The story of starting a blogging business is not a new one: if you listen to as many podcasts and read as many blogs as I do (which is not a large amount), the formula stares you in the face. There have been covers stories in BusinessWeek that caught huge attention for blogs. Whereas a year ago I would not have been able to say so, my dad now knows what blogging is. So when I tell him I am interested in pursuing blogging for money, he didn't shoot down the idea right away.
This week, New York Magazine released a story that is a natural progression in blog reporting: now that everyone knows what blogs are and why they are good, how did the A-list bloggers gain their rank? One thing that had to be done was to establish that there was in fact a rank heirarchy, which is proved with a scientific sampling of 433 blogs: the blogs with the most links are generally higher traffic. Blogs with more links are more popular, charge more for their ads, and... people have heard of them. No joke, it's pretty simple. The thing that stinks about the whole deal is that blog popularity is a self-perpetuating system. The fat keep getting fatter, while the thin are fighting over the table scraps.
Here is the full article:
Blogs to Riches: The Haves and Have-Nots of the Blogging Boom
I am no journalist; if I ever write one of my own blogs, I will have to find something I really care about, and I'll be able to keep up with daily. I actually think there is some serious merit to building a network of media, with separate channels for different classes of consumers. There will never be a blog that caters to everyone, just like there will never be a TV show that everyone watches. With the blogosphere becoming as popular as it is, however, there may come a day when you will get your daily gossip from boing boing or another of the blogs with a high entertainment value.
Quality content won't win you an everlasting place, however. Constent vigilance, shameless self-promotion, making the sale, getting the scoop on the other guy, and of course, social bookmarking will get you everywhere. Getting noticed by the big dogs, getting to the front page of digg, getting an honorable mention on any number of A-list or even B-list blogs, will likely help you get your foot in the door.
Writing crappy posts like this one, however, will likely get me nowhere.