Totally unrelated to RPGs, this is a pure Meta-blogging post. Still it will be of interest to RPG bloggers.
Towards the end of the week, Graham sent me a cool link. It’s a guest post on Geeks are Sexy by Montreal-based blogger Patrick who runs the PiggyBankPie blog/project.
This very funny and eerily accurate article was entitled 10 Reasons Why Bloggers Hate Blogging. While it takes the negative approach, it does contains quite a lot of useful insights for successful blogging.
In order to actually add content here and not just regurgitate it all, here’s a few thoughts on each point based on my own 6 months experience.
1) Blogging for Money
It was never my initial intention to blog for money. Tabletop RPGs are too much of a narrow niche to bring in the kind of advertising money that you see on some wider subject blogs (like those in #2). As mentioned before, I put up ads here and on the forum to help me pay for the blog’s upkeep.
2 ) Blogging in the make money online niche
Yeah, I’m not there and never will.
3) Niche Blogging
This actually means writing about a subject to drive search engine results to your site to maximize advertisement revenues. Writing passionately about my RPGs experiences, and Tropes in particular, has given me my very own niche and place on the web. Luckily I love doing it and so it’s a reason why I love blogging.
4 ) The pressure of Producing Quality Content Regularly
I’m caught in the very addictive “write to bring people and get feedback that makes you write again” loop. There is a form of self-imposed pressure that comes from watching the readership grow and wanting to sustain that growth.
I fully realize that this pressure is what leads to blogging burnout and I really try to write only when a good idea pops up or I have a project/series to advance.
5) You feel Google adsense is like a bad Mastercard ad.
I’ll leave you here by reprinting the text verbatim because it’s sooooo me…
- Hosting fees: $10 a month (I’m at 6$ but still)
- Domain Registration: $10 a year
- WordPress For Dummies: $15 (I owe Graham a CD)
- Customized Logo: $100 (That’s close, thanks Veronica!)
- Customized WordPress Theme: $500 (And a XBox 360… sigh)
- Clicking your own Google AdSense banner to increment your total revenues to 1¢ on a payout of $100: Priceless. (Note: Doing this is strictly forbidden by Adsense’s TOS, so don’t do it!) (Thank god Project Wonderful is Cost per Day)
Part 2 later this week… time for Dim Sun/Anime/Pathfinder all day geekfest!
Thanks for being there!
Wow, you must have read my Friday post!
By the way I’m up to almost $8.00
Feel free to come by and click an ad.
I really want that supplement.
I figure I spend hours searching porn and bikini model sites for suitable Wednesday girls, a little compensation isn’t out of line eh?
http://evildm.blogspot.com/
By the way,
Why doesn’t my blog rate on your Blogroll?
I know you drop by (every Wednesday like clockwork)…is my blog just a guilty pleasure?
Man, I didn’t even realise Piggybankpie was Montreal-based.
Serendipitous! 😀
Or, y’know, something like that
Jeff,
i clicked on your advert, the pics you posted were worth it. I tried to comment on your site but you’ve got the evildm comments locked down tighter than Fort Knox, it’s discouraging.
Hopefully Phil doesn’t mind me abusing his system by moving my comments over here. 🙂
Jeff… you are right… I do read all your post on Google reader.
You are part of the blogroll and I’d invite you to join the minion’s page.
Sorry Andy, I fixed the comments.
I made the Blog roll Yay!
Thanks Phil!
Thanks for linking back dude! 😉
J’imagine que tu es également du Québec? 🙂
No problem Kiltak… I like the stuff on your Blog.
Mais bien sûr que je suis de Montréal 🙂
(That was the show’s bilingual part!)
Very insightful stuff. I think we’ve all probably been through the things you’re talking about here. It’s frustrating, especially the AdSense part of the equation.
Would it be fair to add “begging your friends to try to remember to click on an ad once a day for you” to the Mastercard Ad?
My problem is that, even if I desired to violate the AdSense TOS (which I don’t, of course) my gamer friends are all in the 35+ age bracket, and they maybe get online once a week!
Thanks again for the insights.
I gleefully make no promises of regular content. Blog is behind university, other life and roleplaying, which leaves it not too much share.
I won’t even try making money with it. Too niche and I would have to deal with taxes and other fuss. Not worth it.
The DM :Thanks for the feedback and welcome as a commenter. Yeah I’ve restrained myself from doing that…. (asking my friends) but it was hard!
Tommi: You’re a rebel is what you are. Anyway aren’t you running a profit by just going to school? And tax? Are you saying I have to declare the ads revenue to my 2 levels of governments? Ay!
I have no idea about the local taxation of internet money (much less Canadian taxation) and no intention of finding out, at least not yet. (I am also not particularly rebellious. The doomsday equation isn’t done yet.)