Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Blogging for Fun and Profit
Since I ran across PayPerPost, I've been fascinated with the line between personal blogging, professional blogging, and blogging for profit. This might be less of an issue in libraryland, given the limited number of "A-list" bloggers that could actually bring in anything resembling real money. (The only good examples I can think of off the top of my head are Library Stuff's ITI sponsorship, and possibly LISNews, when it contained Google ads.)
In all, though, I'm not sure how comfortable I am with the concept of blogging for profit, since it seems very easy to cross ethical lines when you're writing, even indirectly, about someone who's giving you money. I get muddled here, however. Librarians who write and speak, myself included, obviously use their blogs to cross-market their other endeavors, and I've accepted banner advertising on LISjobs.com. (Then again, I'm not writing about any of my sponsors on LISjobs.com!)
Bloglines is helping me work this out by serendipitously popping related items across my radar, so this is partly a linkdump to keep them together. For one, check out this weekly list of professional blogging opportunities and pro blogger job board. (Yeah, I know, I need to work on keeping this blog current first!) There's even a ProBlogger blog, devoted to "helping bloggers earn money."
If you're turning pro, though, you might want to check out these blog writing style tips or look at how not to blog, which, among other tips, tells you to avoid "over-monetizing" your blog. You might also want to put a little more thought into the whole process than this...
In all, though, I'm not sure how comfortable I am with the concept of blogging for profit, since it seems very easy to cross ethical lines when you're writing, even indirectly, about someone who's giving you money. I get muddled here, however. Librarians who write and speak, myself included, obviously use their blogs to cross-market their other endeavors, and I've accepted banner advertising on LISjobs.com. (Then again, I'm not writing about any of my sponsors on LISjobs.com!)
Bloglines is helping me work this out by serendipitously popping related items across my radar, so this is partly a linkdump to keep them together. For one, check out this weekly list of professional blogging opportunities and pro blogger job board. (Yeah, I know, I need to work on keeping this blog current first!) There's even a ProBlogger blog, devoted to "helping bloggers earn money."
If you're turning pro, though, you might want to check out these blog writing style tips or look at how not to blog, which, among other tips, tells you to avoid "over-monetizing" your blog. You might also want to put a little more thought into the whole process than this...
Labels: blogging, monetizing, problogging
