For Angela Benton, a layoff two years ago gave her the opportunity to explore a new pastime that quickly blossomed into a thriving career. Noticing a void in the blogosphere, Benton started Black Web 2.0, a site that analyzes emerging Web trends as they relate to African Americans. She has since parlayed her brainchild into consultant work, speaking engagements, and other branding opportunities.
“When I started the blog, EbonyJet.com had just launched, and I wrote an article on the new Website from a design perspective,†Benton says. That post, along with constant fresh content, quickly propelled Benton from a hobbyist commenting on Web developments, to an industry expert.
Riding the social media wave has given the masses a chance to reach out to peers, fellow enthusiasts, and those with similar interests. For African Americans, this has been even more critical as blogs began to offer the opportunity to shine a light on issues and perspectives often overlooked by mainstream media. And many have been able to capitalize on their blogs by monetizing their Websites and branding themselves.
“A lot of people try to write a blog in a certain vein that may not be of interest to them,†says Maurice Cherry, founder of the annual Black Weblog Awards, which recognizes highly trafficked and popular black bloggers across a range of subjects including gossip, fashion, and cooking. It’s the authenticity that makes most blogs stand out and create the branding opportunity. “Not only will this give you a more authentic voice, but if it’s something you enjoy, you’ll be more apt to continue doing it.†Cherry adds.
Able to leverage her blog on hip-hop from a feminist perspective, Starrene Rhett’s vast knowledge of the culture and music has led to a number of freelance writing jobs. Since launching GangStarrGirl.com, after being laid off in January from a hip-hop publication, Rhett eventually became a guest blogger at HoneyMag.com, an online magazine for young women of color, Roc4Life.com, a social networking site for music mogul Jay-Z’s Rocawear clothing line, and BET.com.
The Road to Revenue
content-custom-banner ampforwp-incontent-ad2">Aside from branding, there’s another side to industry that has wooed many to the blogosphere: money. Niche content has some sites seeing green, with a growing number of bloggers generating advertising revenue, according to Technorati’s 2009 “State of the Blogosphere†report.
The average salary for a full-time blogger is about $122,222, according to the report. Part-time bloggers didn’t fare too bad either, earning $14,777 per year.
Black Web 2.0’s Benton has been able to reap the benefits of an established brand by turning her blog into a revenue-generating site through advertising, licensing, and consulting work. Content became so in demand that Benton recently hired a managing editor and maintains a staff of three to five contributing writers, while she still works on her blog full-time.
While Benton would not disclose how much revenue her Website generates, she says that unlike other blogs, advertising makes up a fraction of its income, or 20% to 30%, with consulting making up an additional 20% of revenue, “and the rest is licensing.â€
“[Black Web 2.0] found a niche that hardly anyone else has filled,†says Tamera Reynolds, director of Glam Media’s African American blog network, Black Life. Glam Media, a fashion and beauty Website for women, operates a partnership with more than 75 African American beauty and fashion bloggers.
Navigating Ad Networks
Black Web 2.0’s relatively short road to success isn’t so common for most bloggers. For Rhett, generating additional revenue from GangstarrGirl has been slow. Instead of solely soliciting advertisements or waiting for advertisers to beat down her door, she turned to what’s usually the starting point for most novice bloggers, Google AdSense, a free service that automatically delivers text and image ads to a blog based on the site’s content. But the margins were slim and she eventually turned to an ad network.
An ad network that secures premium advertisers — i.e. Tide and Toyota – for its bloggers can be lucrative for both parties. “The benefit to ad networks is a share in the revenue making the advertising sales and putting in place the technology that’s behind an ad,†Reynolds says. “The percentage an ad network receives depends on the actual network and quality of advertising they’re selling. It also depends upon the cache’ of the Website,†she explains.
As profitable as some of these sites can be for the blogger and ad network, grossing revenue can still be a challenge. “There’s still a matter of how many readers you get,†Rhett says, whose blog now averages 10,000 unique visitors per month. She received her first check for $15 from Google Adsense. She eventually switched to the Global Grind ad network where she received a check for $5 in March. Rhett says aside from traffic an important factor in generating revenue some how much you are paid by some advertisers also depends on how many visitors click on the ads.
Boosting Site Traffic
While traffic is not the ultimate factor in how much money a blog can take in, there is a correlation. “Traffic can impact how much your blog makes when you’re earning revenue based on your CPM [cost per milli],†or cost per 1,000 people that view an ad, says Reynolds. But, “there are Websites that have developed a certain credibility of respect in their area,†which can also be attractive to advertisers who may be able to hit their target audience more easily.
Some advertisers opt for a â€click-through rate,†which measures the success of an online advertising campaign, Rhett explains. Even with a substantial amount of traffic, for some advertising platforms, if visitors don’t click on ads, the chances of generating revenue are slim.
Steering Toward Success
The business of blogging has been refined over the years. “How to†Websites such as ProBlogger, which Rhett used to learn the intricacies of starting a blog, and Technorati, a well respected Website that has been studying the blogosphere since 2004. Check out these quick tips to get you on your way:
Determine the appropriate platform. There are a number of free programs that allow users to start blogs. Rhett is in the process of moving her content from Blogger — a Google-hosted platform — to WordPress. “WordPress offers better SEO [search engine optimization] tools,†Rhett says. “I know a lot of people who, when they moved to WordPress, their SEO went up because of the tagging. WordPress is more specific. It has categories and tags. Blogger kind of lumps it all together.â€
If you already have a Website, you can incorporate a blog into the site through WordPress, Blogger, or another free program –Â or you can hyperlink a WordPress blog to your existing site.
Pay attention to traffic. Rhett and Benton focused on “search engine optimization (SEO),†a process of improving traffic to Websites via search engines such as Google. To help improve search ability, Rhett and Benton focused on key words, and tags — categories for which blog posts fit in — to allow readers to find their sites easier when searching for a subject via search engines. While traffic isn’t the single determining factor in generating advertising revenue, the ability to demonstrate growing traffic or a dedicated niche audience is attractive to advertisers, Reynolds says.
Consider an ad network. Finding an ad network can be as simple as doing a Google search containing your blog’s content and the words “ad networks.†And other ad networks may approach you and ask you to join their network. Research the terms of the deal before making a commitment. Will it allow you to be part of more than one ad network? Does the ad network require premium advertising space on your site?