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Archives for April 2008

PageRank Update, April 2008 – Performancing is still penalized, how about you?

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Not that I really care very much about the green pixels, but there’s a Toolbar PageRank update going on right now. You might care. You might make money off the green bar. So go ahead and check!

There’s one thing I know: Performancing was penalized from a PR 7 down to a PR 4. Despite numerous requests for clarification, and numerous “I’m your slave” reinclusion requests, Google has neither responded in word or deed.

So what’s the lesson?

Google is failing to reward the sites, even relatively big sites, that genuinely try to play by the rules. By neglecting our attempts to conform, I think that Google is unintentionally sending a message like this:

We don’t really care. Go back to your old ways of taking sponsored posts, and doing text-link-ads. You’ll make more money that way, and since you’re already penalized, why not make money in the process.

Really, we want to do things by the book. We want to be on Google’s good side. But psychologically, it’s hard to justify a large cut in revenue when Google fails to reward you properly for doing things properly.

Reflections On Blogging As a Career Or As a Vehicle

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If you’re not a full-time blogger yet, and you’re wondering whether you can earn a reasonable full-time wage over the course of a year, the short answer is yes. But will you earn it, and are you capable of putting in the time, effort and commitment necessary to earn a “career” salary? Do you have the patience to see the process through what could be 1, 2 or even 3 years? And do you have a financial fallback for that duration? (If you’re already full-time blogger and earning a reasonable living, you’re one of the favored few.)

Does Blogging Compare With Traditional Freelance Writing?

Whether you can transition to full-time career blogger is something you’ll have to answer for yourself. The average freelance writer (for print) in North America historically made passable income. Only a few ever made a great, consistent income without long, long hours. And print writers are paid a lot more per feature articles than any given pro blogger. At least according to all the research I’ve done on the writing industry since 1981.

On the flipside, blogging on your own sites could earn you income – something for which there is no analog in writing for print (other than going through the headache of publishing your own magazine, or using vanity presses to publish your books). But as with any print publication, you have to do the necessary promotion and take on many roles – researcher, writer, facts-checker, editor, publisher, ad sales person.

What I’ve Learned About Blogging As a Career

After three years at full-time blogging, I’ve come to a very difficult conclusion: I can’t do it – neither financially, nor productively, nor emotionally. I can only produce 6-9 articles (text only) per week that I’m actually proud of, and I spend far too much time on those to find the stamina necessary for my own sites, or for more paid writing. For the print medium, those same articles would not be suitable, but the same amount of output would probably earn a reasonable income. (Except that the some big players in the print industry are starting their last gasps already.)

Online, unfortunately, those 6-9 articles cannot earn me even a fraction of what I used to earn as a web consultant/ programmer/ jr project manager/ tech writer/ trainer. (Not that I ever expected them to.) I’ve gone from making $75-240K/yr (prorated, depending on the contract and the country), from 1998-2001, to nowhere even close, no matter how many hours of blogging I put in each week. And after six years of just getting by, I’ve had enough. If I’m not going to earn bags of money, I might as well (not) earn it doing what I’ve wanted to do for a long time.

My Past and Present Blogging Opportunities

In the past three years, I’ve had a go at a number of blogging-related opportunities, all of which were either good, bad or ugly. In no particular order, they are:

  1. Re-blogging other news in a few niches for low rates but high enough volume to earn about 50% or more of my part-time revenue at the time.
  2. Being an editor/ contributor for one site, which was a great gig until the budget was cut in half.
  3. Editing a half-dozen bloggers in a niche network. This paid a small base monthly fee and theoretically 50% revshare. However, the network was fledgling so 50% was essentially $0, and I couldn’t invest much more time.
  4. Linkbaiting under a pseudonym, promoted by the “clients”. Linkbaiting can pay well, especially if you’re an SEO. But if you’re only doing the writing and you’re not fast, it’s really not worth it. My method involves obsessive research and editing, so I was effectively earning $3-6/hour – not a good way to make a living. You also have to have extremely thick skin for the nasty comments you’ll inevitably get, from people who don’t know or care that you might have put in a week or three in the writing. Call me old-fashioned, but it becomes writing as competitive sport and it wears me out.
  5. Linkbaiting under my name, which never seems to do as well. Of course, I’m an odd mix of both extrovert and introvert, and I’m not big on asking people to submit the few articles I write for myself (despite how much I vote when requested). I prefer to stick to “resource” articles or comprehensive content and hope that the search engine spiders will index it all, due to the “expert” content.
  6. Screencasting/ tutorials, which I enjoy the most but for which there still isn’t a lot of demand yet, simply because I have to charge a premium over just text, and few sites can afford it on a regular basis. The material often tends to focus on fairly technical subjects, and thus has a smaller audience. (I don’t screencast on my own sites because of the time involved.)
  7. Being a lead blogger, which has been a great experience, and which keeps me on my toes to come up with fresh ideas every day. (I don’t always accomplish it, but not for lack of trying.) It’s also comforting to have one paid gig to rely on.
  8. Being a weekly freelance contributor. I love this because of the variety, but despite it being weekly, I still have to keep on top of the niches in question. It actually seems harder to write this way sometimes. When you blog every day, you already know that not every post is going to be a “hit”. But when you blog on a site only once a week, that post has to be good.
  9. Being an unpaid guest blogger, which I rarely have time for, despite wanting to contribute more.
  10. Writing for my own blogs, which earn less than US$500/mth collectively in advertising.
  11. Hiring for my own blogs, which didn’t pay out much to bloggers but still depleted my budget and earned little back.

Niches To Consider

My research shows that both polit-blogging and celeb-blogging on your own sites could earn you a full-time salary or beyond, if you do what is necessary. But it might take you a year or more to establish your site. Both niches require a constant stream of blogging news tidbits all day long, which must be posted in a timely fashion. You can’t be late to the game with a particular bit of news.

You also have to start early in the morning (EST), scan that slice of the blogosphere, news sources, TV shows, etc., and post in semi-regular intervals (every 15, 20, or 30 minutes) until about 6 or 7 pm EST. If  you cannot achieve 15-30 posts per weekday (and 5-10 on Saturdays), you might not hit the magic point where your site will gain momentum. On top of that, you have to promote ALL the posts, no matter how crappy. At least you do for celebrity gossip.

But I have no interest in polit-blogging, and gossip blogging leaves me feeling dirty – there’s just so much ugliness in the gossip. (That doesn’t rule out indepth articles about celebrities, sans gossip, but unfortunately it’s the volume of short gossip bits that initially build your site’s presence.) Still, if you can put up with all that, the schedule, and the need for promoting and networking, I know of no other niches that could eventually earn you as much as for politics or celebrity gossip. Tech might, but it’s extremely saturated and dominated by a few sites. (I’m a long-time tech head, and even I couldn’t crack the barrier after two years with my own tech sites. I simply put them aside, and one makes a tiny bit in advertising revenue each month, with no new content.)

Should You Give Up Your Day Job?

Obviously, you’ll have to make your own decision, but if you are currently only a part-time blogger with a regular day job, here’s my advice to you:

  1. Keep your day job for now and save as much as you can.
  2. If you don’t have time to blog, spend time building a power social media account.
  3. When you have time, build up your blogging and social networking/ promoting skills for your own site(s).
  4. When you feel ready, find a few blogging gigs that you can manage while still holding down a day job.
  5. If you’re a good writer, don’t just look for blogging gigs. Look for non-blog/ non-website freelance writing gigs, which tend to pay much more than blogging gigs, at present. If you’re very convincing with your writing, consider copywriting, which if you’re good at is like striking gold.
  6. If after some time you feel that you can find enough freelance gigs or can earn enough from your sites to make a jump to full-time blogging, and you’ve saved money for the transition, you might consider the jump. If you’re already blogging full-time, you probably don’t need this advice.

So If I’m Not Blogging As Much, What Am I Doing?

Now, if I’m offering all this specific advice, why am I not following it myself? Well I have, but… firstly, I’ve proven over three years that I simply cannot consistently earn enough each month in freelance blogging (nor on my own sites) to make it worthwhile in full-time mode. Secondly, there’s something else I love more than writing and that’s visual mediums. I am not a designer, only an inconsistent artist, and a reasonable “amateur professional” photographer. But I’ve had a long love of film.

Filmmaking is an unrequited love I simply have to pursue and can’t put off any longer. Most people have broken into the business by now. If I have no solid full-time career anymore anyway, why not pursue what I love? I already went the “traditional” route that is part of my upbringing by getting a university education, and having a professional career as a programmer/ webmaster/ tech writer. But that career evaporated after 9/11 – as if it never happened, and I did not get out of that period emotionally unscathed. This affected my career and how people interacted with me. It’s not something I’m eager to get back into.

I don’t intend to give up blogging completely, but I do realize that if I want to go through with my career transition to filmmaking, I have to start on that immediately. No putting it off for 20 more years, like I seem to have done, hoping to build enough savings to produce films and instead straying off that path. I simply have to start. That means that my blogging career will be affected. However, there there is a transitional work schedule that I’m aiming for:

  1. One regular (daily) blogging gig and a few weekly blogging gigs. These ensure that my bills get paid each month, but leave little in the way of savings.
  2. The occasional screencasting and web coding tutorials to supplement income.
  3. Designing a few WordPress themes aimed directly at researchers/ freelancers/ SEOs, not so much bloggers.
  4. Podcasting and video podcasting simply for fun, and to develop digital media production skills without stress.
  5. Time to see all new theatrical-release movies each week, and to review them both in print and in podcasts.
  6. Production of a weekly web video show or three, with either a committed content buyer and/or sponsors. This effort will not only build my skills towards filmmaking, but will also help fund the transition. I’m already delving into this, and if the first two test episodes of one new show are a success, I’ll have a commitment for four episodes per month.
  7. Production of a variety of web videos which could collectively earn a six-figure yearly income through video sites such as Howcast, Expert Village or even Metacafe and Revver.
  8. Pre-producing, shooting, and producing films. I’m working on pre-production of two movies, but there’s only so much you can do with an effective budget of zero.
  9. Blogging about the media projects I’m working on, simply to promote them and not to earn from blogging. This is where I ultimately want to take my blogging.

I already have some of these elements in my current schedule, and as of May 1st, I’m doing what I have to to have a more suitable schedule that mixes different types of work – blogging, podcasting, screencasting/ tutorials, web video. This is a much easier mix to deal with, and is far more enjoyable to me. The tricky part is leveraging the income from #1-2 to pay for #4-5 and produce #6-7, which in turn will pay for #8 and allow me to do #9.

Summary

Here’s the takeaway from this long post. Even if you don’t think you can make a go of becoming a full-time blogger, that doesn’t mean you have to give up blogging entirely. Part-time blogging can supplement a day job. Who says you have to give that up? Or, if there’s something else you’d love to do, part-time blogging can help you through the transition financially while you pursue your dreams. Blogging can also be used as a vehicle to promote your other passion. Of course, if your dream is to blog full-time, then this advice probably doesn’t apply.

What’s New, Pussycat? Twittering or Navel-Gazing?

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Patrick Altoft of BlogStorm, who always writes great articles, suggests joining Twitter now or regretting it. Though I can’t understand why. Am I dense? James Mowery suggested here the other day that Twitter is the blogger’s new sidekick. But despite being an opinionated blogger who needs to write about the stuff I believe (in), I still feel no compulsion to use Twitter regularly. I am either too private to Twitter, or too dense to see any value that won’t be regarded as “gaming” or even “spamming”. Or both.

And despite not having used my Twitter account for nearly a year, I’m getting emails everyday about all the new people following me. So help me out here. Are you following me? What the heck are you following me for (or anyone, for that matter)? Seriously. I’m sure you don’t want to read tweets of the “must shave back of hand again and tweeze unibrow by Friday” variety. Would you want to to see links to articles I’ve written wherever? Or are you after my deepest, darkest thoughts? Or are you hoping I’ll follow you too and see whatever it is you have to Twitter? What exactly are you twittering? Why should I follow you, too?

These are actually serious questions. I already have to divide my day up into reading, writing, coding, film/video work, obsessing over site metrics, pretending my cat is my psychiatrist, using sock puppet accounts to promote crappy articles that my online friends request, and other very/ self-important tasks. So what am I going to get out of following you on Twitter? Many of the top bloggers I already follow tweet some of the most inane belly lint I’ve ever seen, and it’s actually the reason I stopped bothering with Twitter.

I figure that Twitter users fall into several catgories, though not necessarily mutually exclusive:

  1. [added] Utility twittering, such as the LAFD have done, which shows fire events in the LA area.
  2. Lonely girls (and boys)who find a few lonely minutes while working at home and want to “communicate” with others.
  3. Social media marketers who basically only tweet their article links.
  4. Really clever types that add something amusing (comedy, poetry) to the Twitosphere.
  5. Navel-gazers.
  6. Real celebrities such as Henry Rollins, who give us a brief look at what’s going on in their life and tour dates.
  7. Fake celebrities. By that I don’t mean Paris Hilton, but rather the “Fake Steve Jobs” of the Twitosphere.
  8. Politicians.
  9. Straight out spammers who follow EVERYONE they can.

Take your pick. (Did I miss any?) Which categories are you in? Personally, I’d rather be blogging. Unless Twitter started allowing us to embed videos or audio – in which case I’d start twittering again, embedding all kinds of crazy fun videos, or maybe music video set lists. (Ain’t Tom Jones infectious? And Justin Timberlake thinks he’s bringing sexy back. Boyo, you don’t even come close. Watch the last video below of Tommy boy dancing and you’ll understand why women threw panties at him on stage. Feet don’t fail me now.)

Are Bloggers Journalistic?

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I have a few things for bloggers to toss around inside their brain for a few moments. It is something many of us do not think about, but then again, do we actually need to follow a set of rules? Regardless, the question is—are bloggers journalistic?

But first, what is Journalism? Journalism as defined by Wikipedia:

Journalism is the discipline of gathering, writing and reporting news, and broadly it includes the process of editing and presenting the news articles. Journalism applies to various media, but is not limited to newspapers, magazines, radio, and television.

The Journalist’s Creed as originally written by Walter Williams:

  • I believe in the profession of journalism.
  • I believe that the public journal is a public trust; that all connected with it are, to the full measure of their responsibility, trustees for the public; that acceptance of a lesser service than the public service is betrayal of this trust.
  • I believe that clear thinking and clear statement, accuracy and fairness are fundamental to good journalism.
  • I believe that a journalist should write only what he holds in his heart to be true.
  • I believe that suppression of the news, for any consideration other than the welfare of society, is indefensible.
  • I believe that no one should write as a journalist what he would not say as a gentleman; that bribery by one’s own pocketbook is as much to be avoided as bribery by the pocketbook of another; that individual responsibility may not be escaped by pleading another’s instructions or another’s dividends.
  • I believe that advertising, news and editorial columns should alike serve the best interests of readers; that a single standard of helpful truth and cleanness should prevail for all; that the supreme test of good journalism is the measure of its public service.
  • I believe that the journalism which succeeds best — and best deserves success — fears God and honors Man; is stoutly independent, unmoved by pride of opinion or greed of power, constructive, tolerant but never careless, self-controlled, patient, always respectful of its readers but always unafraid, is quickly indignant at injustice; is unswayed by the appeal of privilege or the clamor of the mob; seeks to give every man a chance and, as far as law and honest wage and recognition of human brotherhood can make it so, an equal chance; is profoundly patriotic while sincerely promoting international good will and cementing world-comradeship; is a journalism of humanity, of and for today’s world.

Here are the questions. Are bloggers journalistic in nature? Do you believe that bloggers should adopt the Journalist’s Creed? Do you consider yourself journalistic? Do you believe that bloggers should create their own creed?

What say you?

We’re Google and We’re In Yur Web, Domains, Electricity and Medical Records

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A while back, Ryan posted a poll at Performancing asking Are You Afraid of Google? If you are afraid, you might want to check out InsideCRM’s Tinfoil Hat Toolbox of 100 tips to protect your sites from the Borg Google. This article is relevant to those of you with multiple sites, or if you’re planning to go that way. But even if you’re a blogger with just one site, you might want to have a look, to learn how much Google already knows about you. There are also some good tips about what not to do if you are expanding your web properties.

Now, Google’s logo was recently declared the most recognizable global brand. That’s not hard to achieve, what with their search market share. But did you know what else Larry Page and Sergey Brin’s baby has been up to? They’ve invested in solar power (under their philanthropic branch), electrical grids (for their own purposes), and they’re now into EMR (Electronic Medical Records). They intend to index participating patients medical records and make them available from anywhere those people can get Internet access.

Then again, Google has openly stated that they intend to index the Earth’s information, no matter how long it takes. (I mean, “googol” is a type of “infinity”, so this goal isn’t surprising.) It looks like they’re on their way. Conspiracy theorists are probably wetting their beds like they did as kids, seeing bogeys in the dark corners of their electronic homes. Should you be scared, too, or do you think Google is harmless?

Are Bloggers Opinionated?

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I have a theory that bloggers are more opinionated than the average person. Think this might be true?

  • Who else wants to put their thoughts out there for all the world to see?
  • Who else wants to comment on other peoples thoughts?
  • Snarky or kind, we like to link, quote and critique each other. Who else does that?

Of course in normal day to day life people advise, opine, gossip, bitch and moan, but bloggers do it online and try to draw attention to it.

What do you think? Is there a blogging gene that sets us apart? 🙂

Giving Credit To Proper Sources When Credit Is Due

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I am like a hawk when it comes to news feeds. While I don’t have thousands of feeds to monitor, I do manage to keep an eye on the big players. What does this have to do with anything? Well, it is a prelude to the fact that after I see something from a paper like The New York Times, I also end up seeing similar content from blogs. Most likely those blogs are using that very story. This is a natural progression of many blogs—especially technology, political, culture, gaming, and financial blogs; among others. However, I do have an issue when these blogs fail to do something that keeps things honest.

This means that, reluctantly, I have to point out the fact that many bloggers—even some of the more respected amongst us (I won’t disclose names)—fail to give proper credit to their sources of content. I also notice blogs only crediting other blogs for sources. This all becomes a giant problem as we must ask ourselves a few questions—where exactly did this content originate from?

Now, is most of what the blogosphere doing illegal? Absolutely not, and I don’t believe it should be, but I do think there needs to be some sort of standard set for things like this. I want the professional blogging industry to keep things honest and fair.

This is why I urge all bloggers to give credit (in the form of a link; even a simple text link at the end of a post is sufficient—in my opinion) when posting content that originates elsewhere. There are also other scenarios where you should give credit for content that is being used under fair use laws.

Cases in which you should give credit:

Stories and Ideas

I think it should be a requirement for people to link to articles that they write about based off an existing article. I see so many bloggers obviously writing about content that is featured in newspapers and other media formats, but these bloggers fail the link to the original. It frustrates furthermore if these bloggers are trying to claim the research and content as their own. If you were a columnist or contributing writer for a magazine, but saw another author get the credit for the work, wouldn’t you be at least a slight bit upset?

Images

Whenever I use an image that is not public domain (which is a majority of the time), I will give the creator credit for their work. However, bloggers should be careful as photographers are really not fond of people using their work with no credit whatsoever. Oh, and please do realize that just because a picture is licensed under Creative Commons, does not mean you are free to simply use the photograph. Read the license, understand the license, and if in doubt, contact the creator for permission; most will gladly agree with a simple link as credit for their work.

Video

Video is quickly becoming one of the more prominent types of media to share on the web. With the ability to embed video easily, it makes things much easier. I still make it a habit to still link to the original author when I post embedded video, but in the case in which I can’t locate the original author, I will give as much information as I can. I think it is more of a courtesy than a requirement, but I would still urge you to give credit in the form of a link to the original author.

Quotes

When it comes to quoting someone, things can get complicated. You could (and probably should) introduce the person in the introductory sentence of a new paragraph, and then proceed to explain what the person has said. However, don’t mess around with quotations. If you call out someone, be sure to get your facts straight. Libel is something you don’t want to play around with. Who ever knows when one simple blog post could have you facing the judicial system.

Put Yourself In Their Shoes

In the end, just ask yourself how you would feel if someone used your content without your permission or even a simple form of acknowledgement. Perhaps, then, many of these bloggers that seem to forget about that content they “borrow” will have a change of heart.

Trust me, I personally know how it feels. I’ve seen several blogs that originate from China that have felt compelled to copy my content word for word without even a link of recognition. They managed to “borrow” my images and bandwidth as well. Please, in the hope of growth and reliability in the blogging industry, give credit when credit is due.