Traffic picks up on blog street WEB Displaying ads in blogs has allowed bloggers to use it as a source of income PRITAM P HANS Will we soon suffer from (and tire of) blogorreah?...Goodbye, cyberspace! Hello, blogiverse! Blogosphere? Blogmos? (Carl Sagan: "Imagine billions and billions and billions of blogs.") Brad L Graham wrote this post on his blog on September 10, 1999 I n September, 1999, Brad L Graham could not imagine billions of blogs (web journals) when the blogosphere comprised just a handful of them. Now, according to blog search engine Technorati, there are over 112 million blogs in the blogosphere, which swells by over 175,000 blogs every day. Around 1.6 million blog posts on almost every topic that you can imagine (or probably cannot imagine) are added every day to what Technorati calls the World Live Web. With the immense potential of sharing views and creating public opinion, blogs are not only being tapped for publicity and brand promotion, their successful monetisation by displaying advertisements has allowed bloggers to turn fulltimers from being hobby-bloggers. Though a significant number of bloggers abhor making money from blogs, it's becoming widely popular. Amit Agarwal, who turned a full-time technology blogger in 2004 after quitting a wellpaid job with a Fortune 500 company, started from a freehosted blog on Blogspot. Equipped with an engineering degree in computer science from IIT, and five years of work experience, Agarwal wanted to turn a freelancer. A technology blog, he thought, would be a nice place to get some assignments. "I never thought blogging would be a source of income, my idea was to get freelance software projects after clients discover me via the blog," says Agarwal. Digital Inspirations, his blog on computers and personal technology, didn't really perform the way Agarwal wanted. It outperformed, but in a very unexpected way. It opened up an entire new arena of blogging for Agarwal that gradually started paying him far more than what he used to get as pay cheques. Making sense of adsense hough there are many online ad-serving networks, including Yahoo! Publisher Network, Though Agarwal to live off the blog Google Adsense is the most popular. Adsense is isn't comfortable requires consistent a contextual advertising programme where websharing the exact fighard work and pasite and blog publishers put a small piece of code ures, he says his antience. to their blogs or websites allowing Google to nual income from his "To build a sucanalyse the content of the page and accordingblog is in six-figures cessful blog, one ly display relevant ads. When an ad is clicked, in dollars. According has to be very cona share of the amount that to a post on his blog, sistent and try to the advertiser has agreed he hints that he used share something to pay is credited in the acto earn over $1,000 a original everyday. count of the site or blog. day from Google AdThat's the toughest An average Adsense-monsense, an adserving part," says Amit etised blog with 300,000 page hits per month can programme, about Agarwal. This conexpect to earn about Rs 15,000-30,000. two years ago when sistency in generhis blog got some ating quality conWhere ads come from 1.25 million page tent for blogs can Adwords is Google's advertising platform where views per month. Tohappen only if you both text ads as well as image ads can be booked day his blog gets over are passionate on a pay-per-click basis. Advertisers specify the 2 million page hits about what you keywords that should trigger their ads and the maxevery month. blog, says PC. imum amount they are willing to pay per click. But the money Ashish Sinha's Based on the amount for a click and the rate at doesn't come off your passion for startwhich the ads are clicked, the ads are displayed on blog without the efups, VCs and prodvarious webpages, including Google search pages, fort. Like any deucts reflects in his websites and blogs affiliated to Adsense. manding profession, blog. This IIT, IIM Agarwal puts in 10passout, whose 14 hours on weekfull-time job indays, blogging from his SOHO techies or computer enthusi- volves product management, office in Agra. asts, there is hardly any need puts in a minimum of four hours Unlike Agarwal, PC, a Del- for in-depth technological daily for his blog Pluggd.in, crehi-based blogger who keeps his knowhow for being a success- ating content and staying upidentity a secret for his read- ful blogger. A computer with dated with the latest in his area ers, puts in just few hours a day Internet connection and some of interest. Even though the infor his blog that attracts in basic computing skills are come that he generates by blogexcess of 350,000 page views. enough. It takes just few min- ging might just be pittance comPC shares computers tips and utes to set up a blog on a free pared with his pay-cheque, Sinwrites about blogging and ways blog-hosting site like Blogger ha works persistently for his to generate money from blogs. and Wordpress. Alternatively, blog. He too started from a free Blog- one can look more professional "The idea is to carve out a ger account which was then by purchasing a domain name niche and build an authority. shifted to his own web address (web address) and hosting The money will follow in time," (Quickonlinetips.com) after a space for Rs 2,000-3,000, or get he says. year of overwhelming response a blog set up on a turn-key ba"The major benefit has been from readers. sis for as less as Rs 10,000- the recognition," Sinha says, Although a large number of 15,000. But getting the kind of adding that the blog has made successful Indian bloggers are recognition and readership him lot richer in terms of knowl- T edge. Sakshi Juneja, a bollywood blogger, says, "For me, blogging is primarily about writing things you are passionate about. A hobby taken very seriously. Getting paid for it is incidental." She not only gets “decent pocket money” off her blog, but has also bagged many writing assignments for blogs and magazines. Though most bloggers stick to one blog and nurture it zealously, a few focus on creating blogs around hot topics and events, and monetising them. Once people lose interest in the topic and income from the blog starts waning, they move on to start another. Ekalavya Bhattacharya, a brand manager with Contests2Win, uses this modus operandi. During the Twenty 20 World Cup, when India was getting crazy for cricket, he was busy blogging on Worldcuptwenty20.com, the blog which he had created for the event. "I ended up making Rs 75,000 in 15 days," he says. Bhattacharya has blogged on several blogs dedicated to sports events, especially cricket. He has already kept a blog ready at IPL2008.com for covering the Indian Premier League cricketing events and is planning to launch more. With several blog networks hiring bloggers, they also have the option of being on the payrolls of any network or freelance on a per-assignment basis. Though there are not many Indian blog networks, the number can be expected to grow. Being a blogger has several advantages like being your own boss, flexibile work hours and getting to write what you love (or hate) passionately. "It's like getting paid for your hobby," says Agarwal. Anyone with an interesting idea can hit the blogging road. The thumb rule is to start parttime and gradually turn fulltime. One should also be prepared to keep blogging for quite some time without any monetary gains. "Blogging is risky. So, there should be something to fall back on," says Agarwal, who had the option of getting back to a regular job if his decision to blog full-time didn't click. Also, blog about something you are passionate about. Juneja says, "People shouldn't start blogging just to earn money because then they will only be disappointed."