I have been thinking a lot about if blogs should be used to make money or not. Now, before I continue, I know that many people may have blogs and indirectly making money.
This is fine, but I have a problem with those who are running a blog, have Google Ads, and using their blog to market products/services like crazy because they want to make money! Honestly, this really irritates me!
Stowe Boyd agrees that blogs should not be used to make millions, rather blogs are more like diaries. However, Guy Kawasaki disagrees and believes that blogs are more like a book. In his post "How To Evangelize a Blog" he mentions several "strategies" to running a successful blog. Yet, I hesitate and honestly, I grinded my teeth while reading it. For some reason this sticks out at me and the majority of the strategies Guy talks about totally goes against the purpose of a blog (from my point of view).
Here's a breakdown of the key points from both Guy's and Stowe's posts. Read on and let me know what you think.
Guy's Blog:
- Think book not diary
- blog = product
- "If you want to evangelize your blog, then think “book” not “diary” and market the heck out of it."
- diary = collection of spontaneous thoughts and feelings
- blog = product
- Answer the little man
- "It's tough to market crap, so make sure you have something worth saying. Or, write a diary and keep it to yourself."
- Collection email addresses
- "When I started this blog, I sent out 10,000 email announcements."
Stowe Boyd
- It's more like a diary than a book
- "It's bottom-up, a world of people writing their daily thoughts, individuals whose thoughts and writing could influence you, push you."
- It's not a book, it's not a sermon, it's a dance. (Jeremiah Owyang agrees)
- Find your voice. Takes sides, write about what matters to you, don't give up, and sharpen your pencil every day.
To me, it seems like Guy is 100% committed to marketing, while others strongly believe that blogging is NOT about marketing, becoming an online blog celeb, or making money. Yet, it's more about writing one's thoughts about interests that may disagree or agree with others.
I am really irritated when I hear a blog being used to market "the heck out of" a product, or a bragging medium "I have X-amount of visitors" or even about sending out "10,000 emails" marketing a blog. Is it just me?
I could be wrong here, but all this talk about making money from a blog really creates a bad taste in my mouth. Even the WSJ posted an article about this.
Blogging CAN, but SHOULD NOT BE USED TO MAKE MONEY!
Here are a few links so you can get involved with this conversation. Let me know what you think or what you find:Jason Calacanis & Alan Meckler