Reading links for Tuesday.

1. Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett have both just announced their book, ProBlogger - Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income. Darren says it's the worst kept secret, but I've been trying to collaborate with Chris as well and I didn't even know what he was up to. The book is published by Wiley - so it's in print - and is available for pre-ordering through Amazon and Barnes & Noble. (By the way, Chris, if you didn't know, is one of the original founders of Performancing.) Sounds very exciting, though I'm guessing they didn't get $300,000 for their book.
2. Darren and Chris aren't the only ones with a book deal. Hugh MacLeod, creator of the highly entertaining net comic strip Gaping Void has landed a deal for his How to be Creative series.
3. Loren Baker, editor and owner of Search Engine Journal, has just announced a guest blogging competition. There are over US$9,000 in prizes from a number of vendors. If you have an understanding of search marketing and related topics, go check out the rules asap, as the contest only runs for one week, starting today. [via DailyBlogTips]
4. Earlier I summarized the new features in WordPress 2.5. Not everyone wants to upgrade, and I don't blame them. However, due to deliberate efforts to hack blogs, Technorati has announced that they won't index hacked or vulnerable blogs. That means that if you don't upgrade to some safe platform and version, you might lose any benefits of being indexed by Technorati. Even if you feel uncomfortable upgrading to WP 2.5 (I hate the new admin panel), at the very least, start changing your blog admin password regularly - even weekly. And check for any unusual outbound links on your site. Just because someone has hacked you doesn't mean they've changed your password.
5. I wrote about what's wrong with the blogosphere, and the health issues and deaths of some bloggers. My colleague David Peralty has a different take on the issue, which I only partly agree with. It is NOT as easy to make a living blogging as he seems to suggest, but that doesn't mean some people aren't doing it. Though I'm actually suprised that David said, "you don't need to do a million posts a day to bring in a reasonable income," because I know how hard he works. My point is that most bloggers are not making a living and for that reason might be spending more time in front of computer, gaining weight and burning the midnight oil.
6. One other problem with earning below your potential income is setting your rates too low. Neal Shaffer writes at Copyblogger about how to price freelance writing. (Though be warned that not every blogging client will negotiate. They don't have to - not yet anyway.)

The focus has turned squarely on content. It’s not new. Savvy website owners have all along paid emphasis on quality content and lots of that. That makes perfect sense because of phenomenal success of several content-heavy blogs online.

The more the blogs feel the heat of the need of new contents, the more there is demand for talent for blogging jobs. The demand is still in early stage of formation, but there are enough indications that it will markedly rise in near future.

But why are blogging jobs likely to increase? To understand that it is necessary to appreciate just how valuable is content for a website. I’ll take the example of The New York Times to drive home my view.

Contents freed at the New York Times

The recent decision by The New York Times to throw open its online content free is a case in point. Arguably the NYT decision comes based on its findings that making the content free may fetch more dollars through advertising compared to low growth potential of paid online subscribers.

The NYT’s reversal of decision comes just 2 years after it considered charging for access to some of the contents on its website. 3 things become clear:

1
Web visitors who are not subscribers to the New York Times’ online edition are leaving the site after finding their entry barred to some contents. Many of these are highly targeted readers who come to the site after having searched through the engines.

2
Loosing the readers not only means loosing them to competition, but also loosing precious advertising revenue, because the more the readers stay the more the chance is for them to follow a page ad.

3
Many readers look for analysis on fresh news. The NYT has this in abundance courtesy its experienced staff and worldwide reach, but so do many other online publications. Thus though the NYT has formidable archived content going back to 1851, it still looses readers to competition.

What follows?

2 points that filter out of the New York Times’ decision are:

1
If a site has to retain high visibility, it must have fresh contents every single day. They need to be relevant and targeted so as not to disappoint readers.

2
No site can afford to let visitors slip past and take refuge in competition’s site because of some flaws in the site. In other words, there must not be any ‘obstacle’ on the path of readers accessing any page in the site or wishing to do what they want to within fair practices, such as being able to easily email the site owner and be replied upon promptly.

Blogging jobs come to fore

Seen in this perspective, it becomes apparent that the websites and blogs that earn or plan to earn from ads on their pages – the info-publishing business – have to necessarily depend on a constant flow of contents relevant to their sites.

The trouble is except for giant newspapers, publishing houses and the likes most online content sites lack sufficient in-house wherewithal to churn out endless quantity of contents for days without end. This doesn't appear to be feasible, if not entirely impossible.

To grow therefore, a stage will soon come when it will become necessary to outsource blogging jobs. The challenge may then be to attract and retain writers who can adapt to your style of writing, and at the same time have an analytical mind and expertise to do a good job for you.

I have been blogging full time almost for a year now. In the early days I made nothing from blogging and these days 60% of my income comes from blogging. I say this as the monetization of my blogging efforts enabled me to experience a bit of a writing break through. Putting money to my blogging efforts made my efforts feel valuable.

I always thought they were valuable, but with out money to show for my efforts, it didn't measure up in the real world.

I have read over and over again that people should blog about their passions or they will suffer from Blog fading. I do believe this is true almost. I often provide executive coaching consultations (paid and unpaid). I can talk about it with a passion, but the same thoughts don't flow through my fingers. As such, I had a blog fade on the subject despite my passion.

Similarly, I have a blog about the Distribution Business. I am not passionate about it, but I write about it weekly. Its a money earner. There is readily available news to write about it and I have expertise in the area. The money makes it possible to cover that one.

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