There’s a “How Much Is Your Blog Worth?” meme going around.
My blog is worth $108,391.68.
How much is your blog worth?
Seth Godin doesn’t care for it.
I have no idea how much my blog is worth. I also don’t try to monetize my blog–that would ruin it. It would ruin it because most of my readers would leave, and it would ruin it because then I’d try to outdo myself and monetize it more and more and more.
Yet, Mr. Godin prominently features all his books for sale on his sidebar. And the brand he’s building online gets bigger with each post, leading to paid speaking engagements, more book sales, more consulting, more of whatever it is he is able to monetize.
One of my favorite bloggers, Tom Asakcer, had this to say:
Some bloggers – like Seth and Hugh – feed your dreams with inspirational blog posts. “You too can become a global microbrand phenomenon. And here’s how.” And because you keep coming back for more, they can eventually monetize your attention. Either with a new business model (squidoo.com), with Google ads, or by selling their blog attention grabbing expertise (e.g. Stormhoek and English Cut).
Personally, I don’t see a problem with going for the money, whatever that might mean to a particular blogger. Certainly, I might balk if money was the only reason for a blog, and those examples unfortunately do exist. But for most bloggers I believe their motivation is a healthy mix of having something to share and wanting to raise their profile–an act which can lead to a better job, consulting fees, ad revenue or a decent, if not lucrative, purchase offer.
