The Business of Blogging - Stream of Micropublishing Consciousness

Many writers are interested in starting blogs: to bolster a "platform", interest book publishers, or connect with an audience. But how about to make money? BusinessWeek has an interesting article on blogs that have made it big, and it has a number of lessons for writers:

• Write for love, not money. Well, maybe love is a bit strong, but write something you feel a connection to. Most of these bloggers didn't go into a particular area because they thought it would lead to bucks. They wrote about something they wanted to write about, and the audience found them.


• Be patient. Most of these bloggers spent time developing their sites. They didn't generally see overnight success. Instead, they kept working and interest built over time.


• Audience is everything. Yes, you want all the marketing tips to make your blog huge, but the biggest tip is having content. If you do, and it's something that some group of people connect with, then you and the audience will find each other. The most important type of marketing is having something customers want.


• Monetize after attracting people. When you start a blog, don't worry about selling ads. It's clutter, and no one is going to be interested - and you won't make anything, because you don't have the traffic. Wait until you've actually got something going.


• You're in the fashion business. No matter what the topic, people are looking for both content and entertainment. Any oddball topic that takes off shows that a good part of the blogging business has to do with fad and fashion. Keep an eye on the business practices in fashion-based industries, whether clothing designers or consumer electronics. Learn that you need to keep things fresh and be ready to experiment with the next idea.


• You're in the information business. Fashion, in the broadest sense, is a big part of a blog, but people are motived by the particular expression of ideas. They don't care about your personal takes on the world. They want something that relates to them.


• Give readers a way to take part. These bloggers give the strong sense that it's important for readers to have a conversation. Read comments and email, respond to them, and even come up with ideas that will encourage more interaction.

An addendum: these blogs are examples of micropublishing - small ventures by most commercial publishing standards, and they're run by the people who write them. I'm becoming more convinced that micropublishing is the future in this industry. Look at this story from Forbes. Even as the tech companies do well, the tech media struggles because advertisers have found that specialty blogs, search ads, and more general media do far more for their businesses. Are you developing your niche publishing plans now, or are you waiting until lack of ads drive your current editorial clients out of business and force you to find an alternative?