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 edge. Sakshi Juneja, a bolly-
wood blogger, says, "For me,
Will we soon suffer from (and blogging is primarily about writ-
tire of) blogorreah?...Goodbye, ing things you are passionate
cyberspace! Hello, blogiverse! about. A hobby taken very se-
Blogosphere? Blogmos? (Carl riously. Getting paid for it is in-
Sagan: "Imagine billions and cidental." She not only gets “de-
billions and billions of blogs.") cent pocket money” off her
Brad L Graham wrote blog, but has also bagged many
this post on his blog on writing assignments for blogs
September 10, 1999 and magazines.
Though most bloggers stick
n September, 1999, Brad to one blog and nurture it zeal-
I L Graham could not imag-
ine billions of blogs (web
journals) when the blogosphere
ously, a few focus on creating
blogs around hot topics and
events, and monetising them.
comprised just a handful of Once people lose interest in the
them. Now, according to blog topic and income from the blog
search engine Technorati, there starts waning, they move on to
are over 112 million blogs in start another. Ekalavya Bhat-
the blogosphere, which swells tacharya, a brand manager with
by over 175,000 blogs every Contests2Win, uses this modus
day. operandi. During the Twenty
Around 1.6 million blog 20 World Cup, when India was
posts on almost every topic that
you can imagine (or proba-
Making sense of adsense getting crazy for cricket, he was
busy blogging on World-
bly cannot imagine) are added hough there are many online ad-serving net- cuptwenty20.com, the blog
every day to what Technorati
calls the World Live Web. With
Though Agarwal
isn't comfortable
T works, including Yahoo! Publisher Network,
Google Adsense is the most popular. Adsense is
to live off the blog
requires consistent
which he had created for the
event. "I ended up making Rs
the immense potential of shar- sharing the exact fig- a contextual advertising programme where web- hard work and pa- 75,000 in 15 days," he says.
ing views and creating public ures, he says his an- site and blog publishers put a small piece of code tience. Bhattacharya has blogged on
opinion, blogs are not only be- nual income from his to their blogs or websites allowing Google to "To build a suc- several blogs dedicated to sports
ing tapped for publicity and blog is in six-figures analyse the content of the page and according- cessful blog, one events, especially cricket. He
brand promotion, their suc- in dollars. According ly display relevant ads. When an ad is clicked, has to be very con- has already kept a blog ready
cessful monetisation by dis- to a post on his blog, a share of the amount that sistent and try to at IPL2008.com for covering
playing advertisements has al- he hints that he used the advertiser has agreed share something the Indian Premier League
lowed bloggers to turn full- to earn over $1,000 a to pay is credited in the ac- original everyday. cricketing events and is plan-
timers from being hobby-blog- day from Google Ad- count of the site or blog. That's the toughest ning to launch more.
gers. Though a significant num- sense, an adserving An average Adsense-mon- part," says Amit With several blog networks
ber of bloggers abhor mak- programme, about etised blog with 300,000 page hits per month can Agarwal. This con- hiring bloggers, they also have
ing money from blogs, it's be- two years ago when expect to earn about Rs 15,000-30,000. sistency in gener- the option of being on the pay-
coming widely popular. his blog got some ating quality con- rolls of any network or free-
Amit Agarwal, who turned 1.25 million page Where ads come from tent for blogs can lance on a per-assignment ba-
a full-time technology blogger views per month. To- Adwords is Google's advertising platform where happen only if you sis. Though there are not many
in 2004 after quitting a well- day his blog gets over both text ads as well as image ads can be booked are passionate Indian blog networks, the num-
paid job with a Fortune 500 2 million page hits on a pay-per-click basis. Advertisers specify the about what you ber can be expected to grow.
company, started from a free- every month. keywords that should trigger their ads and the max- blog, says PC. Being a blogger has sev-
hosted blog on Blogspot. But the money imum amount they are willing to pay per click. Ashish Sinha's eral advantages like being your
Equipped with an engineering doesn't come off your Based on the amount for a click and the rate at passion for start- own boss, flexibile work hours
degree in computer science blog without the ef- which the ads are clicked, the ads are displayed on ups, VCs and prod- and getting to write what you
from IIT, and five years of work fort. Like any de- various webpages, including Google search pages, ucts reflects in his love (or hate) passionately.
experience, Agarwal wanted manding profession, websites and blogs affiliated to Adsense. blog. This IIT, IIM "It's like getting paid for your
to turn a freelancer. A tech- Agarwal puts in 10- passout, whose hobby," says Agarwal.
nology blog, he thought, would 14 hours on week- full-time job in- Anyone with an interesting
be a nice place to get some days, blogging from his SOHO techies or computer enthusi- volves product management, idea can hit the blogging road.
assignments. office in Agra. asts, there is hardly any need puts in a minimum of four hours The thumb rule is to start part-
"I never thought blogging Unlike Agarwal, PC, a Del- for in-depth technological daily for his blog Pluggd.in, cre- time and gradually turn full-
would be a source of income, hi-based blogger who keeps his knowhow for being a success- ating content and staying up- time. One should also be pre-
my idea was to get freelance identity a secret for his read- ful blogger. A computer with dated with the latest in his area pared to keep blogging for quite
software projects after clients ers, puts in just few hours a day Internet connection and some of interest. Even though the in- some time without any mon-
discover me via the blog," says for his blog that attracts in basic computing skills are come that he generates by blog- etary gains.
Agarwal. excess of 350,000 page views. enough. It takes just few min- ging might just be pittance com- "Blogging is risky. So, there
Digital Inspirations, his blog PC shares computers tips and utes to set up a blog on a free pared with his pay-cheque, Sin- should be something to fall back
on computers and personal writes about blogging and ways blog-hosting site like Blogger ha works persistently for his on," says Agarwal, who had the
technology, didn't really per- to generate money from blogs. and Wordpress. Alternatively, blog. option of getting back to a reg-
form the way Agarwal wanted. He too started from a free Blog- one can look more professional "The idea is to carve out a ular job if his decision to blog
It outperformed, but in a very ger account which was then by purchasing a domain name niche and build an authority. full-time didn't click.
unexpected way. It opened up shifted to his own web address (web address) and hosting The money will follow in time," Also, blog about something
an entire new arena of blog- (Quickonlinetips.com) after a space for Rs 2,000-3,000, or get he says. you are passionate about. June-
ging for Agarwal that gradu- year of overwhelming response a blog set up on a turn-key ba- "The major benefit has been ja says, "People shouldn't start
ally started paying him far more from readers. sis for as less as Rs 10,000- the recognition," Sinha says, blogging just to earn money be-
than what he used to get as pay Although a large number of 15,000. But getting the kind of adding that the blog has made cause then they will only be dis-
cheques. successful Indian bloggers are recognition and readership him lot richer in terms of knowl- appointed."