Blog For Money Or For Exposure?

[snakeair]

I know we have a "why do you blog" thread floating around somwhere but i'd like to share a good blog post with you in a new thread to discuss this.

Share your thoughts after reading this one.

Many people blog as a hobby. Blogging can be therapeutic, a great way to stay in touch with friends, great way to keep your memories organized, and a great way to connect with like-minded people on the Internet. For this reason, many try to make money online through blogging. There are three ways to make money as a blogger:

1. Work as a blogger for a company. The company will pay you to contribute articles to blogs across the Internet. All you need to do is incorporate a link back to the company for SEO purposes.

2. Do freelance writing/blogging. Many websites will offer payment for quality content.

3. Own and manage your own blog. By owning and managing your own blog you are setting yourself up for a platform for advertisers. However, this takes a great deal of time, money, and work to create a profitable blog.

Now starting a business and creating a profitable blog is a long and sometimes frustrating process. In other words, most bloggers...

Continued at: http://www.blogherald.com/2012/02/23...-for-exposure/

Your thoughts? Remember to backup your response a little.

[kju385]

The first thing I noticed in the introduction is the comparison of reasons why people blog. Most of them aren't really related to making money. I would rather claim that making money from blogging is the side effect of having a larger audience. Interesting article, raises several good questions.

I can’t help but notice that more and more blogs are beginning to offer links back to a website as opposed to payment. There are, of course, many blogs that still pay for quality content, but slowly more and more are moving away from this idea.

Do you have any notion why the trend you're describing is taking place? In your opinion naturally.

[snakeair]

I don't pay for content on my blog nor charge people. My blog isn't a business but it's my hobby and I love doing what i am doing on it.

If i make a few bucks off it then that's cool but i'm not worry about making ton's of money off of it. Get good rankings and you will eventually make money off the high traffic as in purchasing advertising space, click on a affiliate link...etc

I'm not about to charge people to write or pay someone to write me a article to post on my blog. Sometimes people call me cheap when doing online stuff but doing things myself will make me 100% profit when i earn revenue off my blog doing something. lol

I do invest money into the blog but it's not content relating stuff.

[kju385]

My thoughts on the subject are very similar, since my blogs weren't started to achieve some financial goal but rather as a hobby and the means of expressing myself. I am also under the impression that blogs paying for quality content are quite rare, when observed from a general perspective which was stated in the article. Most of them surely start as hobbies. Even though article is quite thorough and concise, I believe there is room to expand the subject, for instance, next segment could relate on how and when to turn hobby blog into a more commercial friendly version. When to capitalize the exposure in other words

[SpeedyCar03]

I think for both. Some people initially start there blog for exposure but soon they get money out of it. Money also depends on how you work on your blog. Some blogs get popular very early and start earning money and others take some time. But if you really work on you blog, you will definitely earn money.

[Dreamrage]

Hmmm, I don't think I would monetize our company blog. I mean, its main role is to teach and pass along information. Exposure, maybe, but that's because of a strong belief in what we do, and we know its better than most out there, we just need a chance to prove it.

A little off topic, but, everytime something new comes along that marketers can use to promote stuff, or the general populous can use to share thoughts etc. Someone finds a way to make money off it, sparks a deluge of snake oil salesmen lording it at the best and fastest way to get rich, and in the end, something that was purely meant for a person to get a point across, becomes tarnished. IMHO of course. but its maddening. There is making money to sustain a blog and maybe get a little extra for yourself, and then there's relentlessly "pimping" a blog out for one reason only, and that's to make money at all costs no matter what. Most times this means substituting blog quality for advertising. makes one sad.

[harimakvana]

Blogging is for money and also exposure both are in blog

[Dreamrage]

Originally Posted by harimakvana

Blogging is for money and also exposure both are in blog

Ah, the way I see it, blogging never started out that way, it was for exposure and a place where people could share, and just talk aout things that mattered to them. Like I mentioned before its one of the things that started out innocently, and then became tarnished because someone decided to try make money from it. the only reason I actually say this though, is because there are blogs out there that are literally nothing but adsense adverts or amazon affiliate adverts. When you look for content, its generally hard to find, and either spun to the point where you cannot make head or tale of what the writer is trying to say. Like kju385 has said, its a recent trend that's beginning to get out of control, which is why google has started hitting on companies that have adverts above the fold, and even advert driven blogs are being hit and are having their page ranks lowered.

(once again all IMHO).

[JPMiddleton]

I have a few blogs, naturally the one for our company is aimed at discussing updates and spreading the word a little, but we also blog about general industry news and views; try and give tips and tricks and generally help people. So in short; no. The blog for our company is not monetized.

[onlineedublog]

well blogging is for hobby at start but now it is more developing towards a business and well its right when you spend time you get money..! but the competition is rising so you become more deserving if you have good amount of traffic you might be doing something good

[designprint]

I like how like-minded we all seem to be. I started my blog out as just a hobby as well, I wanted to share some parenting experiences I had. Eventually it started becoming a small source of income as well, but that wasn’t the original goal or intention. The original goal was to help parents around the globe.

[kippahdesigns]

I think blogging for money or for exposure depends on the goal. If it's for company then I think its goal is to get more exposure and provide more information to their readers. But if it's a personal blog, I think some bloggers do it for money.

[BuriedAlive1]

I had a blog years ago which contained nothing but my ramblings, disguised autobiography, some fictional work, and poetry. Now, I make money via writing for other people who do not have time to write content for their own blogs. I am planning to start my own blog really soon so I can get back into writing creatively for myself again. I don't intend to actively monetize it. Maybe just passively.

[BuckPost]

If you can turn your blog into a profit, why not? There is nothing wrong with using one's talent(s) to prosper.

[~kev~]

There are a couple of comments in the article that made me LOL,

finding places to publish your content is becoming increasingly difficult

and

You should definitely stop yourself from blogging for free after a certain amount of time

How does the author justify working for free?

Two things, I am either going to work for myself, or I am going to work for someone else. Working for free is not an option.

I am not here to give my work away, forget that.

The author thinks that by working for free you are going to get some kind exposure? If I want exposure, I will start my own site, and then let people find me.

[amiesoi]

For your question, the answer is both for this two choices. Blogging is a effective way to generate traffic and to promote the site, blogger also earn income for this kind of job.

[Greg79]

I write on my blog as a hobby, but I also added adsense commercials to make a little bit of money on the side. I thought about the whole Amazon affiliation thing, but it kind of bothers me. Are you still being sincere when you write while trying to sell a product? Initially, a blog is supposed to be a place where you share your life with other people, not a commercial platform.