Out With A Bang

Interesting on many a front; reverse publishing is something that we’ve pondered with all that (potentially) MyFootballWriter.com content – what do you do with it all at the end of every week…

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=6&storycode=41470&c=1

But for me, the killer line comes in the numbers… the fact that he attracts 72,000 uniques per month; on a site that – you guess – is read thoroughly by the high-minded audience it appeals to… He engages. Brilliantly, you suspect.

I’d love to know what his average visit time is. High. Sticky stuff, that insider political gossip.

All of which did what for him, financially? Diddly squat, it appears.

“While direct income from the blog has been modest – ads provided by Google Ads and Message Space earn Dale about £7,000 a year – its value in promoting his “brand” has been huge.

“He says: “I don’t think anyone in this country has been able to earn a living from what they make on a blog.”

“Dale believes that advertisers are “wary of things they see as party political”, which may be one of the reason why his blog does not make huge amounts of money…

Funnily enough, I could think of other reasons why he’s not been making the money his political blogging pre-eminence deserves.

It’ll change from your own, chosen vantage point. But as I look around Iain’s blog with my publisher’s hat on…

http://www.iaindale.blogspot.com/

And I look at the GoogleAds that are currently running and whilst the Salisbury Review might be spot-on target-wise, the Gordon Brown Yes/No…?

“”Do You Like Gordon Brown? Vote & Get a Chance at a Cool Prize…

I’m not so sure. Do Iain Dale’s readers do ‘a Cool Prize’? No, I didn’t think so either. It’s having that ‘feel’ for the readership; and I don’t think a mathematical algorithm – however clever – can do that; ‘get’ what a readership is all about. And if it doesn’t ‘get’ the audience and their likely interests, then what’s the chances of that ad ever earning one of the UK’s most respected political bloggers his rightful living?

Nil, as he’s just proved.