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Bitchmeme: Do blogs deserve ads?
Louis Gray — the social media blogger who seems to be everywhere lately — has gotten the weekend blogosphere “bitchmeme” started early, it seems, with his post on how the majority of bloggers “don’t deserve any ad revenue.” According to Louis, most bloggers simply echo the posts that appear on TechCrunch and Mashable and other top tech blogs, and therefore they aren’t really adding any value, and as a result they don’t really deserve to have any advertising. He also says:
“Urged on by the success of mega blog networks like TechCrunch and spurred forward by stories from ProBlogger, or corner cases like Dooce.com, Daily Kos and others, an inordinate amount of people are hoisting ads on their blogs… in the hope of turning their daily rantings into big dollars that could possibly change their life.”
It seems to me that Louis is saying several different things here. On the one hand, he is saying that most blogs don’t get enough traffic to justify any substantial amount of advertising, and therefore they are never going to get rich, or make enough money to “change their life.” That seems fairly obvious. And while it’s probably worthwhile to let people know that the “get rich by blogging!” pitch is false, most of the people who think that will soon be in Vegas or signed up for some multi-level marketing scheme anyway, so the problem is somewhat self-regulating.
Louis also seems to be saying that for a blogger who wants to make money, copying the same content that dozens of blogs have isn’t really adding much value, unless you have an incredibly devoted and unique following. This is also wise advice (although arguably also fairly obvious). But does it follow that most bloggers “don’t deserve any ad revenue?” I don’t think so. There are lots of bloggers out there with original voices, who appeal to specific markets, and I think they deserve all the ads they can get.
Why shouldn’t they be able to defray the costs of their hosting, or their bandwidth, or their computers? That’s what micro-publishing is for. Louis says that “some bloggers act as if it’s their God-given right to write, post a few ads and start raking in cash.” I haven’t come across any of those, but he is quite right that they are mistaken. I just don’t think they’re as common as he thinks they are. And if the others can make a few dollars and advertisers are willing, then who are we to say they shouldn’t?
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go and read the post again -- maybe a little slower this time.
Kthnxbai.
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For instance, I didn't discuss the increased use of ad blockers, or ad ignorance, which I think will impact Web advertising soon, if not already.
As an advertiser, I would want to reach an audience, period. If that audience is already at Blog A, and Blog B or C has 99% overlap with Blog A on audience or content, then I should leave B and C alone if Blog A delivers the message first or in a more reputable way.
Also... forgetting the duplicate content issue, advertisers commonly select a small subset of vehicles for their advertising, knowing targeting is much better than run of site or multiple sites.
Also... according to your rules, this is a bitchmeme? (Not my intent) Would it still count if I had posted it on Wednesday?
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described in a post -- and I'm effectively agreeing with you that
advertisers want to target their ads, and that many bloggers aren't
going to make the cut. But I don't see why we should discourage them
from even trying -- how are we going to find new voices? And if they
can attract enough advertising to defray some costs, then I think it's
all good.
As for the "bitchmeme" thing, that was just my idea of a joke :-)
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Louis Gray = tech flavour of the month = popularity = people want to know him = gets into the tech "it" crowd = they invite him to conferences, lunches, blog funny anecdotes about their fun meet ups etc. = job offers, board of director offers = more conference speaking gigs = increase in personal brand value...and eventually = increase in money.
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By the way, I *think* michael walens' comment is pretty hilarious... right?
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Where there is significant community engagement and a real sense of discussion that happens around news, then there deserves to be some monetization there as well. As of yet, we haven't found a way to really value that outside of the generic umbrella of 'sponsorship', but i'm hoping there's something there.
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add any value.
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