September 21, 2007 20:43
Category: Blogging
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The focus has turned squarely on content. It's not new. Savvy website owners have all along paid emphasis on quality content and lots of that. That makes perfect sense because of phenomenal success of several content-heavy blogs online.
The more the blogs feel the heat of the need of new contents, the more there is demand for talent for blogging jobs. The demand is still in early stage of formation, but there are enough indications that it will markedly rise in near future.
But why are blogging jobs likely to increase? To understand that it is necessary to appreciate just how valuable is content for a website. I'll take the example of The New York Times to drive home my view.
Contents 'freed' at NYT
The 2-day old decision by The New York Times to throw open its online content free is a case in point. Arguably the NYT decision comes based on its findings that making the content free may fetch more dollars through advertising compared to low growth potential of paid online subscribers.
The NYT's reversal of decision comes just 2 years after it considered charging for access to some of the contents on its website. 3 things become clear:
- Web visitors who are not subscribers to the New York Times' online edition are leaving the site after finding their entry barred to some contents. Many of these are highly targeted readers who come to the site after having searched through the engines.
- Loosing the readers not only means loosing them to competition, but also loosing precious advertising revenue, because the more the readers stay the more the chance is for them to follow a page ad.
- Many readers look for analysis on fresh news. The NYT has this in abundance courtesy its experienced staff and worldwide reach, but so do many other online publications. Thus though the NYT has formidable archived content going back to 1851, it still looses readers to competition.
What follows?
2 points that filter out of the New York Times' decision are:
- If a site has to retain high visibility, it must have fresh contents every single day. They need to be relevant and targeted so as not to disappoint readers.
- No site can afford to let visitors slip past and take refuge in competition's site because of some flaws in the site. In other words, there must not be any 'obstacle' on the path of readers accessing any page in the site or wishing to do what they want to within fair practices, such as being able to easily email the site owner and be replied upon promptly.
Blogging jobs come to fore
Seen in this perspective, it becomes apparent that the websites and blogs that earn or plan to earn from ads on their pages - the info-publishing business - have to necessarily depend on a constant flow of contents relevant to their sites.
The trouble is except for giant newspapers, publishing houses and the likes most online content sites lack sufficient in-house wherewithal to churn out endless quantity of contents for days without end. This is just not feasible, if not entirely impossible.
If you're a prolific writer and you decide to write all by yourself, you may soon find there are other aspects of your blog as it keeps growing that need your attention on an ongoing basis. You'll then need the company of one or more experts who can share your load.
But suppose you're not an experienced writer, and yet you wish to own and run a successful blog of yours. Can't you do that?
Of course you can, and as you can see, whether or not you're a good writer, you may need to outsource blogging jobs to fetch talents that can write for you.
And yes, you have to shell out money - perhaps more than what you imagine - to attract and retain writers that have an analytical mind and expertise to do a good job for you.
In the next article, I'll take a look at the supply side. That is, what all as a writer you ought to know before taking up blogging jobs.
