Blogs and Blog Networks are Under Monetized

I whipped this up quickly, so please excuse the spelling and grammar errors…

I’ve been watching blogs and blog networks for going on 5 years now and have come to the conclusion that they’re woefully under monetized. Most out there strive to get traffic and send it out through ads, for pennies per click, action or impression. They’re practically giving away the traffic and eyeballs for nothing… compared to what they could be getting if they got a little more creative.

All you have to do is look at some of the products in the AdSense ads that are getting the best conversions - consistently showing up in the top ad spots on these blogs.

I know, the conversion rates from clickthrough to purchase on some of these sites is around 1%, but lets do some math:

Blog visitor clicks on an AdSense ad and the blogger makes $0.10 for the click. If the blog sends 100 people through that ad, the blogger makes a grand total of $10.00.

On the advertiser’s site, one of those 100 clicks converts to a paying customer, who just purchased a $35.00 ebook, whitepaper or special report where the advertiser ‘profits’ $20.00 from the sale, after paying overhead and ad costs.

Essentially, the blogger just lost $20.00. If they had written and offered their own $35.00 ebook they would have profited $30 instead of $10 if you set aside $5 for overhead and processing fees, etc.

Very general and not all blogs would benefit from what I outlined above. However, some blogs, especially ones where premium content on the subject matter (paid ebooks and reorts) is in high demand, could certainly do well with this model.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that most of the A-List blogs out there don’t collect email addresses or send out email newsletters. Balk at this if you will, but email marketing is still alive and well in a lot of mass appeal niches and industries.

Blog reader Ben knows nothing about RSS feeds or Bloglines. He doesn’t even realize he’s reading a blog, but, he knows email. Ben is the type of guy who’ll consume almost any content he knows how to consume.

Ben signs up for that blog’s email newsletter. It can be summaries of the blog content where ne clicks and revisits the blog to finish up an article, or a weekly newsletter containing unique content not found on the blog. In both examples, Ben is exposed to that blog’s content in a format he’s familiar with… and that content contains an ad or two, for the bloggers own product.

In the past I’ve been too close to the blogging industry to see these things objectively. I’ve even spoken out against them. But now that I’ve been out of the game, but still watching closely with an unclouded mind, I see opportunities where I thought none existed before.

Blogging is all about content, sharing content, discussing that content and the overlying or underlying issues… and if you’re into it to make money, it’s about monetizing that content.

Why not get creative and offer premium paid content as well?