I was watching an interview Texas Tribune Evan Smith did with Arianna Huffington in the beginning of May, and one part of the interview centered around building blog networks on the content-for-exposure vs. cash model.
Many bloggers with something to say got their start by either cross posting to blogging networks, or starting a blog on a platform by a recognized brand.
When I had a little more spare time on hand, I also posted original content at Fast Company, Marketing Profs Daily Fix, and cross posted to Social Media Today.
In all these cases, I had a strong relationship with the brand involved, it made a ton of sense to be associated with those networks. The Blog Herald actually paid writers per post.
My experience with all those networks has been very positive, and I'd say that a couple of them provided extra exposure for a new name like mine, at the time.
Content for exposure
To this day I still receive dozens of emails from people or companies that are looking to leverage the same model -- and they cite eyeballs I would not want to miss. A typical better pitch reads like this (protecting the innocents by wiping out names, emphasis mine):
I am reaching out to you because we are looking for quality guest bloggers who would like to contribute to Company Name. We cover a variety of marketing related topics, so you can write about anything that interests you, as long as it fits under the marketing umbrella.
We also provide you with the ability to add your own Author Bio at the end of every post you write. You can include an author picture and links back to your website/blog, twitter profile, Facebook fan page, etc... Each post will also be published on my twitter profile and Facebook Fan Page for additional exposure.
Wish I had thought of that cross posting thing there. Here's another one that would not provide details until after you join:
Why should you care? Reach! Exposure! Valuable community! A vehicle to extend your personal brand to people outside your specialty area within digital. Not to mention a few special privileges for members of...
Lots of enthusiasm in this pitch, which was a very long one even as it was canned. Say less of the right things and you won't need to say so much. And pre-qualify the bloggers you reach out to, it's not that difficult to do with so much information online. Maybe your response rate will go up.
It's not about you, it's about them
The biggest difficulty I have with this kind of proposition is that while there is a lot of value being placed on content by those networks who extend pitches, there is apparently little value being placed on the bloggers they reach out to.
For networks getting started, why not share a cut from the future revenues on the site if they're going to help you build it? I get it's a chicken and egg kind of thing. However, if you're reaching out to recognized names to borrow from their following and brand, you should consider what they get out of it.
How about established networks, is there value in posting there? I think so, with a caveat -- that if you're serious you need to do your homework. This is valid on both sides of the relationship. Where I write matters to me and I look at the quality of the publication and the people involved to make a determination.
Gaining visibility
Those networks promise exposure. I think the photography definition of exposure is fitting this conversation. Your goal is to gain visibility. The two may be connected, however without a bit of homework and a solid case on hand, you won't know that.
There are many more creative ways to gain visibility. Here are a few ideas:
- do something people find valuable
- write something extremely helpful
- go deep on a topic
- align with a specific group or niche
- start a group or niche
- get your search engine optimization down
Fitting a strategy
Consider your long term strategy. These networks have their own strategy. Many think the Huffington Post makes money off its blogger network. Other media companies are looking to do the same. And not everyone wants to build their own platform.
Valuable content is hard work. A typical post here takes me about 2-4 hours to research, validate, write, and edit. Some posts take me longer. When I asked the question on Twitter, I got many responses in this range, several at around 20 minutes.
Do you participate in other networks? Are you finding them a good source of traffic and referrals?
© 2010 Valeria Maltoni. All rights reserved.
I like your post quite a bit. I'm struggling with the gaining visibility part, and I think that i just need to be patient.
All your points on how to gain visibility are incredibly true - however they really need to be all done by a person who is willing to be patient. And willing to allow that SOME of the 'amazing' content they create will never gain exposure it might deserve.
And it could be a piece of content they create, that's merely average in their eyes, that gets the exposure.
In any case - there are SO MANY networks out there - so I definitely agree about 'aligning with a specific group or niche'.
I mean I love looking at photos but i'm no photographer (i barely take any except of my kid). So I never comment on Flikr, it's not my group.
However, I think I'm going to become more involved in www.colourlovers.com just because i am a colour lover and designer. It may not yield readers OR visibility - but it WILL yield me being involved in a community i like. That at least, is half the battle.
Posted by: Shawn Christenson | June 06, 2010 at 01:24 PM
It took me forever to get noticed online, Shawn, so I empathize with the patience bit. And I'm not a very patient person by nature, why I moved to the US from Italy -- I wanted to get stuff done!
As you wrote, being noticed takes spreading bread crumbs. One of the things I do, I check out the blogs of people they comment here. If their content is good, which it often is, I add them to my reader from where I share a lot of content every single day.
Choosing is hard. In the US, the prevalent culture is to have lots of options, because you can. It's what Schwartz called the Paradox of Choice. Sometimes less is more.
Starting with what you love is excellent counsel.
Posted by: Valeria Maltoni | June 06, 2010 at 01:33 PM
Valeria,
I participate in a couple blogs as an occasional guest blogger, but do not have quite enough experience in this regard to say one way or the other how much benefit it is to me. I would suspect, as with many things, if I put more into it, I would get more out of it.
Your premise that we should focus on building our brand by offering valuable content, by otherwise being of value to others and to network in our niche, makes solid sense. And while blog networks may be a piece of that, in my own experience, personal networking is essential.
As to your point about content for exposure: I believe there are times when it may be worth it to do posts in exchange for getting in front of an audience that we would not otherwise have access to. The deciding factor would be if there is a way to convert that exposure to something of value on our own end.
Meanwhile, your overall gist hits on something that I encounter in my "other life" as a freelance arts critic. I am often told that I should be pleased to write for a pittance because I get to see things for free. While I do enjoy that perk, it's not free when it takes up my time and when I see more than I would otherwise, to keep up with my beat. Still, I do feel I have an impact on the communities and people that I write about -- so this is a reward that helps me keep on keeping on.
Lastly, it is a longstanding circumstance that writing is an undervalued skill. Most journalists and other types of scribes are underpaid in comparison to what they contribute. Bloggers don't have it any better, however, this is not a new development.
Posted by: Deni Kasrel | June 06, 2010 at 02:02 PM
Hi Valeria,
There is a pretty big difference between doing a blog post for XYZ Marketing Blog or The Huffington Post, but I get your point. We built our following with our community blog The Urbane Life http://www.urbaneapts.com/urbanereflections-blog/ (which is nothing about our apartment business, but lots about the local community) in much the same manner, but with a mix of Guest Blogs and paid blog posts, however what gained us the most traction was each blogger was required to leave 3-5 thoughtful comments on like local blogs.
What we found was that the commenting piece, which really was just engaging in the larger community actually took as long or longer than the blog posts, but delivered substantial dividends
Posted by: Eric Brown | June 06, 2010 at 04:28 PM
@Deni - do you track the referral traffic from those blogs to yours? That's a good way of learning if they do have an effect. Most blogging platforms and Google Analytics would show you where the traffic is coming from. I do struggle with the writing for little or free in exchange for exposure proposition. Valuable content is hard work and nobody should be taken advantage of in my view. if you didn't even think about the writing for a pittance trade-off, it would be a real one. I've learned to trust my instincts when it comes to gut checks :)
@Eric - remember that their network include 6,000 unpaid bloggers. We had the same with Fast Company. At the beginning it was a small group and we had a lot of visibility, then it was dozens and dozens of bloggers and it become noisy. Some of the threads never got visibility on the site's home page, so it was much better to go for a personal platform as first choice. I like your idea and emphasis on commenting -- that is a vital part of the community mindset, and one of the reasons why I often cite your blog as an example of taking a topic some would consider too niche and expanding it to serve a community.
Posted by: Valeria Maltoni | June 06, 2010 at 09:24 PM