IZEA Blog

*claps* Amen! This is why I'll probably have a domain until I die. ;)

I agree with you in concept, Ted (and I just commented on that Wired post, alerted via a tweet I received, which led me to this post of yours), but like I suggest over at Max Gladwell's post at http://www.maxgladwell.com/2008/10/out-of-work-need-a-job-start-a-blog-this-is-resume-20/ one should not create a blog for the sake of creating a blog.

I'm sure you didn't create a Twitter account without watching what other people said and how they used it, right? Maybe someone showed you their stream or taught you the basics? Or perhaps you read about the ins and outs of Twitter on another blog post. In any case, I agree blogs are not dying but I disagree everyone needs to go out and create one tomorrow; one should listen, pause, participate, maybe guest or group blog, and then when the mindset is right, can create his or her own.

Thanks for writing this...and I'm about to follow you on Twitter.

I blog because I have something to say, I guess if I ever stop having something to say, I'll quit blogging. Fat chance of that happening.

blessings, Penny Raine
http://pennyraine.com/blog

We couldn't agree more, and thanks to Ari for pasting the link to our post on blogging as competitive advantage. If 2009 is the year of the blog, then 2008 will be the year the resume dies. The blog is Resume 2.0. It's a living, breathing, interactive resume of your character and everything you know.

Blogs are so much more than that, of course, but this is one function they serve incredibly well. Those bloggers who say, "You can't just start a blog" or that you should really know what you're doing so you don't get hurt are probably fearing the competition. We say, "Bring it on." The more the merrier. Should you have a strategy? Sure. But most of it will be trial and error. You'll figure out rather quickly what works and what doesn't. And the best way to get a guest blogging gig is to have your own blog.

You don't have the time to start a blog? Of course you have the time. Stop watching TV. And if you're out of work, you've got all the time in the world. You probably create a ton of content every day by sending emails, designing presentations, answering colleagues questions, etc., etc. Focus some of that into a blog. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Because it's all about you. Anyone who tells you you shouldn't do it has some fear or ulterior motive. They don't want to you "pollute" the blogosphere with your amateurish blog, and heaven forbid if you decide to abandon it. Who cares?

But you won't make money blogging. Don't count on it. The best way to monetize a blog is to leverage it to get a job or get a better job that pays more because you are an experienced blogger with blogger friends in your industry niche who, taken together, have some influence and, hence, value for your employer.

Well said, Ted! I've heard people say that blogging is the wave of the future. In reality, I think blogging is our present, but the number of bloggers will multiply several times over in the future. As you mentioned, blogs give you a forum to sound off about whatever it is you want. They're also a great way to grow a business. Blogging is one of the most inexpensive "hobbies," but probably the most fulfilling. I agree with you: people SHOULD blog, and if they aren't already, then it's time to start! Thanks for posting!

Great post Ted! I have to disagree about the part where you said you can´t make money with free platforms. I have blogs hosted on Blogger (which is a free platform) and make money with them.

@QuickPWN
I am sorry, I was referring to Twitter, Facebook and Flickr.

I'm not gonna lie to you, Ted. It seems like you dusted this off from 2004.

@Penny Raine Probably one of my most favorite statements ever, regarding blogging. "I blog because I have something to say." I love it!

well thank you Ashley K Edwards, my "something to say" got me live on the BBC today from something on my blog, blogging is by far the best way to get heard

blessings, Penny Raine
http://pennyraine.com/blog

Blogs are dying because they were a temporary phenomenon, a fad, to begin with. They don't really have two-way communication - they're more like a bunch of people standing at random places in the park ranting to themselves. At worst, they cause physical harm (remember Kathy Sierra?).

A few years ago someone asked why there weren't more people blogging about oracle. People started blogging about Oracle. Oracle started blogging about Oracle - that was a bad sign, some of them just don't get it or think it is some kind of marketing vehicle. Now it is dying, people just don't want to crank stuff out every day, even if it is stuff they love and consider part of their identity. You can watch the embers spark at times at http://awads.net/wp/orana/ (among others), but really, some of the best bloggers just don't have much to say anymore.

Twitter is just effing ridiculous.

People like Philip K. Dick have made quotes like "95% of everything is crap." Sadly optimistic about blogging.

People making thousands sitting around in comfy chairs in Panera with their laptops? Yeah, right. Send me $50 and I'll tell you how to make millions in drive-by blogging.

Great post, Ted!

If it weren't for blogging, I'd go back to scribbling in my notebooks, as in the days before computers (yes, I have lived and survived those days). Elites may think otherwise, but we "average" people do have a lot to say, and like most New Yorkers, I have a lot to say about a lot of things in a short period of time. Thus, I MUST blog!

There's no doubt that blogging will continue to grow in 2009, but my personal opinion is that because there will be so many blogs in the blogosphere, there may just be too many useless info on the Internet. Every other blog is a "MAKE MONEY ONLINE" blog now with blog owners that just started blogging. Who are we actually going to learn from when most of the new bloggers have no experience in any type of field at all.

@Ted - btw, it's me Mike, the original owner of Bloggin-Ads. I hope that interview I filled out would still be published of course ;)

-Mike

Good stuff, Ted. I've linked (and tried to trackback) to it in my post today:
http://www.businessbloggingbootcamp.com/2008/10/blogs-vs-other.html.

One point that Ari makes above (and at Max Gladwell) needs a refinement, I think. I'm not sure he means it this way, but the "not everyone should blog" argument often comes across as advising those who don't know how to write well, or do a little bit of formatting, image insertions, and so on, should just leave blogging to the rest of us.

In my view, blogging is a way to demonstrate and develop basic "digital literacy" skills: "the ability to locate, organize, understand, evaluate, and create information using digital technology." - Wikipedia. These skills are as vital to success in business now as reading and writing were 100 years ago.

If you don't have them yet, starting a blog (perhaps beginning as a non-public blog like TypePad offers) and exercising the discipline to keep the blog going until you "find your voice" would be a great way to gain them.

The other watch-and-learn activities Ari recommends are valuable, but nothing takes the place of getting in there and doing it.

First, I think the wired article is basically a Linkbait, will I guess where does really need the links, so this is probably more of a 'Comment-Bait' or 'Traffic-Bait', but but basically we're talking about a lot of baiting (with an 'i').

second, blogging is basically a communication platform. It is also many other things including the publication, a library, a portfolio, a resume, lots of stuff. But first and foremost it's a way of communicating. How a person chooses to use a tool to communicate will depend on the type of results they ultimately receive.

If someone wants to rant all day that certain politician is better than a different politician, that can be considered blogging. If someone else wants to methodically walked through the process of how to peel paint off a barn, melt it down, and repaint the barn, that could probably be considered blogging also.

Personally, I think that blogging will grow around three primary areas: creating entertainment, sharing or documenting knowledge, and creating porn and spam.

Now, as much as we all like porn and spam, that's not really the sweet spot that most of us are searching for.

When it comes to knowledge sharing and documentation, you have to have some foundation to share knowledge from and a little wisdom to show your readers how to apply that knowledge. I do like this market, but let's face it, this can be pretty dry and it reads or views like a documentary.

From my perspective, that leaves entertainment. I think that if people want to continue becoming successful in the blogosphere, they have to continue to learn how to be entertaining. It doesn't matter if you have a good story to tell, if you can't tell an entertaining story.

We've seen hundreds of thousands of bloggers if not millions, jump into the blogosphere. In a way it's pretty amazing that so many people now enjoy writing. When I was growing up, it would have been unheard of to consider that there might be millions of people writing thousands of words in publications around the world every minute of the day.

We're not just consumers of media, we're producers of media now.

We just need to find something to channel all of that energy, and this recent experience into something productive. There are many fine organizations like Izea that help to match money to these projects, so now people just need to focus in on coming up with a good idea in producing entertaining content around it.

That's my philosophy and I'm sticking with it until it's time to write a Linkbait, a comment-bait, or traffic-bait to refute it. :-)

edit -
will I guess where does really
s/b
Well, I guess wired does not really

sorry, been up all night blogging, and writing ops up for bloggers. :)

I think that this article is a quite good motivation for bloggers. I am agree with the list except only one item. It is possible to make money (and I do) with Facebook even though it is much much harder because of application spam and competition. Facebook applications and fan pages can bring considerable traffic to micro niche blogs indirectly . Also, there is a nice arbitrage profit chance with Facebook Ads platform with the correct affiliate products as well directly. Especially CPA offers to the correct demographics.

This is great news. A very merry christmas and a happy new year. Thanks