I haven’t been writing very actively on my blogs lately, being mostly working in the back-end of things (yes, Splashpress is an ever-growing network). With this I’ve come to realize that I can compare blogs to land or some other real estate property.
For one, land can sit idle, and so can blogs. I know some people who own land in the suburbs, but have not built any houses on these. They end up paying real property taxes every so often, but do not actually derive any direct benefit from the land, aside perhaps from being an asset in their balance sheets.
Blogs can sit idle, too. I actually have a handful of domains (not even blogs yet, but still domain names) that I plan to launch, but still don’t find time to do so. For the blogs that are already up and running, these mostly have just a few starting posts. And the “taxes” I pay here are in the form of hosting fees, and the fact that they sit on my server consuming a few megs of space each.
Land can be developed. One can build a house on a residential lot. You can spend up to a few millions here, depending on your budget or how lavish (or simple) you want your house to be. Or, you can go cheap, and fix things along the way.
Blogs, meanwhile, can be designed and launched. You can spend a few hundred to several thousand dollars on a custom design. Or, you can also run on freely-downloadable themes, and just customize as you go along. Your building blocks here would also be the blog content that you would have to post initially and regularly.
Land can also be developed for business or commercial purposes. If you own prime lots in the city you can perhaps build apartments or commercial buildings. These can then be leased out and you can earn from rent income. Blog, too, can be built for commercial purposes. The rent income here would be the revenues from advertising, affiliate marketing, and sponsorships.
I also know some folks who buy land, build houses and sell these for a profit. That’s real estate development for you. It’s the same with blogs–some enterprising bloggers actually build blogs and blog networks for the purpose of selling.
So the analogy here is all about space. Both land and blogs can become personal space or commercial spaces.
There is one essential difference though. Land is physical property, and that’s while it’s called real estate. Blogs are virtual estate. How we define and value blogs can evolve over time. But then, isn’t that how it is in the case of land, too? The fact that land is valuable and “real” has also evolved through time, and this has differed from society to society. At present, though, most would agree that there is real value to land, at least for the foreseeable future. For blogs, meanwhile, it’s not as definite.
How much do you value your blog? Do you treat your blog as your personal space? Or a commercial space, perhaps? And do you think that value and that treatment will be the same a year from now? How about five years? Ten?
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