The Celebrity Cowboy Gives Advice On Blog Networks
The Celebrity Cowboy switches on his serious mode and publishes a nice piece on blog networks–how blog networks have risen in stature, and how these will possibly decline in some unforeseen future. We’re well aware that David had been involved in a lot of blog networks (too much?), and we do appreciate what he has to share.
In my opinion blog networks are just as easy to start and develop a solid base of traffic as they were 2 years ago, or even three years ago. Some say you can’t launch yet another tech blog. But my prediction is you probably could. You would have to work at it. But you could launch and even be successful. Because of social networking sites like Digg,Reddit, and Netscape. But its not always the smart thing to do.
So what mistakes do we have to avoid, David?
Here’s my take on the mistakes that Kill Blog Networks.
- Leadership Burnout
- Crappy Location
- Bad Paintjobs
- Supersized Egos
- Failure to Listen
I don’t think these five points are anything new. Traditional businesses rely on a good combination of great leadership, good location and presentation/packaging, and business sense to survive. The same goes with blog networks. Sure, blog networks are new, but these are still considered businesses. There are investments. There are costs. There are earnings, too.
You start a business, you grow a business, and when the time comes you either sell the business or terminate it if it turns out to be a dud.
And that’s why not just anyone can run a blog network and expect to be successful (in whatever way “successful” means, be it in terms of popularity, income, or the right to be snarky). And that’s why even if you’re damn good at blogging and damn good at business, you can’t expect to hit it off well with just anyone. There’s such a thing as synergy, so you have to choose your partners (and your affiliates) properly. In the end, it’s all about passion. If you realize that what you’re doing not your thing, after all, then chances are your enterprise is doomed to failure.
I would focus on building one site with multiple solid partners. Then as time grew on after a year or maybe even to I would branch out into one or two other sites instead of trying to grow so fast I couldn’t keep up with the work involved. So Future Blog Network Owners of the World remember to build one site at a time never losing track of your goal of building a large network of sites. Choose your partners wisely and create exit strategies that are amicable for all parties at the start.
Good advice.
[tags]blog networks, blogging, problogging, advice, business[/tags]
