It’s Your Turn to Beat the Odds

In every single area of the world, there is a single group of people that controls all the wealth.  You want access to that - even if it is not in the form of money, so to speak, but knowledge.  It is no different in the blogosphere.

While there will never be any specific figures on the number of blogs out there, I’d estimate the numbers to be in the low to mid hundreds of millions, with the total number approaching upon one billion within the next several years (all micro-blogging tools considered).  Do a simple search for the term ‘blog’ and you’ll get between 3.77 and 10.2 billion results, or pages with the term blog written on it.

What were your main goals when you started your blog?  Like many other people, there is a high probability that your blog was started in hopes of earning enough income each month to either supplement your regular income, or in the best situation, quit your day job to work part-time online.  On the other case, you simply hoped that you would be able to grow a community around your blog, share your thoughts with the world, and gain subscribers.

Unless you “got lucky”, your goals and ambitions simply didn’t pan out the way you wanted them to.  There is a good explanation for that - TIMING and ADAPTABILITY.

Where Do You Fall In Line with Other Bloggers?

A hot-topic among smaller bloggers recently arose again, from Ashley Morgan, of Upstart Blogger (link to article).  The ‘Z-list’ bloggers, or the people struggling to generate enough income, subscribers, and “sales” from their blog to pay off their hosting costs should rise to the top, outwitting the people who have looked down upon others over the past five years or so (the blogs that are mentioned in this post).

Traffic Growth of Leading Bloggers

Despite the efforts that we each put in, day in and day out, rarely do we see any new blogger rising to the top of the pyramid, to reap the benefits that the “rich” of the blogosphere control.  Taking it back to the beginning of the article with the discussion of the distribution of wealth, roughly 10% of the population of the United States owns 71% of the total wealth, with the top 1% controlling 38%.  The bottom 40% owns less than 1% of the nation’s wealth [source].  

No figures are available for the earnings that bloggers make directly from advertisers, consumers buying and joining their affiliate/referral programs, and the amount of cash that could be attributed to selling their blog; although these figures could correspond well to that of the blogosphere.

In other words, the people that rank highest on search engines, those reaping in profits of more than six figures each year/month, and those with subscriber counts well into the five figures, control a great percentage of the total cash spent each year on advertising, whether that is ten billion or twenty billion, as predictions are rising nearly 30% year-over-year.

Bad news (to put it lightly): You’ll likely never see an increase in earnings/subscribers despite the rise in advertiser spending online and more people reading blogs everyday.

How to Gain Control

The rise of the “A-List” bloggers over the past five to eight years signaled a rapid change in the way blogs were seen.  People no longer visited blogs to comment on others’ thoughts - they were looking for real substance, content, and wanted to join in on the conversion of blogs from the small communities and groups of people to something that can be translated into “old media.”   

Funnel of Cash from Rich to Everyday “Middle Class” Bloggers

What drives the traffic to these top bloggers today?  It isn’t necessarily the rather sparse content that is produced each day, but their connections, deep linking, and earnings (in so many ways) that has helped them grow, year-over-year, and month-over-month, some as much as 3600% since last year.

Number 1 - The people that speak at conferences “for bloggers” were able to network when their blog was new, whether it was through other ventures that they were successful at, or else they grew their following through offline methods.  As an individual blogger amongst hundreds of millions of bloggers, it is difficult to stand out, no matter how high you try to stand.

Number 2 - You might think that each of these bloggers despises each other, as they are all essentially in the same niche, blogging.  However, that isn’t necessarily true, either.  Step back for a minute: they all grew around the same time, so they were obviously at the forefront, and are now “best of friends” in the blogging community.  Proceed over to their blogs.  In many cases, you’ll find paid reviews, advertising campaigns, and heavy linking between each of them, essentially driving traffic between them to sustain traffic levels.

Number 3 - Content is king when it comes to worthwhile content.  I don’t want to make sweeping generalizations of the people that I am referring to, but the content that can be found on the web is generally repeated over and over again, and nearly all information (except news) has already been written.  These blogs were able to use their entry into their niche to gain them popularity.  People constantly portray these blogs as the “go-to source” for content and information about how to get started blogging - in general, or particular niches.  For this reason, you initially regarded them as knowing all the best “secrets,” so you followed their advice.

Number 4 - This fourth reason may be the biggest factor of the whole conundrum of the whole situation - Why would these people be trying to fool their readers into buying “poor” products at best, only to potentially ruin their entire reputation online?

They feel that their main motive is to “scam,” whether directly or indirectly, their “list” of people that have joined their bandwagon.  Directly from the text on these blogs, you’ll likely find that subscriber numbers mean little more than additional souls they can market and drive their products to.  They don’t thank their subscribers in any way, other than serving them more ads, products to purchase, and content that has been reiterated by the smaller bloggers before they made it big.

In the end, greed can kill even the most honest and most trustworthy of people.

You Have to Change and Adapt

There is no clear-cut way to harness the traffic away from the funnel that sends all traffic and cash into the hands of the leaders, but there are several methods that might work to change your thinking about blogging.

It doesn’t take a whole lot of knowledge about the way blogging and the network of blogs work before you become aware that honesty doesn’t win you visitors and additional recurring income.  You have to gain insight into the minds of your readers, then “game” them into continuing reading and subscribing to your blog.

Similarly, I, and many other people, have a poor stance on how this technique is used.  You have to know how to be direct, upfront, and honest about the way you run your blog (something the current A-Listers are not), so readers know exactly what you are doing to grow your business.

Secondly, don’t hesitate to create content that blows the A-Listers’ posts and resources away.  When people visiting your site for the first time from search engines discover your content, there is a much higher chance that they’ll subscribe and continue visiting your site, despite not having the “noble” status the leaders in your niche may enjoy.

This turn of events may result in changes that everyone has been looking for - great content that is created by everyone, not just the people that sincerely care about their readers.

Backlash for Your Actions

Until now, most smaller bloggers haven’t been able to break through the thick, steel wall that prevents them from entering the kingdom of success, the land where everyone looks up to you not solely due to your position, but your knowledge, and what you bring to the table; something that others have failed to find the balance of.

Getting here won’t be easy, but just as easily as the leading bloggers made their way to the top, you can do it too, but more people will be behind you.  However, there will be a point where you question whether it is the best spot to be at.  After all, your work load will be much, much greater than it was when you were running your small blog with a few dozen subscribers.  You’ll now be receiving hundreds of visitors daily, comments that pour in, and other aspects that weren’t there as a small-time blogger.

In a sense, you’ll lose the people who initially supported you, as they will move on to support smaller blogs once again, and your attitude towards others will resemble that of the A-listers of today - smug and inconsiderate of the people who “donate” their hard-earned money to support their assemblage of hurried (and 90% useless) content.

Make waves of change.  Don’t become self-righteous like the leading bloggers.  This is what has driven may to think twice before subscribing to these blogs, joining their newsletters, purchasing products through their “sponsored” posts.

By the time you reach the state of change, others will follow.  There will be a mass exodus of the people who converge all the wealth into their own greedy pockets, and now you’ll open a thousand new opportunities for bloggers like you to set examples for the new bloggers that are to follow in your footsteps.