BLOG SUPPORTERS AND SPONSORS

One of the players of mainstream media, The Washington Post, has an article (Make Money off Your Blog) on how to make money on your blogging. As I said many times before, I don't think that I will earn lot of money from my blogging, but it is a great help then it comes to pay a part of the stuff I need in order to keep myself informed and educated, e.g., subscriptions to electronic newsletters and books. Here is an excerpt from the article, Bloggers add moving images to their musings.

"My sense is that a lot of bloggers, including people with a lot less traffic than mine, are finding that the blog ads let it be a hobby that is effectively free for them and maybe even generates a little beer money," said Glenn Reynolds, whose blog at Instapundit.com gets just more than 5 million visits a month. "That seems to me to be a pretty good thing." (NYT / CNET, 02/23/05.)

Going back to the article in the Washington Post, here is the list in the article, included with links to related blog posts.

• Let Google work for you. THE KEY(WORDS) TO ADVERTISING.

• Play ad-sales exec.. BLOG @DVERTISEMENT.

• Be the middleman. COMMISSION JUNCTION AND AUDIBLE. LINKSHARE. NEW ITEMS ON MY LIST.

• Pass the cup. TIPJAR. AMAZON WISH LISTS.

• Sell schwag. GRAND OPENING OF THE EGO ONLINE STORE! (Washington Post, 01/30/05.)

Political commentator Markos Moulitsa of Daily Kos has a "problem"...

The only drawback to being a professional blogger is the newfound celebrity. Moulitsas sometimes gets stopped for autographs. A few who disagree with his views send threatening messages.

"There's a celebrity aspect to it that freaks me out," Moulitsas said. "I wish in many ways I can go back to being anonymous." (Mercury News, Political blog becomes paying job, 02/22/05.)

Go to Wizbang and read Jay Tea's post, Perverted Blogging Economics. How could it be that the socialist (i.e., anti-capitalist) bloggers are the ones who are earning the most money?

Several of the biggest blogs on the left are wholly owned and operated subsidiaries of private companies. Atrios, Kos, Oliver Willis and others all blog for a paycheck. A purely capitalistic "payment for services rendered" system. On the other hand, the biggest conservative blogs (Instapundit, Little Green Footballs, Powerline, (ahem) Wizbang) are pretty much "vanity" sites -- the owners are the bloggers, and they do whatever the hell they want. They make some money off ads and donations, but they mainly do it "for the common good." They have the ability, so they provide. (Wizbang, 02/25/05.)

[Editor's comment: What's the "common good"? I can't find that word in my vocabulary...]

More reading material:

• Bloggers blend business with stuff they like (Chicago Tribune).

• The NL Interview: Blogs cover, and rise with, advertising (Network Landscape). [Via Adrants.]

• The best blogad ever (Blogads).

• Blog Advertising: Right for You? (ClickZ Network).

• Web blurs the line between news and ads (New York Times / IHT).

UPDATE 02/28/05:
Read VoluntaryXchange's post, A Forensic Evaluation of Blogging. [Editor's comment: How much value is EGO blog to you?]

UPDATE 03/06/05:
More companies are entering the blog advertising market. Kanoodle has a new ad service called BrightAds RSS. Is Yahoo creating a contextual ad program based on Overture technology? [Via Online Marketing Blog.]

UPDATE 03/07/05:
Check out the Blog Money Experiment. [Via The Blog Herald.]

Can an online amateur make money with a blog? This is the online diary of one guy's attempt to generate extra cash by blogging. Follow, advise and criticize a newbie as he tracks his "blogging for bucks" adventures, step by step. This is not "the money blog," it's the behind-the-scenes story... (blog4bucks.blogspot.com)