blogging is an outlet for writing that I absolutely need. I love to write and the opportunity to get paid to do something I love about a topic I have tremendous passion for made blogging a natural fit. My problem with blogging is that there is no easy way to learn about the business of blogging. I have jumped in with both feet and I am learning as I go. Luckily the community at b5 is great and someone is always willing to answer questions!:oops:
April 14th, 2007 at 11:35 am
I blog to first of all get my thoughts down in an easily searchable paper form, so when I want to refer back to them, I can look through my past posts and see what I said about a topic.
I also blog to share knowledge I’ve gained in my life. Hopefully folks can learn a little something from me, and oftentimes I learn a little something from their comments.
Would easy monetization make me switch to a different platform? It would definitely make me think about it. While I definitely don’t blog for the money, if I could pay for my hosting costs, and maybe a pound or two of coffee a month, heck ya, I’d be interested. KEY POINT: It must be done in a tasteful way. Many of the monetized blogs make your site look cheesy, like ads are first and content is second. I would NOT move to a service that made it look like I was just after money.
May 4th, 2007 at 11:44 am
My thoughts are best summed up by this recent Onion article:
http://www.theonion.com/content/opinion/if_someone_wanted_to_publish_my
I too doubt that money is NOT the main motivator. I would sum it up as “attention”, but that’s really broad.
For me, it’s: Partly to express ideas that are in me. (It’s really a sort of tangible discomfort to have them rattling around in your head without expression or contact with the outside world) And Partly to join the conversation with other smart bloggers and writers out there…partly to stake a claim of expertise/authority in areas where I care.
Rough thoughts…good question!
May 9th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
I thought about why I blog recently after being tagged with a meme and came up with:
I love writing, want to be heard, interaction, promoting my site and revenue. There are probably some other reasons out there that I haven’t discovered yet.