Blogs - What's the big deal?

vito

vito

New member
I must be missing the boat. I'm trying to understand what the appeal is with blogs. Sure, they're a convenient way of posting your thoughts and experiences for others to read, enjoy and respond, but I still don't get it. It just doesn't peak any interest for me.

Still, it seems blogs are becoming the next big thing. Even MSN is getting aboard with http://spaces.msn.com/ .

So this begs the question. If weblogs are going to become very popular, what business opportunities open up? How do you capitalize on this latest craze? Do you go up against the likes of MSN? Is there room for big and small operators? Is there room for both paid and free blog services? And if you do decide to offer it free as well, how do you make money? Are any of you already offering blogs to your customers?

Any wisdom you can share would be appreciated.

Vito
 
I am in the same boat as you on their appel Vito. I started one over on our site just to play with it and give simple security updates listed on the trackers that might possibly effect our customers. No one reads it or cares about it though. :)

Most any host offering Fantastico has been offering blogs to their customers for over a year. I don't know how the commercial blogging will go over as most people can get them free somewhere or another.
 
Everyone needs their blog to be hosted, duh, but not everyone wants to use the same blog software.

Which brings in the real problem/potential business. Said host would have to offer install/modification services for the blogging software. If you were to charge a nominal install/setup fee for the blogging software and either free, or largely discounted pricing for the account itself I think it would be possible to make the blogging business worthwhile.

However to do this you would have to make sure that the TOS/AUP of the software you are using allows for you to do this.
 
I agree. I suppose I'd use a blog if I wanted to post daily or weekly comments about my life on the internet, because it's pre-designed and easy to use - all I need to do is actually write the posts, but I'm realistic enough to know that pretty much nobody cares about my day except (possibly) my friends - and I speak to them in person.

I've noticed from speaking to people, though, that many people believe that blogs aren't webpages at all, but some new and wonderful technology that just happens to be accessed through a browser. Millions of people creating blogs full of personal information no-one cares about could be a repeat of the phenomenon that occured when the internet first started - every Tom, Dick and Harry just HAD to have a webpage, full of ridiculous animated gifs and other rubbish. I'm sure we'll get over it soon.

As to making money, well. I believe that the big boys (Google, MSN, etc.) offer free blogging to try to include you in their greater community - if you have a Google blog, you are much more likely to use Google News, Google search, etc. and see more Google ads. The only way I can see for a small operator to make money from blogs is to put an advert into every template, and sell the advertising. I agree that charging for blogs is out of the question.
 
Yes, anyone using Fantastico will have free access to offering a few blog scripts. And even if not using Fantastico, many hosts already offer free use of other blogs like Movable Type, etc. So a web host, who already makes bread and butter from hosting can simply add blogs as an added value service.

I guess I was trying to figure out how a non-host who wanted to offer nothing other than a blog service could make a go of it. Seemingly, it would be a very steep uphill battle to turn any kind of profit (unless you were one of the big guys and it was just part of your overall marketing scheme).

Vito
 
Well, Blogger.com, which is now Google's blogger system, didn't start out that way. They were originally an independant company that offered free blogs to anyone who wanted one. I don't know how they planned to make money originally, but they're certainly millionairs now.

Maybe that ship has sailed, though.
 
I guess Gareth hit it on the head - you'd either have to have ads in the templates, and not grant FTP/cPanel/Exim/etc... access, or you'd have to charge a nominal fee. Neither of which most bloggers are going to want to have.

I don't know how else ('less you're a big player) you'd be able to make money off of it - so the next thing you'd have to decide is what template you're going to use, where you're going to place the ads/how you're going to place them, and if you're not going to use ads, what kind of fee are you going to charge for setting them up?

Edit: Or you could do some sort of subdomain style free blogging - which would give every user your name when they went to the blog - and perhaps they'd then visit your site. Giving your site visitors and possibly new clients for your services/products.
 
We'd have to take a deep look at the blogging community and see what niches there are out there. Perhaps there are some "heavy weight" bloggers out there with special needs, willing to pay in order to get each and every single thing that they need/want.

I think we need a truly passionate blogger to come here and tell us what bloggers miss, need, want. :)
 
Blogs are pretty good.. easy to manage, and a lot of neat functionality.

My wife has one and updates it daily. She's said many times "you should create a blogging service", but I never started looking at it as a serious venture, 'til the likes of CNN started having special shows dedicated to the "world of blogging".

I think the best option would be free/sponsored blogs, based around a good domain (letsgoblogging.com? :D ) and expand from there via sub-domains.

I almost started my own blog around six months ago, but never really found the time. I was looking at buying ceoblog.com (just the domain) and of course the service (based on the name) would be self explanatory.

Simon
 
I think Blogs will stick around for a while. They do provide a user an easy way to publish their words/thoughts. After all thats something thats been around since before the internet. Back in the stone ages of computers when BBS's were the "in" thing. Many of the more popular BBS's were of a Forum or Blog type format. Those were the days, dialup modems when 1200baud was high speed. I still remember the uproar from some users when I started supporting 2400baud (and file transfers) I cut off 300baud users. A little C128 running EBBS, 4 1.44MB drives and a donated 10MB HDD.
Sorry, started wandering down memory lane, any ways back to the point, people have always liked posting their thoughts (and downloading bootleg software) since the beginning, so I don't see it coming to an end anytime soon.
 
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As to what draws the traffic or visitors ... I think its the same "urge" that draws people to watch "reality TV" ... or caused people to become facinated with browsing webcam sites (the non porn ones ;)) I don't understand what draws people to any of those things either.

But I do have a friend that spends hours a day seeking out and reading various blogs. My friend has mentioned a couple that I have visited a few times ... like that guy in Iraq that was posting daily before and during the beginning days of the war ... and the one in the USA that is somehow able to post information about the government & politicians before the government is ready for it to become known or would rather it not be known at all. But I think most blogs are just people using them as daily journals ... sometimes sharing stuff I would be hesitant on sharing with my best friends ... but they are doing it freely and anonymously on the net. Go figure.

I don't understand it myself ... but I tend to think the market will be there for a while yet before the novelty wears off.

JMHUO
Peter
 
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