Richard
Richard C. Wilson
Hedge Fund Consulting Blog
http://richard-wilson.blogspot.com

I’m a new reader to your blog and I just read all 4 installments of this series…..just excellent. I love your writing style (very easy to digest) but also these are new ideas that I hadn’t thought of or read about until now. I have been in the thought system that if I wanted to support myself in blogging that I needed to create more blogs, all of them written by me.

Thanks, I also signed up for your Blog Mastermind course last night, which is how I ended up reading this series. BTW, I first heard of you from Wendy at eMomsathome.com…..you come highly recommended by her.

Great series, truly enjoyed the information and thought process. A few added thoughts, especially on this last post.

One, with regard to the comparison to bloggers inevitably struggling with the same challenges that have shut down so many printed publications, there are some major differences that throw the analogy off a bit.

In fact, traditional publishers face two major challenges that are at the heart of much of that world’s failures that bloggers don’t, which makes the likelihood of of success that much more possible in the blogosphere, given the will to endure ramp-up.

On the cost-structure-side, traditional publishing takes a huge risk in committing resources to print runs based on a “best guess” of demand and, often times, that guess is way off, leading to large inefficiencies and, often, expense structures that don’t scale well and exhibit massive amounts of waste. Bloggers don’t have the same issue.

Also, traditional publishing not only relies upon revenue from advertisers/sponsors/partners, but from the readers, too. This serves as a strong limiting factor in not only growth of the direct readership, but growth through organic-referrals.
Because blog-readers do not have to pay for the access to the content and can freely pass that content on to friends without asking those friends to endure any costs, these economic and social barriers to growth are eliminated.

So, while the world of blogging has its own built in challenges, some of the major factors that have led to hard times in the traditional publishing realm don’t serve as analogous limiting factors in blogosphere.

Final thought, too, on the importance of refocusing on leading with meaning. A recent study of 3,000 pentamillionaires ($5 million), showed that the vast majority of those people made their huge jumps in wealth AFTER they stopped chasing money and reallocated their energies to the creation or solution of something deeply meaningful, something capable of fueling the type of efforts needed to push through to success on a massive scale.

Does that mean we shouldn’t strive to be wealthy? Not at all. But wealth should come as the by product of effort driven by genuine, content-based passion and applied within a field where the massive opportunity lies in waiting.

That’s how I would do it, in fact that is how I AM doing it.

Some people prefer not to do the hard work creating their own blog and want to fast-track the process of creating a blogging business. That’s okay too, but I do think those who have created a great blog first stand a better chance of success once they start building a network.

Thanks for your comment!

Yaro

I will resubscribe.

Thanks for the great articles on professional blogging – they have given me a lot to think about.

I can share the sense of depression, burn-out and frustration that you alude to.

I have been blogging for about 18 months now and my affiliate marketing blog is now ranked 4/10 in Google but I have not successfully monetarised it.

Here’s the blog in question:
Affiliate Marketing Coach

I have learnt heaps through the process and have been paid over the last 18 months to write a professional blog on e-learning for teachers throughout Queensland. This latter blog is below:
Partnering For Professionalism

I think the contract for this is about to finish so I am at a crossroads. Your articles have given me some light ahead. One thing I need to do is create a WordPress blog so that I can start stroing posts under categories.

I love your resources and will visit often!

BTW. We met about five years ago when you ran a Crisis Communication workshop for an ALARPM (action learning) Conference I was organising.

Ron Passfield
Brisbane Australia (about 20 minutes drive away at Bulimba!)

Martin – Regarding blogger payment – that’s a tough one really because each person is in a different situation and each blog requires a unique writer.

Generally I think if you want someone serious for a long term commitment you need to pay money or offer capital ownership in the blog.

How much money is something that needs to be tested since the going rates will depend on supply and demand.

Franck – No I don’t blog everyday for a few reasons. Sometimes I wish I had the time to, but even then I doubt I would everyday because I just don’t feel like it. I admit I feel a bit stressed if I haven’t posted at least a couple of times a week though.

I have a newsletter issue about whether you need to blog full time to have big success. I suggest you have a read of that if you want my take.

It’s one of the earlier editions of the newsletter so if you sign up at http://www.blogtrafficking.com you should receive it in a few weeks.

Yaro

I read Darren’s site nearly every morning. I have pages of his blog (and yours) bookmarked for reference.

I’m afraid at some point, he’ll burn out. They guy can’t keep it up forever…right? LOL

Keep crankin’ out the helpful info!

Don

I’ve come to this post and haven’t read the rest in the series so I’ve got some reading to do.

I’m really interested in the Blog Magazine model you talk about (I have a love of publishing and I don;t mind growing slow … but big). I have been researching this for a while now and believe it to be a good business model. I’ve settled on the ideal for my liking: 3-5 bloggers on the roster (finding and keeping them is the real hard part) with me doing an editorial once a week.

The human factor is the biggie (finding them, paying them, managing them). That’s a big time consumer.

What’s your view on blogger payment? Would love to see one of your long posts on this issue.

I’ve seen a few blogs go magazine-style or group blog and it does take away some of the “mojo” as you say. The Blog Herald has gone through two changes over the years (with many bloggers in and out) and they’ve had their tough times.

I see Darren slowly going down that same route – that;s going to be a tough one because he has such a presence at that blog. People read him.

Problem is with the original blogger. He’s the one that made that blog what it is, so he has to manage the change to multi-author. My view would be the original blogger doing an editorial piece or two a week to keep his hand in it.

The ideal when planning a blog magazine is to totally focus on the brand and not the person/blogger. It’s the only real way of getting a decent chance at an exit strategy down the road. I know blogging is very personal but this is business and blogging has to move with it.

The best part of the blog magazine is that then the owner has more time to work on advertising and monetization deals, work on promotion/publicity, co-venture deals and manage his roster of bloggers – ie: working on the business and not in it.

Keep up the great thinking posts Yaro.

I put your blog in my Firefox toolbar!

Blog Magazines and blog networks totally make sense to me. While I am more involved in affiiate marketing than adsense, I’ve noticed the power of blogs in 2006, and I am going to leverage this.

Blogging should be used by every kind of business, and those who are not blogging yet are missing big time.

You’ve just proved that you need excellent copywriting skills to keep readers coming back.

I’d like you to teach us and show us the best ways to find bloggers to hire for setting up a Blog Magazine to start.

In business, I always prefer to start small, then grow steadily. A “How to set up a blog magazine serie” would be great.

Let me know what you think.

P.S: Just a last thing. I’ve noticed that you are not blogging every day (Like me). Most of the other bloggers pros or not pro see blogging everyday as an important factor for your readership and blog credibility.

However, I don’t see that. Can you let us know what you think on the subject as well?

Your advice on the question will be useful for my blog publishing endeavor.

Has helped me focus on the longer term growth plans for my blog.

Do you have any insight’s as to successful contracts between the owners of blog networks and their hired bloggers ?

I am of the opinion that people should be looking at new ways of marketing and look for new opportunities. I am sure you are probably are aware of using traditional media and a unique idea to not so much build a business but make a name for themselves and earn quite a bit of money:

http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/

Another unique promotion involves the brother of the one red paper clip idea auctioning off his legal name for a year. The bidding is up to USD$37, 000.
http://www.choosemyname.blogspot.com/

Finally and my favourite of all is the Million dollar homepage.
“The idea is simple: to try and make $1m (US) by selling 1,000,000 pixels for $1 each. Hence, ‘The Million Dollar Homepage”. The main motivation for doing this is to pay for my degree studies, because I don’t like the idea of graduating with a huge student debt. I know people who are paying off student loans 15-20 years after they graduated.”
http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/