I was roped into being a blog panellist at the last minute at the MIRC Seminar held 2 Saturdays ago. I had promised Patie I would be attending the full day seminar as a participant. She had asked if either Nic and I would like to be speakers but no-lah, we were too tied up with our projects. So she called up about 3 days before to ask if I could help out to share my views on blogging.
Ah, my pet subject.
My ears perked. My eyes shone in anticipation.
I wouldn’t mind, I told her and that was how I ended up talking about (and revealing) to the 60 or so participants the details of my 2 main blogs, Mayakirana.com and Soupqueen.blogspot.com.
Yikes! Now the whole world knows the SoupQueen!
The other reason why I was roped in to help was gender imbalance. It’s quite disconcerting to know that men sort of take the stage when it comes to anything (careers, work, etc.). I just read an ebook which my friend, Dean sent me – a compilation of survey of freelancers. Guess what? Male freelancers make more than female freelancers! Why? Is it because we women aren’t assertive enough and don’t ask for what we deserve? Or that we play along and play nice?
So that’s why I agreed, if only to show that women do blog.
I shared the stage, so to speak, with 2 guys, Andrew and Roger. Andrew Wong as the CEO of MIRC (the organiser of this event) explained more on Facebook while Roger Loh (one of the speakers that day) gave his views on blogs.
I shared on blogging, why I started, how many blogs I have (if you know me well, take a guess!) and why I don’t have advertising on this blog.
I explained that advertising does not tie in with my long-term vision for this blog. But people want to know, hey, do you make money from your blog? Put simply, if you want to know if I get direct money, no. But indirectly yes. This blog is not only for my personal ravings, it is also an extension of the personality that helps to run and manage Redbox Studio. When people get to know me, they get to know and trust me.
And that’s the PR value of this blog.
Is the PR more valuable than the few cents of clicks from PPC ads? For me, YES. The goodwill generated will far outlast the US dollars I can make (if I had ads here).
But does that mean everyone should not have ads on their blogs? It depends on you. What you intend to do with a blog. How you want to portray yourself and your business, assuming you want a blog to help differentiate you from the rest.
Some people make very good money with blogs. Locally and internationally, I read of bloggers who use their blogs as main revenue earners. Nothing wrong with that if you know your purpose for blogging.
Just don’t let money cloud or overly influence your thinking. Case in point: I read JohnChow.com, a Canadian blog, whose owner (John Chow) earns A LOT OF MONEY. But even he will tell you that there’s really no secret to making money. He writes stuff people want to read and gets truckloads of visitors who want to read (and trust) his opinions. And he sells advertising space as well as does a whole lot of revenue-earning stuff on his blog.
I enjoy his integrity and impartiality while reviewing. He doesn’t give you much face even if you paid him money to review your product/website/service. If he thinks it’s bad, he’ll say it. He won’t sugarcoat his words either. So you can hate him but a review by him is a truly honest appraisal of your product/website/service. That’s why he gets his bucket-load of blog readers. That kind of honesty is tough to find in paid reviews these days. (Of course, I don’t like the flashing ads on his blog either but then again, I get his content via email subscription so it’s OK. I don’t get disturbed by the blinking stuff.)
Finally, if anyone thinks that starting a blog and pulling content from article directories are ALL you need to make money online, well, you’ll be quite disappointed. It doesn’t work that way. But hey, go read JohnChow.com and let the guru lay the bare facts to you.
If you’re really, really interested…
we’ll be having an educational and eye-opening talk in May. It’s time to DISPEL those myths about going online, making money in your pajamas, blogging etc. We’re still in the midst of getting things done for this first-ever talk by us at Redbox Studio. Most times, it’s other people who invite us to talk. If you want to be in the loop, email me (click on the “Email Maya” tab on the top of this blog) with your name and h/p number. Oh ya, it’s for those living in Penang only as our talk will be happening in USM. Why USM? Good question. Our office is in USM, parking is free and the talk venue is very comfortable. 😉 “Nuff said.