The Guardian newspaper - How to build and monetise a blog

Easyspace · Sep 16, 2011

Hi All

I recently came across a blog post by Glen at Viperchill, which you might be interested in – he has teamed up with a Guardian journalist to document her attempt at making money online, from a blog over 6 months. Should be interesting to see how she does:

http://www.viperchill.com/its-here/#more-3588

Guardian journalist Andrea Wren will be creating a blog from scratch and trying to monetise it over the next 6 months – and you can follow her progress in Guardian Work

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/sep/02/how-to-build-and-monetise-a-blog

I’m looking forward to see how she does, and hopefully learn from her attempt – good luck to her……..

Jonathan

Affiliate Manager Easyspace.com
http://www.easyspace.com/partnerships/affiliates

Blossom · Sep 16, 2011

I'm pretty sure that any blog linked to multiple times by The Guardian and authored by one of their journalists whilst supported by a guy with proven success is going to be making money very quickly with very little effort. It's not really a fair experiment.

Easyspace · Sep 16, 2011

Hi Blossom

If that were the case then I would agree 100% with you - it wouldn't be worth following. However, Viperchill states:

“What’s the case study website?”

It would be kind of pointless to do a case study and instantly send thousands of visitors over to the website we’re working on. If someone else can’t replicate it, then we’re not going to do it. The site is not indexed in Google so shouldn’t be too easy for anyone to find right now. If you do ‘discover it’ then awesome. It means the case study is going well, but please keep it under wraps until we mention it publicly ourselves.

So seems the site will be kept under wraps - the Guardian won't been publicising the URL, etc.

Blossom · Sep 16, 2011

We'll see how long that lasts

anthony · Sep 16, 2011

Easyspace said:
Hi All

I recently came across a blog post by Glen at Viperchill, which you might be interested in – he has teamed up with a Guardian journalist to document her attempt at making money online, from a blog over 6 months. Should be interesting to see how she does:

http://www.viperchill.com/its-here/#more-3588

Guardian journalist Andrea Wren will be creating a blog from scratch and trying to monetise it over the next 6 months – and you can follow her progress in Guardian Work

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/sep/02/how-to-build-and-monetise-a-blog

I’m looking forward to see how she does, and hopefully learn from her attempt – good luck to her……..

Jonathan

Affiliate Manager Easyspace.com
http://www.easyspace.com/partnerships/affiliates

Great find there Jonathan, nice to see a mainstream run a feature like this.

Edwin · Sep 16, 2011

She's a published writer and she already blogs...
http://www.andreawren.co.uk/
http://www.travellingwren.com/
http://www.chocolateandbeyond.co.uk/
etc.

So while it may be "interesting" it's hardly a "realistic" exercise.

Easyspace · Sep 16, 2011

Hi Edwin

It’s fair to say that she has an advantage over the average Joe in the street, in that she has a talent for writing (……..well at least talented enough to make a living as a freelance journalist…..).

In her Guardian article she does state: “I'm no stranger to blogs, and started a few…….. yet with a single paying advertiser between them, they're hardly going to be my pension”

Let’s face it, lots of affiliates have started blogs and not made any real money. As Glen states in his Viperchill post regarding those already making lots of money online:

“The thing is, these case studies, examples and strategies are very rarely based on someone’s first website. The people behind them have usually had years of experience in this field, and as such, it’s near impossible to know exactly what beginners are struggling with or even how they’re dealing with all of these new concepts and ideas.”

So, while Andrea has a talent for writing, and runs a couple of sites that make no money, she certainly is not an expert. So, what I hope will be interesting about this project is that it will follow a beginner (almost) starting a new site from scratch. Time will tell whether it’s worth following, but I thought I’d share the links……..

As Anthony said it's "nice to see a mainstream run a feature like this"

Jonathan

Affiliate Manager Easyspace.com
http://www.easyspace.com/partnerships/affiliates

Edwin · Sep 16, 2011

Fair enough, you're certainly right that it's rarely ones first site that ends up being the "jackpot" - success comes from experience, and repetition, plus often a modicum of luck. And Glen has a knack for writing lucidly so the material he'll be putting out should be worth the trouble reading...

Frog · Sep 17, 2011

Off topic a little, but from that Guardian article it is amazing how idiotic some people can be:

Sally Whittle has also turned blogging into a full-time occupation, writing for blogs that started as hobbies, and running blog-based businesses, which developed as a result.

From writing WhosTheMummy.co.uk, she created a monthly list ranking the top 100 UK parent blogs – the Tots100 index. This earns Whittle 50% of her income, while 30% comes from another spin-off, the MAD Blog Awards – the UK's first award for Mum and Dad bloggers. Whittle says: "I thought Tots100 would be a good way to increase my own traffic, and also get myself known among other bloggers who would then read my blog.

"After a few months, I started getting approached by companies wanting to advertise on the site or pay me to offer them advice on working with bloggers. After a year, a company asked if they could sponsor the Tots100."

Good idea love... out yourself in a national newspaper and tell everyone that 50% of your income comes from a massive pagerank funnel