Today’s Boston Globe includes an article on Blogging for Dollars. A summary (some blogs make significant money, most don’t) doesn’t do the article justice, since there are a few ways in which it went beyond being an entry-level account for the great unblogged. First, there are some numbers I don’t think I’d seen.
As the number of blogs has exploded to more than 57 million today, the blog ad marketplace has also surged — from $100,000 in 2002, to an estimated $36.2 million in 2006, according to PQ Media. Blog advertising is expected to grow to $300.4 million in 2010.
Second is a quote that surprised me when I first read it, and noted the source. “A lot of the blogosphere does not make sense if viewed from the point of view of a business model… Blogs remain, I believe, primarily conversational.” That’s David Weinberger, noted for (among other things), his association with the Cluetrain thesis: “Markets are conversations.”
Third are references/links to bloggers and blogs such as the following: Darren Rowse, the writer behind problogger.net; Adam Gaffin, blog master at Boston community news website UniversalHub.com (and fellow Roslindale resident).