The Easy Way To Content And Money - Part II
Looking at yesterday’s entry I can only imagine a couple of readers shaking their heads and thinking that I am completely wrong in my assertion that syndicate blogs will not pan out in the long term.
I can name a couple of people that run syndicate sites and seem to be making a good amount of money.
Heck I could too. So let’s try this from a different angle. Although it’s still possible to make some money from syndicate sites, because a couple of people are bound to visit them and the law of averages deem that if you have over X number of sites you are bound to make Y amount of money, you can make so much more with original content.
For example, would you rather run CollegeHumor, one site that does over 6 digits per month, or manage over 70 sites and pull in 10% of that? But what about sites like Boing Boing (over $40k/mo) and Slashdot? They have huge numbers of traffic and are nothing more than link lists although Boing Boing usually offers a good deal of commentary on their links. You have to remember how long sites like these have been around and consider that they had first mover advantage.
Forever Geek will never become Slashdot if it follows the same model as Slashdot. Instead it has to do things its own way, which it is slowly developing.
People will always make syndicate sites because they are easier to produce. I understand and the temptation is great and as I mentioned in the last entry I may have a couple sites myself coming out like that. However, I know in the long term that if I am going to make a syndicate site in an industry that already has a couple I am going to be fighting a losing battle. I’d rather start original because my chances for success are much greater. That was my point.
Again original content is not as easy, but in the end the rewards are much greater.
Related Stories
POSTED IN: Personal Thoughts
9 opinions for The Easy Way To Content And Money - Part II
Mike Sigers
May 5, 2005 at 7:43 pm
Content can be much better, much more lucrative and much more likely to keep readers coming back for more, IF you can seem like one of them and if you let YOU shine thru.
Each one of us is different and has taken a different path to get to, sometimes, the exact same place. How you got there, where you’re going next and what you did while you were there is much, much more exciting than ” Go read this article that I didn’t write. Someone else did and they rule ! ‘.
Tell it your way and if you suck, someone will let you know and then you can go and link to links.
Mike
Chris Mitchell
May 6, 2005 at 2:13 am
BoingBoing is much more than a links blog though: it’s got four talented writers creating incisive, witty commentary around the links they feature. BoingBoing wouldn’t be half as good if it was just a links list.
The commentary gives BB a unique voice, and that’s what keeps people coming back. I click very few of the links featured in BB because the commentary usually summarises and makes the point well enough on its own.
That makes BB self-contained in a sense - each post is a nugget of info brought to the reader, rather than simply pointing the reader at something. It gives it context. And that’s the crucial element of good journalism.
I think that’s why Problogger.net is so successful too. Darren does the same thing about making money issues…and you’ve gotta love that…
jon
May 6, 2005 at 11:27 am
$40 K/month ??? HOW ??
Scrivs
May 6, 2005 at 11:42 am
BoingBoing makes $40k/mo.
David
May 6, 2005 at 12:22 pm
First of all, I use a mix of my own written articles, and links to other articles out there which gives my readers a view of what I think.
I don’t think having just links or text from other sites really works for the long haul. (though I guess newspapers have been taking text [from wire services] forever)
Eoghann Irving
May 6, 2005 at 6:03 pm
I think pointing to sites like Slashdot and Boing Boing is a little missleading. I generally agree that original content is important and will become more so, but there are far more blogs with original content and no income than there are blogs with original content and serious income.
Even if you work hard, post religiously and have the most fascinating of original content, you may still not get the traffic and money which some of these sites deservedly (or undeservedly in some cases) get.
But then no one said life was fair.
I’d also point out that a good “syndicate” site doesn’t just clip the text from the news source but offers some commentary to go with it.
Scrivs
May 6, 2005 at 6:08 pm
Any examples?
Ryan Latham
May 6, 2005 at 6:11 pm
A good syndicate site, not nesicarrily a profitable one. If traffic is there a profitable syndicate site can rely strictly on RSS feeds and a PHP script. Kind of like a Metallica song, sad but true.
Michael G. Cohen
May 10, 2005 at 10:08 pm
I think that you really need to start your blog or site with a topic that you yourself will write about (non syndication of course), then invite others who you trust and who will post imaginatively, intelligently and with some regularity to begin writing on your site. They in turn should help get you some visitors. If you have the time, the best way to get new visitors is to be active in forums, and comments on sites which are of the same category or readership as yours (that being said my blog is about sports and yet I post here).
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: