Blogging For Fun And Profit Loosely speaking blogs can be seen as part of the wider social networking ecosystem. Blogs cover a wide variety of topics and allow for the blogger to engage with his or her audience through the visitors to the site leaving comments on the subject matter.
For the blogger, these comments can be both a source of frustration and a source of inspiration. The frustration can be caused by commentators known as ‘trolls’. These site visitors seem to take pride in belittling the articles that are posted by the blogger and are tremendously disruptive to the free flow of information that can be provided by the others participating in the comments section.
The solution to dealing with these types of comments is to set stringent rules governing what actually constitutes trolling. By making these guidelines transparent to all commentators any inappropriate comments can be deleted and if necessary the submitter can be banned from the comments section.
However by and large blogging can be a stress-free way of expressing your opinion on a diverse range of topics. The challenge is to engage visitors to the site with a combination of good writing and in-depth knowledge of our chosen subject matter.
The most successful blogs on the Internet are hosted by those people who have insight into a specific subject. By providing the visitors to the blog with information that they will find useful these bloggers contribute significantly to the Internet as a source of valuable information.
However, it is not necessary to supply specialist knowledge in order to be a successful blogger. there are often ordinary men and women who blog on subjects that would ordinarily be seen as boring or mundane. However many of these bloggers may have a unique viewpoint or a way of expressing themselves that others find fun, or humorous.
In fact, some of the most successful blogs have very little original content. These blogs rely on information from third parties to provide content. The skill that separates them from the less successful bloggers is that they have identified what sort of information is relevant to their target audience. By collating, or ‘aggregating’ this content they are able to provide a ‘one-stop-shop’ for information that the target audience finds valuable.
As the audience size grows and a solid subscriber base is built many of these blogs begin to attract the attention of advertisers. Because their subject matter is so targeted advertisers can be assured that they are reaching a select target audience that is interested in their products.
In fact, many bloggers make a living off these types of blogs. But make no mistake, earning a living from blogging is hard work. In order to ensure that loyal fans do not migrate to competing sites, the blogger needs to be constantly innovative and continue to provide quality content.
The Internet is probably one of the most competitive markets that have ever existed. Because the barriers to entry are so low (anyone with a stable Internet connection can start a blog)there is the constant threat of new competitors entering the market. To keep ahead of these competitors the blogger must be on their toes at all times.
