Jerry D. Russell

One of the most common sights on Internet job boards these days is a call for bloggers to write for new blogs and community sites.  While this is a good thing for bloggers, the trend that I see goes something like this:

Need reliable self-editing, experienced writers ASAP.

We pay a highly competitive rate; you’ll write 7-40 posts each week.

If interested please send resume, clips, succinct cover letter, and link to any blogs you write/contribute to.

FakeCompanyEmail@fakecompany.com

This expectation for prolific amounts of weekly posts seems to be the norm for most blog networks and startup blogs looking to gain popularity quickly.  Massive amounts of posts attract search engine spiders and get RSS subscribers quickly and these companies are betting that ten to twelve posts per day from multiple blog authors is going to gain them a very quick entry into the B-List. The problem is they’ve got it all wrong!

The Issue with Information Overload

The inherent problem with this line of thinking is that even though posting huge amounts of information on a regular basis may very well get you a very large reader base in the beginning, most casual readers won’t be staying with you for very long. Readers will tire of the constant barrage of information, even if it’s in very small and digestible chunks.  I don’t know how many different blogs I’ve unsubscribed from simply because I couldn’t possibly keep up with the amount of information they were throwing out.

This model may work if what you’re after is getting your posts plastered all over Google with the intention of gaining random clicks on relevant advertising.  As a matter of fact, the more is better model is wonderful for that, simply because the ads begin to look more relevant than the content!

The downside to this model is that it tends to favor short posts that only vaguely cover a given topic.  The publisher wants more, more, more, which leaves the writers to popping off quick, sometimes incomplete or at least woefully under thought articles so that they can move on to the next one and make more money.  The emphasis on quality suffers and the bloggers themselves may begin to suffer from burnout, which makes their posts even less informative.

Why Quality is the Key

Let’s take a single niche and look at who the big boys are.  When you talk about blog-centric A-Listers, you come up with several names very quickly. Andy Beard, John Chow, Skelliewag and of course, the venerable Maki of DoshDosh are all driving forces in the world of blogs on blogging and marketing.  They’re all very good at what they do, and they have several things in common.

The thing that makes these bloggers a must read is that they don’t ever push quantity over quality. Andy Beard may or may not post for a week at a time, but when he does, his readers are given a very insightful piece of work that has been thought out carefully and is written extremely well. Maki posts once per week at DoshDosh, but nearly always rules the StumbleUpon and Digg listings when he does.  His writing is on topic, it makes sense and he’s speaking to an audience that really wants to hear what he has to say.

The articles at skelliewag are something that I look forward to, because Skellie knows what she’s talking about and she’s willing to share it with a community that gobbles up every word she writes. John Chow posts more frequently than these others, but he nearly always posts in great detail on a topic, and he writes with passion (You may not agree with him, or even like him, but he’s got passion.)

The thing these people have in common is that they write content that people want to read. They have never fallen into the trap of slamming out posts at an insane rate just to satisfy the great beast that is Google.  They allow their readers to carry their message and they simply do what they do best.  They Write, Inform and at times entertain.

There is another key to the success of all of these bloggers.  Their blogs are simple. Jump to skelliewag, DoshDosh or Andybeard.eu and you’re going to find great content, not a lot of glitz, glam and widgetry floating about. The focus is on the content.  It’s something to consider when you’re deciding on a theme for your own blog. (I’m paying attention, too.  I was just in the mood for some black)

So what’s it gonna be?

I’m not saying that blogs or networks that pump out tonnes of information all the time don’t have their place.  They do.  But if you’re going to be blogging for yourself and you’d like to become recognized for your work, it’s probably best to avoid the temptation of posting several short articles per day. unless you’re running a news-based blog. (At which point this article no longer applies).

The best in the business are not only icons, they’re teachers.  They have something to teach you.  learn from them.

Or you can fall to the poser of the dark side and simply pollute the bloggosphere with another “Hey, I just saw this great piece by…” Article.  The choice is yours.

If you accept paid blog advertising there’s a new option for you to consider, and unlike some of the other services that I’ve mentioned recently, this one is live, accepting sign ups and making payments. Snapbomb has been up and running for a while, but it has done so with little fanfare.  By the time I signed up for the service, they were already running a slew of campaigns from brand-name advertisers and now they are ready to get more bloggers into the mix to even things out.

Why would a business of this type start out without a huge amount of fanfare?  The reasons are simple.  While other companies have been shouting to the four winds that they would be open for business on a certain date, then falling into the mists of vaporware when they could not keep their commitment, snapbomb has been slowly and steadily building their business, getting advertisers, attracting a dedicated core of bloggers and moving forward.  This is good business.

Any company that follows sound business practices should be applauded, but snapbomb takes their commitment to succeeding a step farther than most other blog marketing  services in several other areas.  The blogger interface is a prme example of this. Campaigns are broken down into easily readable and digestible entries based on each blog that you have in their network.  No more searching for an opportunity only to find that you aren’t eligible on the blog you need to post on.

They also provide page view stats at-a-glance, so there’s no question how well your blog has been performing traffic-wise.  While part of the bog valuation process is based on PR and traffic, the number of good reviews you receive has a serious impact on your overall payout numbers as well. In essence, snapbomb pays bloggers who write relevant, high quality posts more than those who simply spew out a post with just enough meat to cover the requirements given in the opportunity.  In my opinion this is good for bloggers, advertisers and the bloggosphere as a whole.

The sign up process is what you would expect.  Just go to snapbomb’s blogger page, sign up, get your blogs entered and verified, then start making money by writing reviews and creating a buzz for the advertiser.  All earnings are reported by blog, which is a feature that I personally find extremely valuable.  Payments are made on the 5th of each month, meaning that your lump payments will be larger, and that’s never a bad thing either.

Of all the different services I work with, snapbomb is one that I see moving into the future.  They’ve got a good start and with any luck they’ll be poised to take on the behemoths in the blog marketing industry within a few years.  Competition is good, it makes all of us that accept this type of work more money in the end, because the companies that pay the most on a consistant basis will be the ones that survive, not those that fall to the temptation of bells and whistles.

Check them out for yourself.

Is the recession affecting paid blog advertising?  It looks like it, at least from my perspective.  Where once there were 80 to 100 opportunities to chose from at PayPerPost, there are now 30 or 40. Other services such as LoudLaunch are seeing a decline in the number of offers available as well.  Prices at SocialSpark are dropping even lower than normal (and that is truly depressing) as bloggers jump at the chance to take a low paying opportunity rather than to forgo any income at all.

Newcomers to the Advertorial Arena are also serving to drive prices down.  With each new company offering Paid Advertorial post, the market becomes more competitive and offering prices are reflecting this. There is no reason for an advertiser to pay top dollar for bloggers from one network when the bloggers on a different network are more than willing to take an opportunity for half the price. It’s simple supply-and demand economics at work.

If you are an A or B-List blogger you may not notice this trend as quickly, simply because advertisers are still quite willing to pay out large amounts of money for someone with a readership of 10,000 per day.  If you’re like the rest of us, the crunch is already here, and there is little that we can do about it until the market stabilizes.  When this will happen is anyone’s guess at this point.

I’m not an economist, I just play one on the Internet

Markets Fluctuate

There will be those that say that the lack of good opportunities and higher-paying jobs is simply a market fluctuation, and that everything will be better as the Christmas Season approaches.  In many ways these people would be absolutely correct.  Holidays are most definitely a driving force for advertising budgets in many markets.  As we move towards major shopping holidays there is sure to be a flurry of activity in retail sectors that will translate directly into higher paying opportunities for advertorial publishers. unfortunately, I doubt they will be as frequent as they were in the previous two years.

The issue isn’t the willingness of advertisers to spend their dollars.  The issue is that with rising fuel prices and a related drop in sales, the advertisers just don’t have the budget that they had last year.  For the manufacturer to stay competitive in their respective market, money that they were spending on advertising last year is now being diverted to transportation costs, or in some cases to aiding communities that were affected by the recent flurry of natural disasters all across the United States.

High Fuel Cost + Community support efforts = fewer advertising dollars

So what’s a blogger to do?

For now, I would suggest looking in to as many revenue streams as possible.  It is highly unlikely that the Advertorial market is going to pick up to the same level we’ve been used to in the next 12 months.  The Freelance writing market is a god place to look if you feel that you have the skills to write 400 to 1,500 word pieces that companies would be willing to pay for.  This market doesn’t fall to economic pressures as rapidly as technology based industries do, though there has been a slight dip in offering prices in some sectors.  There are however, many freelance opportunities for travel writing and the advertising budget for that industry is actually increased at thimes when people are staying at home more often.

Blog advertising networks and direct advertising may also help to ease the crunch.  If you have not looked in to these options yet, now is most definitely the time to do so. Even if the overall amount earned from having ad-network ads placed on your site doesn’t equal what you could make for posting a few advertorials, it will still earn a consistent income, and it’s something you only have to do once.  From there it simply continues to earn you money, allowing you to focus on content and traffic.

Direct advertising can be trickier, since it requires you to manage the statistics and amounts you charge.  The upside is that you don’t have to pay a fee to a third party company for this type of advertising. The profits are all yours, and you determine your rate.  Go look at other popular blogs that accept this type of advertising for a few hints.  The topic is far to broad for the scope of this article, and I will revisit it in my next post.

Don’t Jump Ship Just Yet

I don’t think that the paid post industry is going anywhere, at least not for quite awhile.  It will take time for the market to stabilize in the face of economic challenges, but in the end, this will drive smaller companies out of business and leave the true industry leaders sitting at the head of the class. These services will have what it takes to both provide advertisers with valued services and to provide their subscribed writer base with a decent payout for their efforts.  At that point I believe things will go back to a very close semblance of “normal”, though they may never go back to the rates we once saw.

Just hang in there, diversify and grow your opportunities as they come along.  This is a business, and businesses survive by being able to adapt to changing economic models and customer dynamics.  It’s the way itt goes in a free market.  So get to adapting!

(Edit: As I was writing this, SocialSpark presented me with a rather extensive list of opportunities at over $10.00 per.  These were from financial companies, another industry that increases advertising in times of recession.)