Citizen Media and Monetization
I have just been reading an exceptionally frustrating story about some fantastic blogs that are now broke.
Why frustrating?
Well, the content on these blogs was updated several times daily, was very original, entertaining and well written. The main writers behind each project had national profiles in their respective countries and enough media contacts to generate buzz anytime they felt like it.
Moreover, both blogs had PR6 and were attracting thousands of extremely loyal visitors daily (one of them one a very high paying keyword niche - technology). One of them, according to my web comments Firefox plugin, had had no fewer than 20 other blogs comment on it in the last 24 hours!!! In fact the success in link-baiting and traffic of these blogs was a dream for any internet or blog marketer.
Yet both of them recently announced that they were closing or severely curtailing further activities.
The more recent one was http://bayosphere.com/ and the other was http://webdiary.com.au (formerly http://margokingston.typepad.com which is the site they announced was going broke)
Look at their adsense placement!!
Bottom of the right hand collumn on both these sites! Possibly the worst place on the page! And the ads aren’t integrated - they stick out like dogs balls!!
Web Diary has a download button for Firefox - in what way, shape or form does that have anything to do with the topics they are discussing? I would be surprised if they managed a 0.01% CTR on that banner.
Webdiary is aimed at the political intelligentsia of Australia - a market that are amongst the most prolific book buyers in the world, and yet there isn’t a single Amazon (or any bookstore) affiliate link.
Bayosphere doesn’t appear to have any affiliate links either.
No advertising banners either.
I mean, how did these sites actually plan on making money?
Now, if these well intentioned journalists had bothered to consult an internet marketer before they staked their livelihood on these projects then I would be willing to bet that they would not be having to announce the demise of their sites.
Technorati Tags: blogs, monetization, ads
Have you tried contacting them? I’m surprised they haven’t reached out to someone who can help direct their monetization initiative.
January 26th, 2006 at 8:53 amI considered getting in touch with web diary when they announced they were having trouble, but I think about 200 well meaning (but marketing clueless) people offered help and a few were accepted (brothers, cousins, friends of friends etc) . I guess they will just carry on making no money.
Plus I have got a fair bit on my plate at the moment, so time is a bit of a factor.
You could drop them an email Marc!
January 26th, 2006 at 11:32 am