For the past five minutes I‘ve been sitting at my desk, staring in open mouthed amazement at an email about this article I just read. Mind you, I am not a Steve Jobs fan, nor was I ever completely fooled by the farce. But I am awestruck at Dan Lyons startlingly low income confession. The rumor mill scuttle butt of blogging A-Listers throwing in the towel is equally amazing – and disheartening. Lyons publicly admitted he was getting in excess of 1.5 million hit’s a month, yet was only making in the neighborhood of $1,000 bucks a month in revenue from his biggie big Steve Jobs blog. To me, this doesn’t seem like it was necessarily a “writing/blogging” problem – but more so, a marketing issue. If his content was generating that level of traffic – it seems obvious to me, the blogging itself was a success. But if that level of traffic was unable to generate a more substantial income than $1k a month – again, that seems like an obvious marketing problem. Some people are writers, some people are internet marketing gurus – and the few that have mastered both are millionaires.
Content whore. Paid advertising flunkie. Queen of the 3 paragraph 87% key word dense blog post. Princess of the unlimited pen name. I’ve been called all of the above – and worse. I’ve sold my rights for as little as $1.50 for 500 word articles, and been paid as much as $100 for 300 words. I’ve done reviews, I’ve done product descriptions, I’ve written SEO, I’ve written rhyming children’s content – I’ve even sold song lyrics and pictures of my dog. I have never placed the Google AdSense code on a single blog or website of mine. I’ve never joined an affiliate program. Yet, I have managed to turn as much as $2k a month off my keyboard and determination. So when I read disheartening things like the A-Listers giving up because they’re not making money… part of me is sad.
And another part thinks… heh! Less competition.
I wrote this back in November of last year:
Freelance Writers in an Uncertain Economy
In the uncertain US economy, everyone is becoming increasingly concerned about their job security, and the markets in general. The content/advertising market, however, is one niche that will likely experience growth. (Yes, that was my prediction)Some websites and blogs that sell products and services will likely fold, because the owners will be forced out of business. However, the ones that remain will need quality web content and highly targeted advertising more than ever! Not to mention the amount of new businesses that may now branch out to the internet as a way to expand their retail sales. In the past, webmasters have chosen to “wing it” by writing their own web content, and doing their own SEO. They also had the money to experiment with many different types of advertising and promotions.
My Content Predictions
With budgets tightening up, I predict two things to happen. First, we will likely see a panic in our market where publishers and websites simply aren’t buying anything – primarily because they will need a re-adjustment period. They will have to take a hard look at what they have, and make budgeting decisions, and as I said – some may fold. But once the market settles again, the remaining businesses will then be ready to proceed with a much more aggressive and targeted strategy. The new businesses branching out to the internet will also want to be as competitive and targeted as possible. This is where my second prediction comes into play. I foresee a virtual boom in the demand for web content and targeted advertising.
My Advertising Predictions
One of the biggest changes I foresee to advertising is that affiliate programs, with the exception of AdSense, will likely be a thing of the past. I believe advertisers will realize that they’ve wasted a lot of money on improperly targeted ad placement. For example, how many times have you saw products such as fashion wear on a website about hiking or mountain biking? Because most of these campaigns were designed to pick up on “key words” within the content and display what might be a relevant ad – if the website mentions clothing – the program may well pull and display Gucci advertisements. I foresee the advertisers wanting a much more reliable and targeted form of advertising.
My Emerging Business Predictions
Right now the market is literally ripe for someone to launch a business to sort this mess out and help advertisers get to where they really need to be. (hint entrepreneurs!) For writers, I suggest that during this “slack” time, we all brush up on changes with Google. When the market does pick back up, these content buyers and publishers are going to want the best bang for their buck and SERPs will be more important that ever before. So buckle up and get ready for a bumpy ride! But take heart – I do believe this will actually be a good thing for us and our marketplace in the end!
