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What ProBloggers Can Learn from TechCrunch 20

Techcrunch20CI’m always fascinated to see bloggers launching new business ventures off the profile and popularity of their blogs. Today Jason Calacanis and Mike Arrington announced a new conference – the TechCrunch 20 – something that I suspect will be very popular.

The conference will give opportunity to 20 start ups to demonstrate their products/services to attendees. The demonstrators don’t pay anything for the demonstration – but attendees do and the conference will be sponsored by a small number of high level sponsors.

Obviously between them Jason and Mike have real profile (and readership) to leverage and this isn’t something that the average blogger would be able to do – however it illustrates two important principle of making money from blogs

1. Indirect Methods of Leveraging Blog Profile – It illustrates that sometimes the best ways to do it are not through direct methods like advertising or affiliate programs. Instead – what’s they’re doing with TechCrunch 20 is an indirect money maker that leverages the profile and traffic that MIke and Jason have built up over the years. It’s these indirect ventures where the real potential lays for many bloggers.

2. The Power of Collaboration – TechCrunch 20 also illustrates the power of networking and collaboration. If Jason or Mike had gone for this alone they would probably have done reasonably well – but working together they are likely to achieve a lot more. Just the fact that they are launching this together creates a buzz – their different skill sets and networks will only make it a stronger venture.

Bring these two principles together around your own niche (once you have some profile in it) and the possibilities for new ventures could be endless.

I’d love to hear your examples of these principles. I can think of a few from my own experience:

  • Six Figure Blogging – Andy and I came together to launch a product on a topic related to our experience
  • Elite Retreat – 6 bloggers meeting together to present their knowledge to a small group of others wanting to network and learn
  • b5media – a small number of bloggers coming together to explore how they can collaborate, share their expertise and leverage their profile – the result, a new blog network.

Each time I’ve done this type of thing I’ve learned and relearned the power of collaboration and looking for indirect ways of leveraging a blog.

What have you (or others) done that illustrate these principles.

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. Darren,

    John Wesley of Pickthebrain.com and Travis Wright of Cultivate Greatness put together the Postive Blog Network. It’s grown quite a bit in recent weeks. We collaborate on ideas, plans, and writing. I am very greatful that they asked me to join the network. It’s been a great experience to work and learn for others in the genere.

    These networks are the up and coming thing in blogging. Don’t you agree?

    Thanks for the post.

  2. Sounds great actually, I am pretty surprised that I missed the piece of news today. Anyways I agree that networking is the key to success in almost every industry and there can be nothing better than having two or more people with different skill sets coming together in a joint-venture(idea).

    Anyways I am sure there will be a lot of people craving to participate.

    Cheers!!

  3. I participate over at b5media as well as being a ClubMom blogger. I think ClubMom is more collaborative than most networks because we work together to promote each other through carnivals, contests, and just commenting on each others posts.

    I also participate in eMoms BlogJolt! The group hosts weekly “Jolts” in which the group members feature a chosen member blog to flood with traffic and inbound links.

    With both ClubMom and eMoms BlogJolt! , we use Yahoo Groups to communicate and coordinate efforts.

  4. I think I’d be happy if I could get two of my brain cells to collaberate and come up with something that just might be useful to me! :-)

  5. I spent so much time in bookstores over the past few years that I decided to create my own amazon a-shop and use a blog to review books I have been reading. I also added related events and links to the authors. The site is getting more traffic in my first few weeks than my other established sites have done in two years.

    Where feasible I have helped friends establish amazon shops and split commissions with them. A little work for me but a revenue stream I would not have had otherwise.

    On collaboration my results have been mixed, but it greatly reduced the amount of writing I had to do. Finding an equally motivated partner is key to collaboration. Tensions can arise if one drops his/her responsibilities. I also opened a blog to guest writers and added content from other sources which led to other relationships.

  6. The indirect methods is certainly very interesting, and this is great that they are sharing this with us.

  7. Gotta admit !! I love your revelations Darren.Always finding Blogging lessons in the news….great stuff !!!

  8. […] I was trying to make research to give you specific examples on how the big winners in blogging money making game really work. But thanks to Darren, he made it for me in his post entitled What ProBloggers Can Learn from TechCrunch 20. […]

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