For the past few months I've been following the challenges of two friends. As the economy collapsed they moved from Michigan to Ottawa. The woman, an American citizen, felt isolated. Taking care of small children, she wasn't able to compete with Canadian subjects for jobs. This morning she wrote me:

Lou,

I thought you would be a good person to ask this question to. How does one get paid to blog? Do you have to be a writer to do it? I hear and see ads for people to be bloggers and get paid to do it. It is listed as a good job to have and work from home. Is that true? I would be interested in it but don't have a clue about it. Please do share some information with me!

Yes I am back in Canada and we are trying to figure out where we would be better off. We have a lot to consider. That's why I am trying to come up with things I can do to make money. I though perhaps this blogging thing.
Thanks!
Blogging in Canada

 

Dear BIC, regarding blogging, I'm not sure how many people get paid to blog. Most people get paid to TALK about making blogs work. But to do that, you need a blog. Here is a good article about blogging from Slate: http://www.slate.com/id/2207061/. In addition to what Slate says, I'd feel free to violate the rules laid out there on a regular basis.

What do you talk about when you go to a party? You know, the topic that everyone loves to hear about? That's what you blog about. Make it a narrow topic, highly focused. You'll know it's right because you'll love to write about it.

Blogs are examples of the flattening of the hierarchical world. I think of them, visually, as a coin. It is a very flat place among blogs, but it is also two-sided. It is a world where anyone can write. ANYONE.

A two-sided coin will land heads up or tails up. And likewise blogs will either oppose the status quo or defend it. I think they are working best for positions that are anti-hierarchical. That's also the thinking of many accomplished bloggers I talk to. But what do I mean by that?

In general, I'd say that human society has been organized in a hierarchical fashion. Think about the military, the Roman Catholic Church or the Roman Empire. Most organizations today are still hierarchical. But, even organ-I-zations are recognizing that there is profit or power in decentralizing power. If the pyramid is the symbol of a hierarchy, then the coin could be the symbol of the Web.

Most traditional media, and here you can think of newspapers, radio and television, are very hierarchical organ-I-zations. Blogs? Written by one person or a team. They decide what to write. They decide what to publish. Flat.

So, inside these big media groups some people are embracing blogging. Others are accusing blogs of stealing their content from paid journalists. The world is flattening. Twenty years ago who would have thought that the Chicago Sun-Times would be using customer service representatives in Manitoba or the Chicago Tribune would be using representatives in the Philippines?

In the editorial side of the media world, the flattening is taking the shape of a single blogger covering an issue better than any journalist. I'm talking about good, successful blogs here. They are narrow and focused and the writers have become experts.

I have a few examples. They are local examples, so please excuse me. LaGrange, Illinois, a suburb, is being covered by Thom Rae at LaGrangeToday.com. As far as I know, there isn't another independent blog covering this suburb. Rae's work, covering the city, has forced Gatehouse and Pioneer to assign reporters to the suburb or risk losing their position as the primary source of news for LaGrange.

While Rae runs features on things like a local carnival or an accident on a local road, he also covered the city council meetings. He created original material based on his observations. Rae may now be able to sell ads for LaGrange businesses on his site as he moves forward. Notice he uses Typepad, not Blogger, as an engine. If you want to make money, don't use Blogger. It's a technical thing and just trust me.

And, Rae has a lovely site. Today there is a nice big picture of the Chief of Police at a public meeting. It gives the feel for confrontation, although the woman in the foreground is essentially creating a butt shot: all we see of her is her back. Nevertheless, a great picture. Pictures mixed in the blog bring greater interest among readers.

Get a digital camera. Get people's faces in the shots. Show action. Buy the AP stylebook for photography.

So, Rae, who was a professional writer, established a blog, became an expert on LaGrange and forced the two local papers to begin paying greater attention to the suburb. If you look at his blog he is giving hyper-text links to stories and other materials. That's a common ethical thing to do among bloggers.

Back tracks, links and acknowledgements create something at Google that moves a blog up in its Search Engine results. Bloggers have embraced these links. Original material, but with recognition of other people's work. It is a cooperative playing field.

But, when the local papers steal his material, he's told me that they refer to him as a resident of nearby Brookfield, and they give no attribution to his work in the blog. That's called journalism and competition. In journalism you rewrite the competition's work and rebuild it backwards with your own work. No attribution.

Now this isn't the place to discuss the ethics of journalists, developed during a period of intense media competition and hierarchy versus the ethics of bloggers which was developed more recently out of the creation of HTML and the Web. But be aware, that most journalist bloggers at places like the Chicago Tribune rarely acknowledge outside writers and their work.

So, as you move forward you'll run into “professionals” who are defensive about your expertise. Relax. You are an expert. Or you will be as you move forward with your blog. Remember, if they insult you, it isn't about you, it's about them.

So, here is a successful blog that could begin selling ads: LaGrange Today. That raises a number of other ethical issues for the blogger, but you asked about how to make them pay. We're not concerned here about the ethics of editorial and advertising getting mixed. Bottom line: Rae can make his blog pay. Now, he has to go out and sell it to local restaurants and other businesses. There is more work to be done.

And please, original content. I keep running into people thinking of starting aggregate blogs, stealing content from other blogs and newspapers. They worry about Search Engine Optimization and all that BS. I've never worried about SEO. When I write I sometimes notice that I'm on top of the SEO for a few hours because of original content. Then the content ages and I drop down into the pages.

Writing for SEO coverage is like a novel writer trying to write for his high school English teacher. “Why was Holden Caufield in a field, and WHY RYE?” Who cares? Write the fucking thing first. Content, content, content. (A tip of the hat here to Robert Masello).

Back to LaGrange Today. Rae's recent Freedom Of Information Act request resulted in a heavily redacted reply and more media attention than the powers in LaGrange wanted. The world is flattening and these aren't the only politicians who have noticed.

Other great blogs are out there, I include Rich Miller's capitalfaxblog. I recommend it to everyone who has an interest in Illinois politics. Miller updates it from his mobile phone. He has an assistant. It is often updated every few minutes and has at least two updates a day. It is just an amazing read. Miller has the advantage of covering Springfield as a columnist for several newspapers. I can assume he is paid for that. And, he developed a number of other revenue sources: advertising and an insiders only edition. Take a look to see what I mean. A great business model and a great editorial model too.

Okay, so anti-hierarchical and original content. Now what?

I think you're back in Ottawa? Every large city now has local blog aggregates. There may even be a group of bloggers in the city. We have one here in Chicago you could join through Meetup. Go to their meetings and ask for advice. What you are looking for is a site that has a lot of promise for growth. Specifically you want a professionally managed site. I think a site that has a mix of paid staff and unpaid bloggers is good. For example, here in Chicago the Tribune started a site called ChicagoNow. It is professionally managed. It looks great. There is a mix of great blogs there. And, this is very important, it has financial backing.

I write for the ChiTownDailyNews.org as an unpaid blogger. It has a very poor blogging community and the web site is terrible. But, it has financial backing. I love that there are paid journalists in the same community. They give weight to the site. Some of those paid journalists started as citizen journalists. We've sort of forgotten about citizen journalists because the idea doesn't really work. But there are individuals out there who are good writers and have developed a competency in a narrow area. They seem to have moved from narrow blogs to become paid journalists.

Okay, those two sites are great. One is looking for more bloggers, the other hides its blogs. Still great to be affiliated with either site.

Another similar idea that is well funded is HuffPo. Everyone likes Huffington Post. Everyone but me. I hate them. I've met bloggers from the site and recognize there is original content being produced there, but... I hate her model.

Okay, if you can get onto HuffPo do it. When you meet people like me, recognize it isn't about you, it's about me.

Two web sites developed in Chicago have great ideas for blogs. Windy Citizen, under Brad Flora, has a wonderful model of having blogs submitted and then featured. This is a lot like what ChicagoNow is doing. He has worked with other sites to add buttons so that, for example, if you read something on the Chicago Reader you'll be able to send it to Flora. Gapers Block, under Andrew Huff, similar idea. It isn't as well executed. I don't think either site has solid financial backing. But they are the next best platforms. Why? Because the idea is solid and if it can survive this economy they'll grow.

There are other aggregate sites too, for example Chicago Examiner, Chicagoist, Review Chicago, and Chicago Daily Observer. But, I don't think they have a viable business model right now. And, in the end, they look sort of similar to each other. They don't stand out the way Windy Citizen and Gapers Block do.

So, here is another rule of thumb: hang your hat with the best aggregate that has financial depth. They'll open paid positions first.

Who needs blogs? BIC, they are a LOT of work. I've been challenged on this at meetings of the local chambers of commerce and successfully described how small businesses, using these ideas, can create a blog. But, they are anti-hierarchical and a lot of work. Did I say they are a lot of work?

Do you want to create a blog that pays? Here's my idea: try something very local. Cover everything. Go to the chamber meetings. Relax, it will take some time for them to know who you are and trust you (even if they don't like what you write). When you're ready, say you need some financial help to keep going: you'll accept ads. When that happens, outsource what you can (ad sales, web design, etc). Focus on your strengths.

When the author of this blog was named after Lou Grant I was surprised. Delighted, but surprised. Personally, I would have named myself after William Miller. His mentor in the film "Almost Famous" was Lester Bangs, the great rock journalist. Best advice: "You CANNOT make friends with the rock stars. That's what's important. If you're a rock journalist - first, you will never get paid much. But you will get free records from the record company. And they'll buy you drinks, you'll meet girls, they'll try to fly you places for free, offer you drugs... I know. It sounds great. But they are not your friends. These are people who want you to write sanctimonious stories about the genius of the rock stars, and they will ruin rock and roll and strangle everything we love about it.

"They make you feel cool. And hey. I met you. You are not cool."

Hope that helps BIC. Good luck.