With this post I add a new category, “Blogging Business Models.” As much to ponder their viability as to note those that have sprung up. Well-known blogger Jason Kottke quit his day job this week (according to Wired and Red Herring) to work full time on his blog, kottke.org. On Tuesday he kicked off his new professional blogger status by soliciting donations from his readers. Today he’s got a list several screenloads long of “micropatrons” who have contributed via PayPal. He suggests $30, equivalent to $2.50 a month, but we have no way of knowing what the average donation is – or the total. (Thanks to Tig Tillinghast who runs MarketingVox for the pointer.)
I love this idea of a business model of course… independent blogger launches a mini publishing vehicle, funded by rabidly supportive readers. But Kottke’s blog – if his fundraising tactic works – is an exception, not an example of a new business model. Most independent blogs (not part of a media property like Gawker or Weblogs, Inc.) are barely supported (call it “gently buoyed”) by 3rd party advertising such as Google Adwords and Blogads. I think the greater application of corporate blogs is one with a longer-term ROI: humanizing the connection with customers, or employees if it’s an internal blog. A relationship is part of a brand. And ultimately a strong brand generates more sales and higher employee loyalty and productivity. But I digress…