Confessions of a Six Figure Professional Blogger

When Blogging Isn’t Blogging Anymore

July 31, 2008 | Blogging

blogging I had an interesting conversation last night with some pretty well known bloggers. Both bloggers are professional bloggers who make money doing it, however both are network bloggers. This means they blog for somebody else and are paid by post to do so.

What was very interesting to me was when they spoke of the pressure of the job. Both spoke of the use of weekly post quotas, the need to do proof editing, etc.

It almost seemed as if blogging had become a J-O-B. One where you get up by a certain time, put in a good solid 10-12 hour day, and have it occupy your thoughts even when you’re not working.

Is this blogging or is it journalism? When does a blogging position turn into another J-O-B where you are basically slave to it?

There is no doubt that turning a blog into a business introduces all kinds of pressures to it. Especially if your revenue is directly proportional to traffic (as is the case with advertising), the pressure to keep page views up is high. And that means direct pressure on writers to keep the flow of new content fresh, to engage in high scale promotion on social media, etc.

This is all a far cry from the hobbyist blogger, writing from home about whatever he/she finds interesting at the moment.

I am a professional blogger, too, but I am different than these other guys because I am at the top of the food chain. I OWN the site rather than being paid by somebody else to write. This, of course, means I make more money. It also means I have to deal with all the business crap. And, yes, I can most certainly vouch for the fact that it is very hard work. When I pay somebody to write a post, I have to think about things like ROI.

But, one thing I never do is assign quotas. I think quotas lead to bad blogging, to posts that have no passion behind them, and to the huge tech echo chamber. These guys are all browsing the same bunch of stories looking for things to cover so they can meet their quotas. It is very different.

In a way, I guess it is the natural evolution of a blog (if it really succeeds) to be treated more like a normal, journalistic endeavor. There is, most certainly, pressure to post and to stay up to date. It is natural, even for myself. But, these large sites need to not lose focus on what makes a blog different than a newspaper.

Readers want perspective. They want opinions. They want passion. They want stuff that’s cool.

Scoble laid it out pretty well, actually, on his reality check on tech blogging.

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  • Your right, blogging can definitely become a chore or a job if you dont go into it w/ goals and the right attitude. Some days, I think where am i gonna find the time or content, what if i let someone down by not posting....then i realize i have to reevaluate why I am blogging, and everyone else will get me and i wont have to worry so much. If i put too much pressure on myself, my content wont be real.

    trisha
  • Yes what you describe these people are doing is journalism; and fair play to them; they're good at their jobs (Apparently.) I take it they like doing it, and they make a living from it. (I assume.) In a way they could be described as "assistant-bloggers" I suppose; which is a nice name for an e-journalist.

    One thing about being such is that they must get one hell of a feel for the job, know what to write about, and when; and have their finger constantly on the pulse: They could quite easily turn this to their own advantage and "go for it". With their experience and knowledge they have to be at least half-way to a top-blogger position from the off - So if they were to start their own blog - Maybe even with a little help from a subscription to PC Mech, they'd have an advantageous position from the word go.

    You could describe the blog that they work for as a joint-effort between an organised conglomerate of people, or an online newspaper too I suppose. Whichever way you look at it, it pays the bills, and those concerned probably enjoy doing it.

    Is it "blogging" in the true sense of the word? Yes and no, depending upon which angle one views it from. Is there a right way and a wrong way to blog? Once again yes and no.

    I'm going to coign a phrase here; and maybe it'll stick and eventually become a part of the English language (Oh for some fame!): I think a good description of such people would be "journaloggers" - Now there's one for the Oxford Dictionary to consider.
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