Blogging Needs Monetization. So Monetization Is Important

u/demelo

I mean no disrespect but… blogging is much more than monetization

Allow me to be inconvenient:

When I first found this subreddit I was eager to be enlightened with perspectives from people that belong to a specific community: bloggers. After several months following this space, I noticed the core discussions going on here are not about blogging but about making money using blogs. Please don't take my words as if I am against monetization. I see it as an optional feature that anyone, as a blogger, might adopt, but never as an indispensable utopia that should prevail in the design, maintenance and daily life of a blog project.

What makes me really surprised (and pissed off) is the avalanche of capitalist ambition going on here…

Hence, allow me to flag some non-monetary reasons for creating or keeping a blog, and being a blogger:
• Doing voluntary work, in the sense that you, as a blogger, can work for others without charging for it;
• Being an educator, in the sense that, by standing as a content curator, you help others to know more and/or better about a given subject;
• Promoting active citizenship, in the sense that anyone can nowadays report pertinent problems skipping the media editorial entities (whose strategies or motivation might be debatable );
• Standing as a source of inspiration for others, in the sense that your content and direct access to people can change/improve/help their lives.

Have you considered any of these approaches/roles for your blog projects?

I am certain that honest bloggers will certainly match one of these categories (if not others that I forgot to list) .

Thank you.
56 💬🗨

📰👈

blogging needs monetization so monetization is important

🔗🏹

cheddarben
You are absolutely correct in that there is more to blogging than monetization. For me to blog the way I am, however, requires monetization to continue. I am on a runway.

Does that excuse me from valuing all of the other skills I need for the craft of food blogging? No.r/writing, r/photography, r/cooking, r/technology, r/marketing, r/Entrepreneur, r/socialmedia, and (arguably) r/WordPress are all vital aspects of my blog that I have to always be improving on. Catch my drift? The craft of blogging is sort of a Frankenstein of a whole bunch of other skills.

And here is the thing… I like to think that I am fulfilling a purpose with my writing and photography. We write about food, cocktails, and the history of. I feel that I am doing some quasi-important work that adds an eyedropper of value to the universe. Maybe not much, but an eyedropper that can make someone smile, think, learn, understand, etc just a hair bit more.

So, for me, monetization is important so I can continue making those things. Being able to have electricity and food is nice, as well. Without monetization, those things will stop happening.

I suppose I could try to open a restaurant, as I love food. I suspect I would take the craft of making great food and ambiance very seriously. At some point, however, I will need to make sure the amount I spend to make that happen is less than I can charge.

EDIT: as a side note, only 4 of the front page posts mention money in the title, so I am not even sure this is a great characterization of this subreddit… not that monetization isn't important for many.

demelo ✍️

Being able to have electricity and food is nice, as well. Without monetization, those things will stop happening.

Somehow there is in your view an upfront expectation that blogging must stand as something that pays bills. Good, honest, "professional" conduct at blogging has nothing to do with the professionalization of the activity (i.e. to stand as a job or a business).

There is room for non-monetary approaches that remain in the realm of the private life (i.e. out of the money making/professional job expectations). It is important to make this separation, otherwise there seems to be a subliminal message that any blogging project starting as a hobby should evolve to that professionalization pattern where monetization is so critical.

cheddarben

Somehow there is in your view an upfront expectation that blogging must stand as something that pays bills.

I don't believe this at all and precluded all previous comments as being about my situation. 'for me'. People blog for all sorts of reasons.

There is room for non-monetary approaches

I never said that wasn't the case. I mean, it is on the weekly that people post about wanting to start a blog about random thoughts, right? I know it is what you seem to see, but MOST of the posts on the front page are not actually about monetization.

Finally, I could be wrong, but I suspect that if you had a blog that was seeing 1m page views a month and could pay your bills, you would be slapping an ad on that mother faster than a knife fight in a phone booth.

OmNomNational
I don't believe that monetization and honest blogging are mutually exclusive. Maybe some only see the $$, but most of the more advanced career bloggers I've talked to just wanted to turn their passion into a viable side income. So there is still that sense of honest blogging in some situations with a monetized blog as well.

Also, could it be that people just need more help with gaining followers and monetization than they do with blogging itself?

demelo ✍️
Your question is a fair doubt. People might indeed need more help with monetization, but please note that my message is not against monetization per se, it is against an overwhelming sensation that monetization is the key aspect of blogging.

In the same way, a TV or a newspaper project might adjust content towards greater profitability, I think that if bloggers are too eager (or simplistic) in their approach to monetization, they might end up publishing preferentially what pays off. If that happens, that is a non-negligible interference in your posting routine, with non-negligible effects on the mission and quality of your blog.

omglia
Absolutely. The best blogs earn money and attract loyal followers not because they monetized well or were clever about it, but because they create good content that provides real, tangible value. I run a travel blogging resource site and our focus is both the how and WHY of travel blogging, because if you're in this for the money in our niche, you're in it for the wrong reasons. With travel it's so crucial to think about things like politics, the environment, the affects on local economies, overtourism, etc but not everyone does. For me, the 2 go hand in hand: as you grow your blog and earn more money, you should ALSO be more careful and conscientious about the role your platform is playing in the world.

📰👈