Yes, blogging does make me money

"There are plenty of industries where I will be met with blank stares when talking about blogging"

Seems you've found some where you get more than that blank stare ;-)

Good for you Den.

PS. I'm one of those interested in your advice...

Yes I do get other, indirect work from my blogging activities and these are more financially rewarding than the direct income.

This is a benefit from blogging that so many non-bloggers I encounter just don't understand.

No, it’s not a fortune but it’s enough to allow me to live the life I want...

Living the life you want is all that matters.

I'm right alongside you Dennis.

My blog-style site is generating me an income but more importantly giving me a chance to meet and read other views via the comments and emails I receive.

As a journalist I spent endless hours on the commute to work and then had to fight the fear that newspapers have about the internet; now I have the chance to try many new and exciting projects both myself and with others.

Of course it is a worry that things won't be good in the coming year, but at least I can see that coming and do something about it.

How many people can say that, when sat behind a desk in an office as the redundancy notices come round?

All the best

Craig

Just trying to catch up with your many posts, Dennis.

I firmly believe that blogging will help me increase my income (get more clients) but at the moment am not certain which direction to go. Having said that, I'm not certain what the choices are anyway.

Sticking with you, because I have more faith in you than anybody else. (Praise like that is rare, from me)

Hey Dennis, could you share your secret with me? I'm running out of kid's college accounts to raid to pay for my blogging habit :-)

Tom: Is this one of those (in Strumpette fashion) 'you show me yours, I'll show you mine' things?

No, not at all, I would keep it confidential, I promise!

So you going to share Dennis?

Sorry guys - usually I'm more than happy to run off at the mouth but I really do have to keep this one to myself. What I can say is that if you look at the things I've done in my career and look at what I'm doing now, then you should get a few clues. That plus a LOT of hard work and pain.

Fair enough, we'll have a look. Not being smart, snarky or clever, and maybe I read you wrong, but there's a concept ;-)

Over-promise:

"Anyone interested in figuring out how this could be applied to your firm - just leave a comment"

Under-deliver:

"Sorry guys - usually I’m more than happy to run off at the mouth but I really do have to keep this one to myself"

Jeremy: I should have been clearer - sorry. I won't go public on the detail of what I do for many reasons, some of which are client related and subject to NDA. But I can say something about the 'how.'

It's about being clear on what you want financially out of blogging, how you think that might be achieved and being prepared to modify the model as you go forward.

Not all things work in all circumstances. Much of what I get financially does not get reflected directly on the site. That's the nature of the beast UNLESS you want to go for a more traditional MSM/ad-based approach which I don't think works terribly well for the 'average' blogger and which is dependent on a numbers game. I often say I only want 1%. It's enough.

What I am really saying I guess is that blogging provides opportunities for multiple revenue streams, some of which are direct many of which are indirect. It all depends on how 'you' want to position yourself and your blog presence as a pathway to revenue.

Tom was very clear from day one: 'journalist/blogger.' I was kind of on that kick at one stage but have modified my thinking a lot over time. I'm deliberately not chasing news most of the time. That's not something where I can add value unless something drops in my lap.

That in turn impacts the way the model develops. So for instance you'd go to a news blog for that kind of commodity thing but you'd maybe come to me for some analysis. If you're a vendor, that can be hugely valuable, especially as conversations develop. It IS the market intelligence needed to shape development in some cases. Note Guy Letts post about wiki and Sage customers as an example. Not all of that conversation is happening online. Neither do many of the conversations that happen.

Is that any more helpful?

Dennis: Exactly what I was looking for, and I think this advice, and as you say analysis, will help all who are looking to make more than a hobby out of these 'conversations'.

Thanks for being so open. We all understand NDAs, but your comments are, as usual, right on the money.

Cheers.

Dennis, what you mean is that blogging is a way for you to sell your other services--it is a way to honestly promote those other things that you offer.

I'm trying to figure out if it is possible to support a media professional who is producing media--and doesn't have anything else to sell. So in many ways, you and 99.999999 percent of anybody in the blogosphere that are making money--you are promoting and selling something *other* than blogging. Which is fine. But how do you deal with the current fashion of transparency?

Not entirely Tom - there is a level that is directly connected to the site though it does include some other non-site specific services. So for example, would you call a consulting gig around communication in this medium for my industry vendors directly related or indirect? How about the preparation of a series of (my) industry specific podcasts? The list goes on.

To me, those things represent direct results of working in the medium.

Where I am working with companies that I refer to on the blog then I make it clear there is a commercial relationship. I also make it clear that if I find they've screwed up, then I'll call them out. Otherwise it's just BS. It's the only way I feel easy about being publisher/editor. It doesn't seem to change what people say on the blog but then this is mostly UK audience. I don't think we' re that advanced in dishing out the questions around transparency. We don't have that guilt thing post-Enron.

Whether you call it 'ads rev' or 'sponsorship' doesn't really matter. At the end of the day, the person who's paying money wants a bit more than reflecting on your or my glory. But expressing a 'sponsorship' does impact the way in which the financial model is built. That will change over time. But for the moment - niche status works well.

In the news world, beyond syndication/aggregation for reward and advertising, I'm not sure I see too many additional services that can be directly offered. But the niche matters. It is the value of the niche to the paymasters that really matters. Not being MySpace.

Then there are the other services I perform anyway.

#14
Hi Tom, I agree with Dennis that the niche matters but a freelance media professional should be using a blog to boost their reputation.
You are most probably following news and the business that is your niche so there is plenty to write about, but you are also establishing yourself as the place to go.
One of the best examples of this is www.paidcontent.org
But I think a blog can change the balance from you spending a lot of your time pitching ideas to eventually people approaching you to produce articles, add commment or write reports.
I'm struggling to get through to your wesbite to see what you specifically do, but once it is back up I'll take a look.
Regards
Craig

It's an interesting debate, isn't it, because I get the feeling that a lot of people think of blogging as some sort of social networking or public service that by definition shouldn't be producing an income for the blogger. Maybe it comes back to the link between blogs and some of the open source tools us bloggers use.

But I think in reality today blogging is just another delivery mechanism. Some blogs will indeed be people's pet projects and they will not want - or need - to try and make money from them directly or indirectly. For others - like you and me Dennis - they also help to drive revenue directly or indirectly.

I think it's absolutely fair enough that a blog should generate revenue - after all you are putting in the work to write it, moderate comments and so on. Ultimately it is down to your blog's readers whether they choose to visit the blog, and if they do whether to use any of your other services that may have a fee attached.

In my case, since I am attached to a publishing house and am a full-time journo rather than a freelancer like yourself, the dynamic is slightly different. My blog does drive some additional traffic and traffic helps sell advertising on the site. But while this benefits the company directly it only benefits me indirectly (since they're my employer).

Where it does benefit me directly though is in raising my own profile a little, enabling me to say some things that perhaps would be less suited to the enterprise IT magazine that I work on, and reach out to other bloggers and readers through the 'blogoshpere'. All of these benefit me directly, if not financially!