Terry Health’s “Blogging’s False Economics” is an interesting comparison between brick-and-mortar businesses and blogs when it comes to the marketplace and competition.
Some blogs appear to be financially successful but are actually parasites living off the blood, sweat, and tears of others. They sell advertising spaces in their sidebars, and they sell editorial space in their posts. The amount they charge is small enough that none of the advertisers are hurt deeply, but both transactions result in few or no sales. The advertisers hang on with the belief they are building their brands and success is just a matter of time.
As these blogs increase their traffic they can charge more for the space, but there is no impetus to build quality, targeted traffic which will benefit the advertisers. There is no real reason to produce quality posts which will truly benefit the reader. These blogs serve nobody but the blogger.
But like the ailing downtown district suffering with the antique mall syndrome, these blogs create a false economy. There appears to be happy readers and happy advertisers, but in fact there may only be a happy blogger.
His points are extremely viable. Blogs can create not only a false economy but the illusion of success where there is no reality. It hurts all of us. It hurts bloggers, advertisers, and readers when illusion becomes more important.
There is a growing concern about the financial stability of the web and blogs as the United States descends into the predicted economic recession, and how that recession will impact the global economy in general. The glory days of top income producing bloggers might be a thing of the past as the advertising market shrinks with the shrinking economy.
Are you thinking about and reconsidering how you are using, or abusing, your blog when it comes to the economy of the blogosphere?
