So why do you blog? For fame? To have a creative and public outlet? To make the world a better place like my friend Tyler Hamilton? Vanity? Or, perhaps, for fortune? The New York Times put the spotlight on the money yesterday with a story looking at how advertising and market dollars - estimated at $50 million to $100 million a year according to Forrester Research's Charlene Li - is flowing to blogs. Sure, there are individual bloggers making a good living from advertising but those are few and far between. But for most people, the only revenue flowing their way is an occasional AdSense cheque from Google. I think most of the serious money - if you can call $50 million to $100 million "serious" given it's a drop in the advertising bucket - is being snapped up by blogging firms such as Weblogs Inc. that can offer advertisers an easy way to reach a large number of different consumers. This approach is opposed to the individual blogger who, if they have enough traffic and an advertising-friendly site, can be tossed a bone across the transom once in awhile. John Battelle's Federated Media appears to be a sign of things to come because it provides bloggers with the back-end infrastructure to do business (a.k.a. attract advertising) while giving advertisers one point of contact to access a semi-loose blog network. Federated Media's members include Boing Boing, 43 Folders and Om Malik's GigaOm. From a financial standpoint, blogging is reaching an interesting stage in its development. On one hand, the blogosphere is attracting millions of readers and intriguing advertisers. But on the other, it is still the Wild West where it can be challenging for readers and advertisers to find the cream of the blog crop. Meanwhile, many really good bloggers are having a tough time trying to get people to find them period. I think blogging will move in many different directions. The creation of groups such as John Battelle's Federated Media will become more popular as entrepreneurs looking to capitalize on a new opportunity. I think Big Media will also get more serious about the business potential of blogging and there will be more Weblogs Inc. created to pursue and court online advertising. As for the little guy, I think some will thrive but it will be extremely difficult for the vast majority to make anything substantial unless their sites are extremely popular and reach a targeted audience. Like many bloggers, I'm quasi-serious about the money. Every time I get a AdSense cheque, it's like Christmas until I realize the Visa bill is much bigger. I've also been playing around with AdGenta ads for the past two months, which appear to get more "hits" than AdSense. Would I like to make more money from advertisers? Sure, I'm a red-blooded capitalist so if someone wants to a banner ad, drop me a line. Has it happened yet? Nope. Do I care? I'm not terribly upset about it. My blog continues to attract more traffic and, more, important it has proven to be an interesting pipeline for new ideas and opportunities. The bottom line is I enjoy it. I write for a living and the blog is just another vehicle. What I find particularly exciting is participating first-hand in a living, breathing technology trend - something journalists don't get to do too much because we're observers rather than players. By being part of "the game", you get a much better sense of what's actually happening so when the blogosphere takes off (assuming it does), I'll hopefully have a front row seat on the action. If you're one of those bloggers actually making a living writing a blog, I'd be interested in your experience on how you got there.
Addendum: Hat tip to Matthew Ingram for a post about a NYT article earlier this week on where advertisers are putting some of their money online.