Marketing

Exploring Blog Monetization

Often, I've been asked how I make money blogging. My typical response is that I don't, directly. I blog because I feel I have something important to say. Yet there is an indirect component. Blogging boosts my profile. People can learn more about what and how I think and hopefully, decide to retain me for various contracts.

Yet part of what I'm interested in is how people make money online. It seems like a lot of it is selling snake oil, and there are probably hundreds of new scams created each day. Other parts are just over hyped. So, let's take a serious look at the sort of revenues that can be made on a blog.

First, there is Cost per Thousand Impression, or CPM advertising. This is advertising where you get paid by the number of times an ad is seen on your website. CPM rates can be all over the place, from much less than $1 per thousand impressions to more than $10 per thousand impressions. These rates will depend on whether you can target advertisements, the size of the advertisements and other factors. So lets take a blog with 10,000 impressions a month. Let's assume a better than average CPM of $4 per thousand impressions. If you don't have a great way of selling your ads, you might end up only getting $.25 per thousand impressions. If you can get ten such ads, you could be making about $400 per month, or only $25 per month. That said, I suspect many bloggers are getting closer to $25 per month.

Next there is Cost Per Click, or CPC advertising. The percentage of ads displayed that actually get clicked on varies considerably. Some people claim that rate is as high as 2% to 4%. Others report an average about a quarter of a percent of advertisements actually getting clicked on. This means that if you have 10,000 impressions a month, between 25 and 400 ads will actually get clicked on. Like with CPM advertising, the CPC rates vary considerably. For some ads, they might be as high as $10. For others, they can be less than $1. So, if you are getting 4% of your ads clicked on, that is 400 ads. If you get $1 per click, that is $400, about the same as more profitable CPM advertising. On the other hand, if you are getting a dollar per click on about .25% of advertisements, you're back at the $25/month range.

Let me pause for a moment to talk about the quality of traffic you receive, and how to increase traffic, and/or quality of traffic. One measure is the demographics. If I get a lot of really rich folks that like to buy things online, my traffic is really valuable to advertisers. If I get some traffic from moms trying to save a buck, that is still somewhat valuable. If most of my traffic is from people trying to find where to download free nude pictures of the latest celebrity, that traffic probably isn't worth a lot.

There are several networks that I belong to that bring in additional traffic to my site. EntreCard is a site where bloggers advertise their blogs on other participating blogs. People hop from one EntreCard site to the next 'dropping their cards' to gain credits that can be used to buy more advertising. This network drives a fair amount of traffic to me, but it is mostly, 'drop and run' traffic, that in most cases barely even reads my blog posts.

Adgitize works in a similar manner. It seems to be a smaller, more dedicated group of bloggers. With Adgitize, you buy and advertisement using real money, as opposed to the EntreCard Credits that EntreCard uses. Then, you receive credits for the number of other participating blogs you visit, for the number of ad impressions served, and for keeping your content current. For me, this site is generating about 60% of the traffic that EntreCard produces, but the participants spend more time on my site. In addition, each month, I receive more money from Adgitize than I spend on my advertisements. If you are an active blogger interested in low level monitization of your website, as well as building up a stronger community of readers, I recommend Adgitize.

Third in this group is CMF Ads. They have different advertising options, including a CPC and a CPM model. I've experimented with different options. As a general rule, the money that I make from CMF Ads gets reinvested into advertisements. It doesn't generate as much traffic as EntreCard or Adgitize, but can be a nice complement to the other networks. I use all three as you will see on the right side of this blog. I should note that both Adgitize and CMF Ads has an affiliate program so if you consider using them, please click on my links so I get credit.

Another form of advertising is paid posts. I haven't really done any paid posts, so I can't comment on them. I do participate in Business2Blogger which sends out an email of different opportunities to review products and get free samples. So far, most of the opportunities haven't been very interesting to me, and those that are, get filled up by other bloggers quickly.

Updated 10/1/2010

I have just received an email from Chris Kensworthy asking me to take down my links to the Escalate Network promotions because I have listed what the payout is. Because of my commitment to transparency, I seriously question the online advertising ethics of Escalate Network, Chili's and Vital Juice.

I am complying with their request and modifying the section below. I also strongly encourage people not to join Escalate Network, purchase chips from Chile's or sign up for Vital Juice.

Today, Business2blogger announced a special deal for its members to join Escalate Media Affiliate Network. As an affiliate network, I do get money for people signing up, so please consider it. Escalate Media is running on a third type of online advertising called Cost Per Action, or CPA advertising. One particular type of CPA advertising is Cost Per Lead, or CPL advertising. For simplicity, I just lump them all together as CPA.

What this means is that even if you click on an advertisement, the blogger doesn't get any money, unless you complete a specific action. This action could be something as simple as signing up for a mailing list, completing a survey, or filling out a form to request free samples.

As an illustration, if you click on:
(Ad for Chile's removed)
to can sign up for Chili's Free chips and queso coupons. You probably get added to a mailing list, and I get an amount I am not allowed to disclose.

Or, you can sign up for a nutrition mailing list from Vital Juice.
(Ad for Vital Juice removed)
I get an amount Vital Juice does not want disclosed from Vital Juice for each signup. People who like chips and are concerned about their health might want to try both.

As a different example, if you order a 'Free' Tote bag from VistaPrint, I get an amount that it might be okay with VistaPrint if I disclose, but I believe that Escalate Network would have a fit. I believe that only happens if you go all the way through and actually get one of the tote bags. Of course the way VistaPrint does this is that they offer a free totebag, but then try to get you to buy more things while you are there. Why not get a dozen tote bags instead? Maybe you can carry your chips in your tote bags.

Since this is my first day with Escalate Network, I'll experiment a little bit with it to see how it goes. If it seems productive, I may take some space on the right of my blog to further promote them.

The advertising on this blog isn't likely to replace the consulting that I do, but it gives me good information about various programs that are out there.

How about you? Are you making money off of your blog? How important is that to you? Are you getting the traffic you want? Are there other sites that you recommend?

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#digiday - The Future of Apps

One of the panels at Digiday Social was "Is The App The Future of Social? . Perhaps it would have been better named, "What is the future of apps?"

Adam Broitman, Founder and Ringleader of Circ.us said that 80% of free apps that get downloaded do not get used on the second day, and only 5% are still in use 30 days later. He compared apps to the early days of AOL. Apps are convenient, but eventually, people want more open systems.

As an innovator/early adopter with a Nokia N900, a cellphone that is great for application developers that want to work with open source software, I am an outlier. I have a little over 100 apps loaded on my phone. They are all free apps and I use many of them very frequently.

On the other hand, every day I get several pitches for the latest new iPhone app. With over 250,000 application in the app store, it is hard to get noticed, and I suspect there are a lot of apps that are either duplicates or simply wastes of time.

I regularly respond to these pitches asking if there are plans to make the apps available on Android, Blackberry, Maemo/Meego, or as HTML5. Typically, the response is that something like that is in the works.

This illustrates two issues that apps developers need to face: cross platform development and apps discovery.

Right now, there are two major apps stores, one for the iPhone and one for Android. There are plenty of other apps stores around. An article in Rethink Wireless about HTC's latest move mentions

Verizon Wireless... is divorcing its Android V Cast Apps storefront from the generic Android Market and preloading its own apps storefront.

Another Rethink Wireless article talks about Nokia and Intel showing off updated app stores.

Purnima Kochikar, VP for Forum Nokia, the developer community, was pushing the line that she was "empowering developers, not chasing app store numbers".

The article talks a little bit about the Intel AppUp Center and mentions Meego in passing. It doesn't get into the issue of repositories that Maemo and Meego developers argue about. Yet the architecture of Maemo and Meego facilitate anyone to set up their own repository or app store.

The Nokia and Intel strategy is focused on Qt, a cross-platform application and user interface framework. The idea is that you can build an application in Qt and then compile it to run on any device that supports Qt. This is a great idea and if Broitman is right might be some of the direction that apps development is heading, except that iPhone and Android are not set up well for Qt applications yet.

There is one project that looks really interesting. It is Android Lighthouse which allows you to compile and package Qt applications for Android. I don't have an Android phone to play with right now, so I haven't tried it out, but it looks really promising.

There is also the Nitdroid project to run Android on the Nokia tablets, like the N900. I may install that at some point, but it repartitions the whole microSD card, so I'm waiting for a chance to explore this in more detail. When I have time to really explore it, I just might build some Qt apps to run on my N900 and see if I can get them to run under Maemo, Mer, Meego, and Nitdroid.

While I like Qt as a potential cross platform development tool, others at the conference suggested that ultimately everything will move to HTML5. I see several issues with this. Applications need to access information that might not be available to HTML5. Simple location information from a GPS might be available, but some of the more interesting bits of location information, such as the altitude might not be accessible. Things like the cameras, the accelerometer, the battery usage, or other tidbits of information from the mobile device might also not be available. In addition, I am concerned that HTML5 and Javascript or AJAX may run much more slowly that compiled Qt applications.

One application that I use quite a bit is Dorian, an eBook reader for the N900. I am reading eBooks that are stored on the N900. It is true that using lighttpd, or the file: protocol, I could make the books available online to an HTML5 application, but that seems like overkill. Things like books, music, pictures and video may be best accessed directly from the device.

Back to the issue of discovery, this is a key issue, not only for apps, but for many things people search for on the Internet. I hope to write more about the broader discovery issue soon. One panelist suggested that if discovery of apps is an issue, you need better control over the app stores. Yet Apple's control over its app store does not seem to have helped. Instead, it seems like you need better discovery mechanisms.

This takes us back to Broitman's comment about Apps being like AOL. As Google and Yahoo made it easier for people to discover the content they wanted online, they left the walled gardens of AOL and more people started creating webpages outside of AOL. It is reasonable to expect something similar will happen as it becomes easier to create new apps and search more locations for apps.

Apps should be an important part of marketers' strategies. For the time being, they might be able to get away with staying in the wall gardens of Apple. However, the smart players will explore cross platform apps and always fall back to an HTML5 page for mobile devices that don't support their apps.

So, if you are pitching a cool new app to me, be prepared for my question about cross platform capabilities, and know that I'm unlikely to write about it unless it runs on the N900 or has an HTML5 page.

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@laurenperkins @ckieff - A #Digiday Unconference

Tuesday, I attended the Digiday Social Conference and ended up engaging in a metadiscussion with @laurenperkins and @ckieff about the conference. I suggested a #digiday unconference, but the idea is probably too big to fit into 140 characters, so I'm explaining it here.

Let me start off by providing bits of background. DM2 Media produces a series of conferences around digital publishing, media. and marketing called Digiday. There is Digiday Social, Digiday Mobile, Digiday Apps, Digiday Target and probably a few others that I am forgetting right now. They tend to overlap a fair amount. After all targeted social media campaigns using mobile apps are an important part of where digital publishing, media. and marketing is going.

I attend, and write about many of the Digiday conferences and often have great discussions with Chris Kieff about them on Twitter and during the networking breaks.

About half way through Digiday Social, Lauren Perkins asked Chris, "What do you think of @digiday so far?" Chris replied, "not bad, there is some substance this time. I'm pleased with the lack of 2 year old references. You?" One particular two year old reference that Chris was referring to was Motrin Moms. He tweeted about how glad he was that they made it through the conference without a reference to Motrin's famous social media fail.

Lauren replied, "Was hoping to hear more about where we as an industry go next - how we are going to use innovation". I'm with Lauren. I would love to have some good discussions about where we go next. Chris responded, "That discussion happens behind closed doors and costs more money... :) "

The discussion meandered on and Lauren said, "I would say that #digiday has great speakers but a lot of the content is for those who are not engrossed in it every day". I think Lauren was right about that, but there is some value to speaking to newbies. As I see it, Digiday is an opportunity to help new people learn about the value of social, mobile, targeted apps and related strategies.

I jumped in and suggested "A digiday unconference might be really interesting." Lauren replied, " interesting.... what do you propose for an un @digiday event?"

I am a big fan of unconferences and regular readers of my blog will recall discussions about Podcamps; unconferences about podcasting and social media. The Podcamps I've attended tend to be mostly aimed at individual content creators, and not at people in the marketing and media worlds. A Podcamp aimed at those in the biz might be really interesting.

Podcamps are unconferences that grew out of barcamps, which are unconferences in the Open Space Technology tradition. They are typically free, or have a minimal cost.

Wikipedia defines an unconference as a "facilitated, participant-driven conference centered on a theme or purpose". My experiences with unconferences have been that they are great for emerging topics. The day before Digiday Social, Peggy Holman's new book, Engaging Emergence: Turning Upheaval into Opportunity came out. I've attended unconferences facilitated by Peggy and she is a master at it and her book is one that people interested in emerging trends, such as social, mobile, targeted apps and related strategies should read.

Good unconferences, in my opinion, should be brainstorming sessions, without product pitches. Powerpoint presentations are a good way to lose an audience at an unconference. In many ways, it seems like a good social marketing strategy should be very similar to an unconference. It should listen to the audience and engage them. It should encourage user generated content.

I suspect the fear that many brands have of a social media campaign, "What if someone says something bad about my brand or does something inappropriate?" is very similar to the fear that people have of unconferences. People like to be in control, whether it be of the marketing campaign or the conference experience, but the big wins come when people give up a little bit of control and let something exciting and perhaps even viral emerge.

So, what would a #digiday unconference be like? Imagine DM2 Media gathering some of the best and the brightest in the worlds of social, mobile, targetted, and apps in a large room. Everyone would get a brief moment to introduce themselves and suggest a topic or two that they are interested in. The organizers would gather up the topics and arrange them to be in breakout rooms. There would be no presenter and no pitches Instead, there would be a moderator and a note taker. Probably the best note taking would be done via twitter. Everyone would participate, sharing ideas, experiences and passions.

To the extent that a sponsor wanted something specific about their products, sessions could be included where people would sit around and talk about the products. The sponsor would be well advised to provide a very brief, "this is what the product is" introduction, followed by a chance for users to share experiences and prospects to ask questions or share ideas of things they would like to do with the product. It would be like a good social campaign targeted at users and potential users.

Broader topics could also be explored, such as "What is the future of Apps?" Instead of listening to three or four sages on the stage talk about it, a lot of interesting new ideas could emerge from the participants.

So, what do you say? Anyone up for UnDigiday?

#digiday - Gamifying The News

One of the most interesting comments from Digiday Social conference in New York City on Tuesday was that more people play social games, like Farmville, than read the newspaper. I haven't found a source to back up this comment or to get details about exactly who they are counting, or how, but on the surface, it is frightening. More people seem more concerned about acquiring fictitious grapes from a fictitious farm stand than about acquiring information that is necessary for our democracy to thrive. Perhaps the politician seeking to get elected would do better seeking ad placements in social games than they would be in participating in debates.

Yet perhaps there is a glimmer of hope from the Digiday Mobile conference for the future of journalism coming in the form of a neologism. The emerging buzzword of the conference was "Gamification". A San Francisco startup calledGamify defines the verb gamify, as "Applying game mechanics to bring fun and engagement where needed." Perhaps it is sorely needed to bring fun and engagement back to the news industry.

A few years ago, I participated in some "Play The News" games where participants would read up on a news story and make predictions about how it would turn out. As an example, people might read up on the primaries that happened last night, and make predictions about the outcomes. Will Christine O'Donnell and Karl Rove make nice? Will she win the general election? People who follow the news would be expected to perform better in this game. With game mechanics in place to track who is doing the best, people will feel encouraged to participate.

Unfortunately, this was a couple years ago, before social gaming really took off and I don't know whatever happened to the game. Another site that I've always been interested in is NewsTrust. This site crowdsources efforts to find quality journalism. They base their results not on gaming the news the way people do at Digg or Reddit, but on aspects of whether the story has multiple sources, anonymous sources, uses purple language, only presents one side of the story, and other means of judging the quality of a news story. You could review reviewers as well and see how well each reviewer was doing. They are on their way to gamification.

Of course, NPR listeners are likely to think of Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me!, the NPR news quiz show. They have done a great job of gamification of the news. However, a social media game for listeners to play along at home could take this to a whole new level.

So, it may be frightening that more people play social games than read newspapers. On the other hand, it might be a great opportunity to encourage greater understanding of what is going on around us and greater civic engagement by gamifying the news.

#Digiday Social and Gestalt Blogging

What am I doing, sitting on a 6:56 AM train to New York City writing a blog post on my cellphone? That is what I asl myself as the fine fall morning slips quickly by my train window, punctuated by red spikes of sumack.

Yesterday was a frustrating day. The spam filter on my server failed bringing everything to a crawl. I had hoped to go into the city yesterday as well, but between feeling rundown, having server problems, having some family logistical issues, and dealing with the foster puppies, that just didn't happen.

I am way behind on my emails and hoped that at least I could catch up on them a little. No luck. I did get a chance to respond to a couple PR requests and pursue a job lead a little bit. I took some time to research some articles. I watched a mailing list struggle as members left because other members wouldn't stay on task. All of this is good blog fodder, but it leaves me further behind.

So what does all of this have to do with #digiday social and gestalt blogging and why have I taken so long to get to my point? Don't I remember the rule about not buring my lede?

One of the emails I responded to yesterday was from a communications director who questioned if I deserved press credentials from her organization. While most organizations are all too eager to grant me press credentials, I still run into this from time to time and it still bugs me.

I can understand some of it. I write in my own style, often using the first person and often avoiding the conventions of the AP style guide. At the same time, I shun some of the conventional wisdom about blogging. I do not limit myself to a single niche.

This finally gets me to my point. One niche I like to write about is digital advertising and marketting, not something political bloggers often write about, although I think they should. When you get to social marketting, it becomes all the more complicated.

While some people try to segment their online lives; Facebook for family and friends, LinkedIn for business contacts and Twitter and other sites for random noise, our real lives are notso neat. We see co-workers at church. We run into former classmates at PTO meetings. We try to integrate our lives as much as possible..

The brand that is launching a social campaign would be well advised to pay attention to this, especially if they are seeking that digital holy grail of marketing, viralness.

A campaign goes viral when people take it across the artificial boundaries of our lives. It happens when someone shares a link at work on Facebook with their friends after hearing about it at the water cooler.

Will the folks at digiday social get this and talk about it? Hard to tell. Will the communications directors for various organizations get? We'll see. What about the political operatives? Let us hope so.

The train continues rolling towards New York City. The sumac is being replaced by graffiti. Perhaps that, also, is a metaphor about what is happening in social marketting, but that's a different post.

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