An Interview With Darren Rowse
March 31, 2005
Buzz Marketing With Blogs did an interview with pro-blogger Darren Rowse, less than two weeks ago. Darren is on track to make a six figure income, this year. His goal is to make 25 posts per day, 7 days a week, across 17 different blogs. This is a great interview!
Moonlighting
March 31, 2005
One of the nicest things about blogging and podcasting is that it doesn’t have to be a full-time job. In fact you can hold down a full-time job and still “moonlight” as a blogger or podcaster. Thinking about that, does that mean that you have to disclose what your full-time job is? Can your employer hold you responsible for your opinions? Depending on who your employer is, and how open minded they are to employee opinions, this might cause some trouble. There have already been many people fired from their jobs, for what they write in their own, personal blogs.
This is something that has been talked about in many places, and most of them get the facts absolutely wrong. Those people that were fired were not “fired for blogging”. They were fired for what they “wrote” in their blog. It was the “content” that got them in trouble, not the act of blogging, itself. There’s a long editorial that I’d like to get into on this subject, but I’ll save that for later.
The fact is, is that “most” people that are trying to make money from blogging and podcasting are already holding down a full-time job. Should employees make their employer aware of where their blog is, so that they can be “kept in check” by them? I, personally, have told my employer all of the places that I normally write on the internet. I’ve written them down, or sent them in an email, so that I “can” be “checked on”. At this point, I can’t afford to lose my main source of income because of something that I’m not disclosing. Does this make a difference in the content that I write? Not at all. In the same paragraph, though, I will say that I have only disclosed the name of my employer “once”, online, and I really don’t “need” to make their name known. Am I being dishonest to people that read what I write? No. Leaving out that information doesn’t skew my writing style or the topics that I write about in any way.
In the future, I would love to turn turn blogging and podcasting into a full-time job, and give myself more time to focus on it. My current job, however, allows me plenty of time to do this “while I’m on the clock”. (”Yes, [boss] you’re paying me to blog “and” podcast, while I’m on the clock.). As long as my performance at my job is still at a high level, and it doesn’t interfere, there’s not a problem. This is what I have called, in the past, “the best way to be a paid blogger”. Is it really the best way? Probably not, but it works.
That’s really my main point. The nice thing about “moonlighting” as a paid blogger or podcaster is that it can be done at any time. I stay honest and don’t change timestamps to reflect that I’m “not” doing it on the clock. If anything ever comes back around to bite me in the ass, I’ll gladly repay my employer for the time that I had spent writing or podcasting. Since they are aware of it, and have been for quite a while, I don’t see that happening.
Am I Missing Something?
March 31, 2005
It looks like LoyalEars.com is trying to promote podcasting to traditional radio broadcasters. I don’t know where they’re getting their information about podcasting from, since they don’t actually point to any other information. They just tell their visitors that if they don’t know about podcasting, they need to go “Google it, right now!” In the very next sentence, they lead their visitors to beleive that there’s listeners paying to download them:
“Your listeners, in startling numbers, are listening (and in some instances paying for per download) to targeted, niched, homemade broadcasts known as ‘podcasts’.”
The rest of the page explains how they can help traditional broadcasters make money and how there are “opportunities to brand and create podcasts that a loyal and hyper targeted audience will pay for by download”. They don’t get it, though. If the people that are listening to podcasts wanted to listen to the radio, they would! People are sick and tired of the same old “morning zoo” radio shows that have been such a huge part of the morning commute for the past 30 years.
They (a word which covers a large population of narrow-minded, traditional media) just don’t understand how things have become more personal, and more “directed”, and more real. “They” need to stop trying to turn podcasting into radio. If we wanted to hear the radio, we’d turn it on. We’d rather listen to Dawn and Drew or Adam Curry. …and when we “really” need a good laugh, we’d rather listen to Croncast or Switched:on.
Let’s Think About Porn
March 30, 2005
Quite a catchy title for a post that’s not going to give you any links, huh? I was just thinking how porn has been one of the biggest money makers on the internet. I’m not even going to link to any studies or statistics that prove that, but I’m sure that we have all heard how much money is made by people that run porn web sites.
The problem that I was thinking about was the fact that the adult entertainment industry has to do things totally backwards from the way that most businesses do. Because I’m thinking of this, in terms of making money with blogs and podcasts, I’ll compare the differences of the two, and how thinking differently about where money comes from could open up a whole new stream of profit.
Most bloggers and podcasters think in terms of getting a sponsor to pay them money for advertising. Is that the “only” way to make money? Obviously not. There are others that will conduct an NPR-type fundraising drive or subscription model, where people either make a one-time donation or “pledge” to make a monthly donation. Still others are paid to blog by a larger company, trying to drive in traffic. Getting traffic to a web site, these days, usually requires a lot of activity, keywords, and “buzz”. The bloggers are paid to “create” the buzz.
What if there were porn blog, or a porn podcast (let me know if you already know of one)? Traditional advertisers want to stay as far away from questionable material as they possibly can. There would be no way that a reputable company would sponsor anything in the adult industry. The only solutions (that I know of) would be to get a lower paying sponsor that’s not worried about the material, or one that is actually trying to target that particular audience. The other option would be to directly charge your audience for the material. It wouldn’t have to be anything outrageous, at all. It could be as little as 10 cents per download of a podcast. Depending on the audience and the popularity, it could go up or down.
Ten cents each? I’d pay that. Heck, I’d probably pay three or four times that amount and still be happy. The biggest problem with directly charging customers is that “it can’t actually be done”. The nature of podcasting and RSS doesn’t allow it. There’s one feed that you subscribe to, and you get everything, automatically. So, how about an “initial charge” before allowing visitors to subscribe? That wouldn’t work, either. You’d get five or ten subscribers before the feeds location was posted all over the internet.
So I guess that we’re back to getting a sponsor, or coming up with some other creative way to make something from your work. I guess I’ll leave this topic here, for now and I’ll have to think about porn a little longer…
For Those Interested…
March 30, 2005
…in making money producing podcasts. You might want to take a look at Harold J. Johnson’s latest post at Audioblogs.info. In the enclosed MP3 file, he reads a text post that he made a few days ago.
I agree that there “is” money to be made, but I still question how much and how many. I hope that what Chris Pirillo said to me is true. I hope I “am” surprised!
Professionals
March 29, 2005
Once an amateur turns professional, they go from “doing it for free” to “making money”. This is true with sports, mainly, but does the same hold true for bloggers? That’s basicly what happens when a blogger goes from writing whatever they want for free, to getting “paid to blog”. Do they go from blogger to journalist? No, because they’re one in the same.
Professional Bloggers are Professional Reporters. Everyone has the right to say what they want, though. Thank you for your opinion on this, Gene!
Jeff Jarvis seems to agree with me, stating that “Journalism is a verb, not a noun“. He describes it as the “old journalism” and the “new journalism”.
Dollars in Cyber Space
March 29, 2005
Just recently I found myself unemployed. As I mentioned to Shanti. I watched helplessly in February 2005 as my 70K job evaporated before my very eyes. Through it all you have to convince yourself it was for the best and to keep moving in and out employment portals. The task of replacing my income is a tougher gig then actually working. The reality is anyone with children at home that have plans to go to university or college, a steady income on your part is normally required. The positive side to my situations is I allocate a maximum of five hours daily to surf cyber space for the ultimate money making opportunity. Whether it be another corporate lobotomy or cyber space millions the opportunities are boundless. From what I’ve reseached blogging is a money maker and with a little work and persistance the 70k ball and chain could be just a dark memory of the way things used to be.
Frank Joseph
How To Make Money Podcasting
March 29, 2005
Scott McNamee is one of the partners with Absolute Net Solutions. They are responsible for such podcasts as The Miller Report, Why-Fish Radio, The Mayor’s Podcast, The Blues Shop, and It Stinks: The Movie Review Podcast, all bundled under Absolute Net Radio.
In the Podcasting World forum, he says that that being honest with a potential client or sponsor is the most important thing. He also says that getting demographics is important. Use an online form, to collect information from your listeners. The current rate is at about 10 cents per listener.
Myself, I think that the rate could be higher, depending on your client, location, audience, and topics discussed.
Will Podcasting Give Broadcasting A Run For It’s Money?
March 28, 2005
In a segment from Next@CNN that aired on March 27th, they had a general description of what podcasting is, and questioned if they could be as good as “broadcast” radio. There was no real mention of money for podcasting, but the fact that podcasting is getting more and more attention, lately has to make it look better and better for sponsors and advertisers. They mentioned PodcastAlley, but forgot to mention PodcastHost, which doesn’t use the “voting crap” and isn’t a popularity contest.
Turn down your volume, just a bit before playing this clip from Next@CNN.
Six Figures A Year
March 28, 2005
There seem to be some “too good to be true” job offers out there, and this has to be one of the most outragous. The CMT Dukes of Hazzard Institute has a Vice President position open, and the requirements seem pretty simple. Watch the Dukes of Hazzard for a year and blog about it. $274 a day! $100,000 a year. For somebody like me, who’s probably seen every episode at least twice, this seems far too good to be true.
