Veteran blogger Jayvee Fernandez wasn’t able to join us at the Blog and Soul Session on the realities of earning online, but he agreed to answer questions on the topic.
How long would it take for someone who will be “starting from scratch” to earn a significant extra income (say, 10,000 pesos per month) from blogging?
Jayvee: If you decide to write for a blog network (aka freelance writing) you can easily hit the USD $200 mark by writing short 200-500 word articles two to five times a week. It depends on the network, level of competence and type of articles submitted. Standard blog networks pay international rates of about USD 10 per post to about USD 500 per post for articles that are meant to generate link bait. The latter type requires much skill and it is hard to find writers who can get to this level. The authors from Cracked.com are examples of such talent.
The advantage of working for a blog network is that you get paid instantly for your work. If you decide to go on the “entrepreneurship” route of building from scratch you will definitely have a harder time. However, we seem to have lowered the status quo for quality writing locally. So it actually makes it easier for great writing to be noticed faster. If you’re going through the route of local sponsorships and direct ads, you will need to go beyond the online sphere and maybe land a few times on the newspaper or a magazine in order to hasten your fame.
How easy is it to earn online?
Jayvee: In 2006 it was much easier. Adsense paid better. Blog networks were hungry for writers. Links were more expensive. Today the market has become more saturated and it is also no thanks to the US economic crash that happened recently. It is so much harder. If you haven’t rode the 2006-2007 wave of the blog revolution, it may actually be too late.
As a blogger who get offered items for review, do you accept them all? What are your considerations for accepting or rejecting review proposals?
Jayvee: No. I usually ignore email requests. I’ve gone back to my roots of being more proactive in looking for review units. If you’re adept at what you do, you should be in touch with the trends. I build a relationship with marketing and product managers and go directly to them to see a “closed door exclusive look” at IT products where I am more free to ask and answer questions. I rarely go to events because events are designed to make you see only the good things.
Have you ever blogged about a product or service that you do not believe in?
Jayvee: No. I used to report news so it didn’t matter. But now my blog is more personal. If I didn’t like a product I wouldn’t bother. As a corollary it is quite rare to find a bad tech product these days compared to the wayward days of the 90′s and early 00′s where companies were still churning out products that had real flaws. Today a phone is either an iPhone or some iteration of Android. A laptop is either a Mac or some iteration of Windows.
If you are offered a significant amount of money to blog about a product or service that you do not believe in, will you accept it?
Jayvee: I don’t do paid reviews. I do ads. If I don’t believe in a product I just tell them to place an ad. This is completely ethical as they are buying space, not an opinion. Today, paid posts has reached a gray area of sorts. In the long run, it becomes more expensive if a company requests for more and more paid opinions. They’re better off investing to make better products and promotions.
Also, I don’t think paid posts are the problem. The problem is that companies don’t know how to effectively maximize the use of this tactic, despite it being gray. I’ve seen gray-hat campaigns where 100 blogs were seeded with obviously paid content but when you check your analytics and stats, it had no effect. So, two things: first, you wasted money. Second, you risked your brand going into the gray areas of SEO. Two evils.
How important is credibility for a blogger? How can you build your credibility?
Jayvee: Let me give you one insight. In times where you do need to take sides it is always important to disclose who pays your salary so that people know where you’re coming from (i.e. whenever I have a new dealing with a corporation I always update my About Page).
How important is a blogger’s credibility for a company/advertiser?
Jayvee: I don’t think a company would consider you if you were not credible. Also I have full respect for companies that do not try to control what you write.
What are the responsibilities of a blogger to his/her advertisers?
Jayvee: Deliver on time. Set expectations. Also, if possible, incorporate your practice so you can truly engage these advertisers professionally.
What are the reasons why companies should advertise through blogs?
Jayvee: I think a direct all out ad isn’t as effective anymore. What you really need to do is engage the blogger with a product that he really loves and find ways for him to engage the community to improve that product. Nobody understands co-creation. They’re all just buzz words we hear in conferences. And really, nobody has truly harnessed this “power” of social media because it’s really just a one way street still.
I think blogs are more useful as tools to help build products than as a means to advertise them.
