Heads up to Mick Fealty at Slugger O’Toole, earlier today Mick posted about an Article at the Economist which raised the question can blogs really make money. The article looks into how more sophisticated marketing systems have developed recently that offer decent returns for the blogger. From Micks point of view over at Slugger, the balancing act between growing bandwidth costs and minimal income mean the the question of the blogs independence and its need for growing ad revenue are real.
“There is, of course, the question of whether Slugger can continue to follow its forthrightly independent line… and take ad revenue from outsiders.”
Whilst independence is an import question for bloggers seeking advertising in many case their independence is exactly what drives the traffic in the first place. From Slugger’s perspective I would try to generate revenue on its very loyal following and also generate some on the back of its team of able bloggers. Many subscribers to Slugger can identify with the views of the blogging team so why not have Pete Bakers or Chris Donnelly’s reading list available? What about using affiliate marketing more heavily?
At Argento we looked into Blog Marketing to drive traffic to our eCommerce site. To my amazement some bloggers in the states simply review fashion trends and and brands in Jewellery and make decent money on the back of 15%+ commission. What I’m trying to say is that online businesses need and want more traffic - Blogs can deliver that. For the blog owner you need to know your audience and target them with better advertising. That means levering everything and anything which brings people to your site in the first place.
Technorati Tags: Slugger O'Toole, Blogging, Economist, Belfast, Marketing
“There is, of course, the question of whether Slugger can continue to follow its forthrightly independent line… and take ad revenue from outsiders.”
I’d say yes, it could. If you look at most blogs generating revenue, their ads are pretty specific; film blogs garner interest from new film/DVD releases, gaming blogs avertise games. But I’ve never seen this influence the blog in question. Aint It Cool News for example, at heart a blog, has in recent years grown so much in popularity that many film distributers are lining up to get advertising space. But I’ve never seen any product placement or sudden opinion change in any of their reviews or news posts; in fact on the contrary. For example they’ve advertised the new Tenacious D film in the last few weeks, but at the same time criticised it heavily. They know their target audience, they get a shitload of traffic from people who trust their opinion, and I think advertisers know that if they tried to change their format, they’d get blown out of the water.
Phew, all this commenting had made me thirsty.
Colin: Here Conor, try this.
What is it?
Colin: Here at the Warthog, we drink Pepsi. The choice for a blogging generation.
Mmmmm, that’s tasty, and refreshing also.