TechWinter

Ever heard of Louis Gray? Well he just told 40-50% of my readers they should focus on their day job and forget about the blogging

I had not even noticed his existence and until recently but today on Techmeme I saw his post “Most Bloggers Don’t Deserve Any Ad Revenue” by Louis Gray and I just had to go and check him out, I was too interested and I hate reading anything on Techmeme if I am completely honest because I kinda hate what Techmeme does to the blogosphere.

Anyway Louis Gray’s assertion which I will say right now I agree with is that bloggers do not deserve to be paid because the content they produce is sub-standard and un-original. Well Louis you have hit the nail on the head there.

Adding insult to injury he also goes on to hammer at the ‘business model’s’ of some bloggers which is “get rick quick” without thought or consideration of the facts of which I agree with every point he makes (literally) and I am not being generous.

But sadly he doesn’t really talk about the facts so much as accepted wisdom in the marketing and business industry and I think that was a miss for someone who seemed to write his thoughts out clearly, concisely and intelligently. So for those of you interested in seeing a few facts or you just refuse to hear the truths Louis Gray is telling you then see these trends from Google.

Still think all that blogging about Web2.0 and social media is worth it? Remember this is search volume so this is what other people are interested in hearing about.

Wow, even cooking and smoking do not have significant search volume when compared to cars.

Finally even a niche sport such as rock climbing has double if not triple the search volume worldwide when compared to what is typically blogged about e.g. Web2.0, Social media, and Mobiles.

Bloggers must realise that blogging may not be the most profitable or intelligent way to make their living especially as the graphs show above if you are in the ‘tech’ industry, we are all fighting over the same small (very small) pond and that means poor pay from advertisers.

Others such as David Risley think differently than Louis Gray and claims that those same blogs (which Gray derides) as small and insignificant are in fact significant as they have ‘EYEBALLS’. I think however that David is missing the point that I know I am trying to make and I believe Louis Gray was too - the cost of doing business out-weighs the earning potential. That is reality and that takes into consideration the value of those ‘EYEBALLS’.

Still do not believe Louis Gray or…..me?

Well then consider this leaked document from TechCrunch about how B5Media a startup with over 300+ blogs and Technorati the number 2 blog search engine were going to merge. You know why? B5Media needs cash and Technorati knows its days are number but fortunately they have the cash B5Media needs.

As a Canadian I am blinded by my patriotism and I really wish B5Media every good fortune but if they have over 300+ blogs with multiple blogs within a category and they cannot achieve high enough ad sales to self-fund or even worse generate another round of funding then we all need to take a look in the mirror.

Remember Blognation? Remember MyKinda, oh yeah they are still around….hmmmm… clock is ticking.. how long until they collapse do you think?