You're (Probably) Not Going To Be a Pro Blogger 120
ThousandStars writes "Contrary to what the specious Wall Street Journal article Early Transition to Blog Pro says, You're Not Going to be a Professional Blogger argues that not that many people can make money through web advertising. The WSJ article 'doesn't discuss how people actually use their blogs to make money, which is by selling ancillary services.'"
Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Not true at all (Score:1, Informative)
Slashdotters will use adblock plus and you won't get any revenue. ;)
That and your web service will drop out and be unreachable for awhile.
Re:Um, news? (Score:3, Informative)
Actually a number of Sci-Fi authors give away their books, or at least some of them. Oddly enough they usually see a jump in the sale of their dead-tree versions.
Imagine that.
Anyway, check out Baen's Free Books if you want more info, I'm too lazy to look it up but a quick google will find it for you.
Re:More to the point, who wants to do so? (Score:3, Informative)
Er, why?
You do know what the terms "profession" and "professional" mean, right?
A profession is essentially the task or series of tasks you perform to supply your living. Anything you can do and get people to pay you for qualifies as a profession. Hell, I could be a professional water dumper if I could get someone to pay me to dump water.
If what you do is blog, and someone pays you for it, that is your profession. It makes you a professional blogger. The opposite of course is the amature blogger (or amature anything, really) who does blogging as a side hobby or aspect of their work, but does not take the bulk of their energy and does not provide most of their income.
In other words, you're a moron.
Re:Not true (Score:3, Informative)
Google is a shitty way to monetize compared to direct ad sales, ad sales from a large network, or affiliate marketing. You might get $0.30-$1.00 in a high paying niche, but that same high paying niche will do much better with other monetization methods.
The problem is people think that blogging about their boring lives for a weeo and throwing adsense up there will make you a millionaire. It doesn't work like that.
Re:More to the point, who wants to do so? (Score:3, Informative)
I think that people fail to realize that Mark Frauenfelder has been writing in this more casual style (with 'zines then blogs) for more than 20 years now. He was building an audience for more than 12 years by the time he decided to blog. It's not like he was starting out with nothing. This was an evolution in his career, not a catastrophic event.
I get a few 1000 readers a month..... (Score:2, Informative)
It's the way for the future.
Re:Um, news? (Score:3, Informative)
This is impressive. Not only didn't you read the RTFA - which doesn't discourage people from blogging, but instead interviews someone who has successfully created a career from blogging - you didn't even RTFS, which is attacking the WSJ for saying that you can make money just from ad-blogging
Jesus. Forget about engaging brain before posting. Engage eyes before posting!