Making Money with Photoblogging
Recently I was interviewed by Wired News on the subject of how possible it is to make a living as a blogger. The interview was in connection with my new book, Google Advertising Tools: Cashing in with AdSense, AdWords, and the Google APIs.
The Wired interview focused on the general question of whether one can make a living using AdSense from web content. (For details about working with Google's AdSense, see my book.)
Right here and now I plan to tackle a subset of the large question the Wired interview (and my book) tackle. The subset is how to make money with a photography blog. I happen to be highly qualified to share information about this because I create the successful Photoblog 2.0.
Photoblogging happens to be particularly interesting to me, not only because of my passion for digital photography, but also because traditional professional photographers have neglected it as an approach to supplementing their income. As such, it has some real benefits over (for example) creating photography for stock purposes: you get to create whatever photographs please you, as long as your content pleases or interests others. Your blog can be as good or as bad as you make it; no one tells you what or how to photograph.
Of course, I wouldn't be about to give my "secret sauce" away if I thought there really were a secret sauce. But there isn't. You won't make money without worthwhile content. And the fundamental rules still apply.
So let's step back for a second and examine what makes content "worthwhile"—and explore the fundamental rules of making money with web content.
I don't think it would be possible to create a winning photoblog without a genuine interest and passion for the subject. So this interest and passion is a starting place.
The first rule of web monetization is that traffic translates into revenue. If you have enough visitors to your site, some of them will click on the AdSense ads on your pages, and make money for you. There's essentially a formula here: you get so much (on average) for each 1,000 site visitors.
The second rule is that worthwhile content translates into traffic. In the case of a photoblog, you'd better have great photos. "Great" is in the eye of the beholder and may be iconic, ironic, or narration rather than pretty. Check out my Photoblog 2.0 and see for yourself whether my photos have this kind of "worth."
Worthwhile content probably also means words as well as photos. For example, here's a link to the Photoshop Techniques section of my Photoblog 2.0. The draw here is that readers can find detailed how-to information that they could otherwise only learn from books or workshops.
The third rule is that some content is "more equal" than other content. Basically, advertisers bid against keywords, and you are paid when visitors click on your photoblog on ads placed on the basis of these keywords. Think for a moment about what keywords are going to be most valuable to advertisers. It's either going to be something with a very high potential value for a single customer acquisition, or something where advertisers might expect that some click-throughs translate into immediate sales.
An example of the high potential value keyword is any content related to high-profile litigation where lawyers are looking for plaintiffs. Think mesothelioma (and note all the ads on Google's search pages when you search for this term by clicking my link; each of these ads can be worth as much as $20 per click to content providers).
It's a little more useful to a photography blogger to realize that a great deal of photography hardware is purchased online. If you can discuss cameras and lenses without perverting your content, you are likely to attract some fairly lucrative advertising.
The fourth rule is that on the web community rules. It's essential if you want to generate quality traffic to become involved with your photography blog in something bigger than yourself whether it is a photoblog ring, or a community of passionate photographers such as Flickr.
Here are the four rules you need to follow to create income from your photography blog put more succinctly:
- You have to figure out how to draw traffic (see my book for some tips)
- You have to provide passionate photos and worthwhile (or interesting) text
- Your blog will make more money if it has some references to photographic hardware
- You should become an active member of web photography communities
More briefly still: traffic + content + community = $$$.
Posted by Harold Davis at March 7, 2006 09:17 PM
