With all the dozens of blog networks out there, sometimes I get a sick of seeing the newest gadgets weblog. But when I see a blog like Manolo's Shoe Blog, I get excited again. Yes, it has a unique hook and good content--but what really excites me is the profit potential.
My first thought was *duh*, why didn't I think of that? Quick survey of the girls I know: they all seem to be obsessed with shoes to one degree or another. They all spend a lot of money on their shoes. And they all have credit cards.
The genius part about a product-oriented blog is that your ads, or affiliate reviews, are your strongest content. The ads are the main reason readers come to your blog, so it's no surprise that they convert better. Product-oriented blogs are just easier to make money with because of what they are.
Darren from Problogger obviously knows this angle--he's perfected it with his digital camera reviews blog.
But Manolo's Shoe Blog is just a dynamite business model. A couple of thoughts about Manolo's monetization:
1) Diversity of revenue streams. On the shoes blog, I'm counting Chitika eMiniMalls, affiliate buttons (see the right sidebar), BlogAds (see the far right sidebar) and Adsense (see the Adlinks below Chitika). Four useful types of ads on the page. That makes me wet my pants! And all of these are well-placed. *update: just found a fifth type of ad, a link to a pretty book about shoes on Amazon.com (right sidebar). Five types of ads, is that a new record?
2) Credibility cannot be faked. If you're picking last season's purses to promote (or this season's ugly ones), you will not win over loyal readers. If you lost your credibility, readers would not be as likely to click on the Chitika eMiniMall product choices or the affiliate links in your posts (since they would be targetting ugly items). But Manolo obviously knows shoes.
3) This is the perfect type of blog for Chitika eMiniMalls. The content is about products. The Chitika ads are useful, interactive windows to these same products. Targeting is high, reader interest is high, the pictures are pretty and clickable.
4) This is the perfect type of blog for inserting affiliate links into posts. If the readers are interested in the item you're featuring, they'll want a direct link to find out more about it, including price, sizes, availability, etc. In this post Manolo links to a particular product on Zappos.com (anchor text: "67% off of the usual price". Manolo, I salute you).
Manolo is not the only one in this game: check out The Purse Blog (I'm sure there are others, too).
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