I was on an ‘intro for blogging’ call a few days ago. I was listening in because I always like to hear how others explain blogging to newbies. But then the phrase:
$5,000 a month in passive revenue.
Popped up into the conversation. This was mentioned in the same breath with adding ads to blogs – Google text ads and AdBrite. I’m still skeptical about text ads – at least for myself because I don’t want ‘ad-esque’ content competing with my own products and services. I really don’t think my webhosting is unreasonable.
I’m a skeptic with these things – I don’t doubt that highly trafficked political blogs or tech-toy blogs can make considerable dough. DailyKos charges $3K/week for a BlogAds ad. Instapundit is at $2K/wk. I don’t doubt their success – I just don’t think that it is all that easy.
I felt like I was watching those old Don Lapre infommercials:
Thousands of dollars from one tiny classified ad!
I was also disappointed – okay pissed – that there was no mention of Blogger, TypePad or other blog tools – only the speakers blog hosting service which was just a default install of WordPress. There is also a multli-level marketing thing built on top of this as well. Charging $10 a month for his service which I don’t get because for $8/month you get TypePad with their template engine and easy interface or for free you get Blogger. I’ve always shied away from doing hosting for people because I’ve done the ‘on-call’ thing and it drove me batty.
Along with that – the actual content of the talk didn’t begin until 13 minutes into the call. I timed it. That kind of stuff drives me nuts. I’m all for sparkling wit but dump the intros and give me the content. There is another ezine marketing ‘guru’ that does this same thing – jaws on and on about how hard his life was coming to the United States and lo and behold he started an ezine list and his list is his goldmine. Alright Meryl Streep – let’s cut to the chase – the dingo ate your baby… and?
Scott and I were IMing that we should do a call where it is like that game Taboo and each time someone says something non-content related we buzz the buzzer – or tell the listeners to press star on their phone. That or I said I could say I have my cat hooked up to a taser and then get some kitty-cat sound effects.
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