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Bloggers and Money Session at BloggerCon

Posted By Darren Rowse 27th of June 2006 Pro Blogging News 0 Comments

I am currently listening to a podcast of the Bloggers and Money session at BloggerCon. You can read a little about the session at ZDNet.

A few notes from the podcast:

Chris Pirillo made some good points about blogs being a branding tool to brand yourself – which is certainly one way to make money from blogs. Chis did write off CPA (affiliate programs) to some extent. I’m not sure I’d write it off quite as much as he would – it is an art but it’s certainly doable.

Tony Schneider from WordPress spoke about how blogs should be more about writing than making money. The most successful blogs are those that bring in big traffic according to Tony. Recommends not using AdSense but targeting your ads to your audience via sponsorship….

Terry Heaton says that good bloggers that make money don’t necessarily plan it – rather they are open to what happens as a result of what happens when they blog. People get too stuck in top down models. It’s too big to ‘figure out’ – we need to experiment, try things and see what happens.

Someone (I lost track of who was who) said – entry level is so low in blogging you can just try things to see if they work.

Elisa Camahort – having a plan to start with isn’t a bad thing – as easy as they are to start. There’s nothing evil about that.

Rex Hammock – if you want to make blogging a business you need to establish trust and authority – the same that mainstream publishers need to establish.

Susan Mernit – spoke about bloggers recommending products on blogs (example of Manolo the shoeblogger) and how more and more bloggers will go into this. Spoke about the need for transparency. Tony Schneider spoke about affiliate programs and how there is a big silence around making money from blogs – the blogging community is good at helping each other blog better but there is a silence around making money because everyone wants to keep that private (someone needs to send him a link to ProBlogger!).

Jake Ludington reemphasized that blogging builds relationship and trust.

The session seemed to degenerate into going into circles for a while here with lots of voices I didn’t recognize…. ahh the joys of un-conferences.

Someone (Dan?) asked why there isn’t a culture in blogging for people to donate to support blogs. Liz Henry answered by saying that so she reads so many blogs. Lance Knobel said that donations work better when they are asking for funding for specific projects.

Jake Ludington says that donations build a different kind of relationship with your readers as they feel they have a right to your content etc. It changes the nature of the interaction.

Tony Schneider – bloggers miss lots of opportunities at the local level. Lisa Williams says you won’t make money from AdSense via local blogs – she needs a way to put up local ads (note: AdSense does do geographical targeting – I’m not sure how local it goes but I do know of some people who do well from local advertising).

Jay Rosen – also talked about local advertisers who are not big enough to buy ads. He said no one is providing them a way to advertise. …

Buzz Buggerman says that those that are successful in the blogging world is that they have the ability to draw people to them.

There’s a bit more at the end that I’ve not had a chance to listen to yet. It was an interesting conversation – I would have enjoyed being there, not so much for the conversation but mainly because the mix of people in the room would have made for some excellent networking. Nice to hear some voices of people I read each day.

About Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is the founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips and Digital Photography School. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Comments
  1. Excellect Podcast. May have to listen that again while on my treadmill.

    It opens up a different perspective of blogging. Learnt a couple new things there, like charity blog network. Thanks for sharing, Darren.

  2. Excellent, excellent podcast. I think Chris Pirillo nailed it. Branding is the way to go. A lot of bloggers seemed to focus on building trust. What surprised me is how many seemed to be opposed to having a business model.

    Doc Searle mentioned that he would explain the blogging phenomenon to broadcasters and their reply would be “what is the business model?” something that really pissed him off.

    Doesn’t “business model” mean, how can this make money? The whole discussion is about “how to make money with blogs” yet so many are upset about having a business model.

  3. Excellent Podcast and thans a lot for writing about. How can you get so much time to do so many things Darren? I guess you have 4 hands and 4 eyes and 4 ears.

  4. Thanks for the PodCast Link. I’ve been looking for more good podcasts. I’ll certainly check it out.

    – Bryan
    http://www.BryanCFleming.com

  5. Interesting Finds: June 27, 2006 PM edition…

  6. i am interested in making money online. I am tired of busting my ass all day for pennies, I am looking for the real money. How do I go about the serious cash flow without working so hard for it. I am very ambitious but I dont know where to start. Can u help me? Thanks deeply chris

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