For all of the millions of blogs on the web, only an incredibly small fraction generate enough revenue to serve as full time jobs. Most people are happy enough with just sharing their thoughts with the public, even if they only see a few hundred hits a months with the very occasional comment. But what if there was a way for even these small-timers to generate enough money to put food on the table?
Larry Genkin, the founder and editor of Blogger and Podcaster Magazine, is looking to help the long tail of bloggers turn their hobby into a lucrative job. He has started the Blogger and Podcaster Media Network, a consortium of bloggers and related companies looking to help bloggers of all sizes effectively monetize their sites without having to worry about having a relatively small audience. The site is currently open for signups, but won’t go live until early next year.
At launch the BPMN is a rollup of companies including Genkin’s magazine, Fuel My Blog (A bloggers’ social network based in the UK), Podcast Pickle (a podcasters’ social network), and SocialRank, a company similar to Sphere that monitors blogs for related and popular content.
Each of these companies will help promote the new network, and will also offer technology to help bloggers build out their site (for example, they’ll be able to use SocialRank’s technology). The BPMN will also try to partner with large media companies to help give blogs more exposure. To help each blog get started, the company has partnered with PR NewsWire, which will offer each blogger a promotion package Genkin says is worth $2000.
The BPMN will also have a dedicated sales team for advertising. Genkin says that large ad networks like Federated Media cater to large blogs, leaving most of the long tail bloggers to fend for themselves. Because BPMN will be representing a large number of blogs at once, Genkin says it will be able to secure more favorable deals. The network will have a rev-share agreement with bloggers, giving 70% of ad revenues to members.
Beyond advertising, The BPMN is also employing an affiliate scheme to help bloggers generate revenue. Genkin says that for every blogger a member brings into the network, they’ll earn around $500-1000 a year. It sounds like this is the primary way the BPMN expects to help small time bloggers earn full-time salaries (just recruit 50 bloggers and you’re set!), but recruiting bloggers is more difficult than it sounds, which is where I think the BPMN might fall short. To further entice bloggers, The BPMN is offering a (presumably small) equity stake in the company to early adopters on the network who sign up by the end of the year. And the last selling point: bloggers will have healthcare coverage, though the details for this have yet to be worked out.
The Blogger and Podcast Media Network is going to have a long struggle ahead. Even if advertisers are enticed by the ability to make large ad buys across the network that are more favorable than AdSense, most individual bloggers still won’t be seeing much income from their ads. And the affiliate scheme sounds too good to be true – I doubt many people will be able to recruit enough bloggers to earn a sizable income. If Genkin can pull off some partnerships with large media corporations (his magazine already scored a deal with USA Today), these bloggers may be able to increase their traffic and generate some revenue, but I have a hard time picturing small time bloggers earning full time wages.
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Bloggers who blog for money, just won’t make it. You have to be passionate about blogging and also have a strategy. Cross promotion can boost your traffic and traffic=dollars basically, something that I will be writing a post on within the next 24 hours.
True – you need to have a good strategy. I have been blogging (on and off) in the past 3 yrs. While I have yet to earn anything substantial via advertising, the blog was a series of experiments that have somehow turned out well – eg, I get occasiaonal freelance work as a writer & viral marketer
Looking forward to read your article about cross promotion
Good connections can be made from blogging…no doubt. Yeah, It Will go up at midnight (Pacific Time of course)
Part of the problem is that today blogs and podcasts are predominantly consumed by early adopters. As an industry we haven’t reached the exponentially larger mainstream audience (which will make earning a significant income feasible for more than just a few “A” listers). The reasons for this are primarily because the technology (RSS, XML, blog readers, podcatchers, syncing etc.) is too daunting for the average person and they mainstream doesn’t know how to easily and quickly find quality blogs/podcasts on the topics they’re interested in (they do a google search…get a million results…and finding blogs/podcasts in there is like a “needle in a haystack”.) The Blogger & Podcaster Media Network and our mainstream media partners will be working hard to change this. You can read the details of our plan at: http://www.blog...PMN_Article.htm
How can they back up this $500-$1000 a year for referrals? Most bloggers (who actually serve ads) are lucky to make $100/year. It’s a wonderful idea and sounds great when you say it with an enthusiastic voice, but the truth is it’s a fantasy.
It sounds like they will have a difficult time with their “plan” but it will also be hard for bloggers to recruit people..unless you are an influential blogger..in which case you won’t be a part of this whole deal anyways…so back to square one.
I’ve just read the cross promotion tips + other articles that you’ve written. Great suff!:) am envious. wish I have spent more more time blogging & building reputation as a blogger, like you & Yaro Starak (http://www.entr...urs-journey.com) – and then sit back, relax and see ad revenues flow in automatically. But you see, I was tempted by the more immediate benefits of “back-end writing” (eg, company profiles, product/services descriptions, letters, viral marketing – stuff whereby my name is not credited). Time to think about a career change, perhaps
We’ll be publishing full details on the Blogger & Podcaster Media Network in the upcoming issue of Blogger & Podcaster magazine being released later this week (you will be able to read it online at http://www.blog...ndpodcaster.com). I appreciate the skepticism, but four companies are merging for the expressed purposes of giving small and medium sized bloggers/podcasters the ability to earn a full-time living from practicing their craft. We’ve been working on this plan for over a year so we’re very confident in being able to deliver this kind of income for our members, or we wouldn’t risk discussing something we couldn’t deliver. Beyond a livable income we’re also offering lots of other benefits, like equity in the company (for those who sign-on by 12/31/08), and promotion of our members blogs/podcasts through mainstream media. There’s no cost, exclusivity requirements or long term obligations so there’s really no downside of giving us the benefit of the doubt to help do something good for the NON-”A listers” who are responsible for the power of the blogosphere, but don’t reap any of the rewards for the entity they’re responsible for creating.
This is dead pool before it even starts. You have not been very successful in any other scheme before. Your USA Today racket for podcasters is just milking them for money. This sounds like a Pyramid business with the likings of Amway
I’ll signing up. Sounds interesting thanks for the heads up.
This is not a feasible plan, as the business model is no different from squidoo, or hubpages. Except now they call it a blog network instead, but clearly not if the quality of these blogs are not up to par.
This sounds like a pipe dream if they plan to do this for hundreds or thousands of blogs. They would be better off finding about 10 blogs that do a great job, who only generate about 20-30K (or less) visitors a month and aren’t generating money. He should then incubate each of those by offering them exclusive tools such as the PRWire/Big media contacts and get each of them up to the 100K a month mark. Take an equity or 2-3 year ad contract with each, and youve got yourself a slew of profitable blogs.
From Post: “Fantasy Land For Bloggers Coming To An Internet Near You”
>>>> OBAMA IS LOSING!!!!!!!!!!
What about the podcaster portion of Blogger and opdcasters?what do you have in store for the rest of us?
-jimilee
http://www.indi...chattanooga.com
Jimilee, podcasters are an integral part of the plan. For example when we sell advertising packages to marketers we will give them the opportunity in reaching their target demographic through both blogs and podcasts by creating what we’re calling an “unwired network” that will allow them to hone in specifically who they are trying to reach. By aggregating together blogs and podcasts we give marketers the ability to have both targeting and critical mass, both key components of securing large advertisers. Additionally, all the benefits, such as promotion through mainstream media, will be for both bloggers and podcasters. If there’s any specfic questions you have, you can email me at lgenkin777 at gmail dot com.
The question is why did you hook up with Podcast Pickle, that makes no sense at all considering there are companies out there that already have podcast advertising networks in place. Podcast Pickle is just a second rate podcast directory.
They are living in a pipe dream. The folks over at Blogger and Podcaster have tried a variety of hair brained ideas in the past. All of them have been completely unsuccessful. They have a deal with USA Today that is a complete joke.
They are working with Podcast Pickle a simple directory what a joke. I wonder if they reached out to companies in the space like Podtrac, Wizzard and Rawvoice who are actually helping podcasters make money in the space.
This will never work
what a joke
I agree, Jim. This site seem site a joke and a grand idea that just doesn’t have the right people behind it. Junk.
The real question is how did this puff piece ever pass muster with Michael. This must have been a pay to play piece.
Yeah, that’s why in the last paragraph I said it might not work. People pay big bucks for that.
Wonderful idea.
This community can grow an every blogger as well as podcaster can get large number of visits fro various network.
Thanks for this start up.
Technology Blogger India.
http://www.iboozi.com
Looks like a wonderful idea!
any site that promises to shell out x amount of money for x i usually take as a scam.
I agree this all sounds nice, but would be tough to do on a large scale. When you figure that all out let us know!
or tell me..directly..
http://www.dveit.com
I have seen worse ideas make money so wont pass judgment, just yet. Let me see….Wordpress MU + Affiliate links + Lots of Bloggers and Podcasters = Easy Money
Right? (@_@) Ha Ha Ha
This makes me think if my blog would be monetisable through this service? I’ve signed up to it and I guess we’ll see. Until then, I’ll just focus on cracking the Alexa top 100,000, I’m just about there
Dwayne.
http://probablysucks.com
The research on these companies show this can be done. Good forward thinking and nice article. I am sure postings from bloggers making money will know, this is a good opportunity if it happens.
Mike
http://www.ceor...nmanagement.com
Thanks for the info. Will sign up.
I will sign up for this. Another option is Instablogs Club which recently opened its blog network to other blogs.
In theory, this sounds great.
But then I checked out the Blogger and Podcaster magazine website. It has not published a new issue in months. Does it even go out as a print magazine anymore? And the editor’s “blog” has only had three entries TOTAL since March of 2008.
Their magazine does not seem successful and if they can’t make the magazine work, why are we supposed to believe that this bigger, grander scheme for bloggers to make money will work?
This sounds like a last-ditch effort by a failed magazine and a few companies that are struggling to make money, or maybe just don’t know any better.
I`ve been working in the publishing business since `94.
I can assure you that producing a magazine is not an easy job, Steve.
I think that L. Genkin has a great idea creating this network.
The small blogger and podcaster NEEDS this kind of community!
Don`t expect 1 000 000 to your bank account just like that!
If you are good writer and blogger, you will be noticed.
Forget about promotions, forget about money! Think about it.
Think about all those small bloggers who want to get some tips and meet others like then. This is a great chance to share your ideas and stuff.
B&P Media Network is a great chance for us, the small blogger, to get together and grow like a community.
Jim, when did you hear about facebook? Have you ever believed that face book will become that big, because I haven`t but how about now?
This is the same.
Great idea Genkins, thank you!
Thanks for the support Peter….and Steve, you’re not completely off base. While we await funding Blogger & Podcaster Magazine has gone to a bi-monthly publishing schedule to conserve cash. Our next issue, that details the launch of The B&P Media Network, will be out in the next day or two. That should not detract from what the four companies coming together to create the network are trying to do for the small/medium size blogger.
It’s crazy that a magazine about Blogging and Podcasting wouldn’t be successful. Seriously, maybe they should have gone with a daily paper about blogging and Podcasting. All aboard the FAILTrain, Woo Woo! New site idea for the taking, reverse Digg voting site about the worst new companies/launches covered by TC.
The problem is correct. As Mark and millions of bloggers have learned, $100 per year has been their advertising earnings.
However, Amway + Snap-clone + OpenX + a few sales reps does not create a strategy. The advertising economics has not changed.
At Exitmercial.com, we change the economics of advertising. We’ll working with print publishers to activate their sales force – hundreds of reps. Rather than $1 minus eCPM, we share $100 plus eCPM with bloggers.
You can sign up at http://exitmercial.com/. Publishers will qualify and approve each applicant.
-DJ
Let me start off by saying that if this works, it’ll be the greatest thing ever created for the longtail of content producers who need that ad revenue but do not have the resources or skills to go out and get it. That being said, it really does sound too good to be true.
I can see a business like this having legs, but they seem to be mismanaging their money right from the start. A Federated Media type service for the longtail is something that market needs. Adsense just cannot deliver that great of CPMs now for the smaller content producer. Even
Of course I’m signing up because this is a great opportunity for a website like mine, but I just hope they can deliver on their promises.
A friend of mine is a blogger.
He is doing that for living and earn enough.
He is getting paid for writing articles in his blogs about companies and products. He is caring the blogs of a few companies as well.
SO I think that making money from google ads is not the idea of making money by blogging.
I hope this network will unite the bloggers and will give them a chance to exchange information.
I have been Beta testing the Exitmercial.com full page ads on my blog.
Currently it is working very well on my site.
You don’t have to replace your existing adsense or other ad services to use Exitmericals. It is an additional way to earn revenue.
Exitmerical’s only display a targeted full page ad when the reader selects an external link on your blog.
You (the source) get credit for displaying the ad not the destination.
You can see how it works by visiting my blog myasp101.blogspot.com
BTW: I have also used Exitmerical’s to prototype a new way to publish eBooks online. By using an option you can have Exitmericals on each chapter links.
Readers get to read your book for free and you get paid for delivering a full page ad for each chapter they read.
Here is a link to one of my prototype books: http://knotsspl...1.blogspot.com/
http://onlinepu...1.blogspot.com/
The key to making any income with your new media project is to experiment and try different approaches to see what works and what doesn’t. I don’t ever just dismiss something out of hand. If it works then we all benefit and if it doesn’t well it’s time to move on.
And always remember, profits follow passion.
this sounds really interesting for all the bloggers….
The concept is quite interesting.. But implementation is what requires for it to be a success.. A good collaboration is what is required.. probably an affiliation with a blogger comunity..
There’s new site (I think it started in Aug/Seo) – http://www.blogertize.in which seems to be doing well. You could collaborate with these guys.. or a blogger community like vblogcatalog could also be of some help
Enough talk. I want to see the ball rolling. Then we can decide if the idea is bad or good.