No job, please...

I recently was reading this article and just had a lot of thoughts on it... I cannot express them all, but would like to comment the most important (as I see them) moments.

Arrington, a 36-year-old entrepreneur behind a long list of unrecognizable startups, has suddenly become one of the rising stars of Silicon Valley. Why? The answer lies in TechCrunch, Arrington's blog about new technologies and companies. In the year since he launched the site, he has amassed such a strong following that he's become a go-to person for VCs and tech execs looking to leak corporate tidbits or announce news. More than 1.5 million readers regularly check out his site. But here's what gives Arrington real distinction: He's pulling in $60,000 in ad revenue every month. That's 10 times what the site was making earlier this year, which was when Arrington, convinced of the potentially monstrous riches ahead, quit his day job as president of a startup to blog full-time.

I see two hints for me: 1) Silicon Valley is all about startups and companies, technologies and business. A lot of people also interested about it all around the world. 2) Blogging is an add of personal touch and opinion to something. Blogging about something, is to share with people part of your life; while reading blogs is the same as being a part of someones life for a while. So mix those things together, and that will be bloody success Mary.

What has changed? For starters, blogs today benefit from what might be termed uneconomies of scale: They are so cheap to create and operate that a lone blogger or a small team can, with the ever-expanding reach of the Internet, amass vast audiences and generate levels of profit on a per-employee basis that traditional media companies can only fantasize about.

They are free (blogs) - the only expense is your time. And if you really want to share something with somebody. People do not usually read one-two sentences posts. ;-)

But before you quit your day job, consider that this isn't easy money, nor is it guaranteed to last. For one thing, the market is small right now: Web ad agency Organic puts ad spending on blogs at $40 million this year. Bloggers are typically selling only about a third of their available ad space at top rates. (The rest goes at heavily discounted prices.) And as with any business dependent on the mercurial ad market, prone as it is to sudden skids, the threat of crashing and burning always looms.

True! You can put you inside out and you can get nothing (0, zero, none) from your blog. Even if it will be full with your adsense, or whatever you also want. It's a mystery, but it's also a very desirable knowledge - to build profitable site or blog. I know how people are making their living with blogs/sites and AdSense on it; but I just is not enough experience for that -- even if it sounds easy from the first sight. I'll get there, but from the very beginning you SHOULDN'T overestimate your possibilities.

Despite all the ferment a critical question remains unanswered: Do blog ads work? Sure, readers can click on ads and view an advertiser's website, potentially even making a purchase, but that rarely happens. Intel's Campbell says the industry standard is a click-through rate of less than 1 percent.

Really -- don't listen people who gives your numbers like 5-10% of CTR (click-through rate). Crap. 1% is a standard.

Overall -- very nice article. Read it twice. And understand that there is no silver bullet. Blogs are not something you create and start cashing out. It's a hard job, which obviously not for everybody (I mean - making it profitable).

Labels: blog marketing, blogosphere, make money with blog

Home based business - my experience of getting online marketing "degree".
Winning lottery - know the history and winning lottery numbers.
Best deals - best credit card deals and offers, free gifts, best deal auto and more.