State of the Blogging Game
Chris from Footy 24/7 and I were just talking on MSN right now, and the topic of revenue came up again – we’ve seen in the last year and a half that football news delivers no where near the sort of ad revenue (from AdSense, CPM, affiliate products or direct ads) the way the same traffic and user-base would in another niche.
The lack of money makes it hard for bloggers to turn their passion into a full-time gig, which is why you see so many failed football blogs (yes, there’s several of them around, good ones too). There are few ‘top’ football blogs, and even fewer independent blogs (Andrew’s Arseblog, Damien’s AVFC Blog, Chris with his EPLTalk and related websites, V at Kickette and, if I may say so, Soccerlens).
Others? CaughtOffside – owned by Sportingo. Pies – owned by Shiny Media. TheOffside – owned by BootsNAll. It’s a tough business to get big and successful in if you don’t have investment, and even then for most people the effort isn’t worth it unless you’re making enough money through other means and are willing to take the hit in revenues to work on something you love.
I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought of selling Soccerlens – but in the long run if you can keep working hard (and smart – nothing worse than working hard in the wrong direction), there’s money to be made and if you can make money talking about something you love (even if it’s not as much money as in web tech or gadgets or real estate), it’s worth something.
In my opinion there are 3 goals a football blog should have:
- Mainstream media acceptance – once you gain enough contacts and authority in the niche to be referenced regularly in offline media, you’ve got it made.
- Community – I see a lot of new startups (OleOle, Football FanCast, FanBanta, etc) playing the community angle. It’s good in a sense because trying to mint money through NewsNow and ramping up your impressions is a losing game, you only profit when you pump a lot of time and effort into it. On the other hand, building a community around your website insulates you from having to continuously go after new sources of traffic. There’s a lot more to it though, and I’ll try to cover this topic in the future here on FM.
- Diversification and Resources – I’m not going to say that every blog should be part of a network, but to be successful a blog should offer more than just one thing to their users. If you have a strong community, launch a forum to take advantage of it. Growing in the blogosphere? Start a podcast to reach more readers. Sell your own shirts (the ROM blog is a good example of that).
Another aspect is building timeless resources that tie down readers to your blog. FootyTube and SquadGod in my view have done excellent work in doing so, OFM too. Adding live scores and club fixtures is not within every blogger’s financial means but there is plenty a blogger can do to give readers to come back again and again. More on this in the future as well, but if you’re interested give this article a read.
I’ve been meaning to write this for a long time now – I hate to see talented bloggers turning away from football blogging because there isn’t enough money in it. Most people aren’t doing it for the money, I know that, but when it comes down to a decision between taking care of the family, earning a living, etc and running a footy blog that’s not earning enough money, the blog gets the ax.
You can think of the FM network as a means to give football bloggers the support that they need to build and sustain blogs that earn sufficient revenue AND provide them with an outlet for sharing their thoughts on their favourite club. Here’s to hoping that it works out as planned.
Great article Ahmed. I’m not sure have you seen it but Fan Banta have their advert on Pro Evolution Soccer 8 (at least on PS2 version).
I think that when person visits Fan Banta for the first time, they are not sure what this site is all about (off course football, but…),everything is so messed up.
I want to draw the line with SquadGod, when you visit their website you have slide show where you can read everything you need to know about the site.
I don’t like Fan Banta neither Ole Ole btw…
Sorry for grammatical mistakes. I’m Croatian, English is not mine mother language…
[...] also wrote a bit yesterday about the state of football blogging and how different sites were evolving in the business. Considering how anally reclusive football [...]
Ahmed and everyone here as part of football media,
I’m very excited that John and Ahmed approached me about this initiative. I’ve been blogging and trying build a football (soccer) community for a little over a year: http://www.zigazoga.com. We are on our 2nd generation site and planning the third along with potentially rebranding. Ahmed, sites some important points about what an entity needs to be successful. Let me add a few more:
1. Value Proposition – the fabric of why people build loyalty to your brand.
2. InReach & Flexibility – digging in into the hearts and minds of your “customers” and being “adaptable” to serve them 150%.
3. Content, Content, Content – in many formats.
4. Uniqueness – the one thing that no one else offers that makes you as a business so special.
5. Fantastic People with Passion – crazy nutty people who will give everything for the venture and its customers.
K, that’s enough for now. I do want to add that diversification and resources is critical. You need alot of resources and people in order to serve a community and when you really kick ass at servicing your community they will be kicking ass, at least its your job to help them kick ass. When you do what it takes to help others and provide value, customers will tell everyone and become promoters of your brand which will command big media acceptance. My partners and I have a motto we drive our business by and you should be very familiar with, Get Stuck In!
I look forward to becoming more involved and bringing value to Football Media.
Cheers,
Jason
A great post. I would add that you need to stand out from the crowd. With the countless number of soccer news sites and blogs, you need to be unique.
Interesting stuff, Ahmed. I think you’re right about how hard it is to develop revenue, but the definition of success does vary — for me, it’s about producing content that’s original, even if it’s only read by a a few hundred people.
Of course, I’m not saying money or a large readership doesn’t matter, and I’ll look forward to reading more from you on this.
[...] And the other half? Niche-leading fan-owned blogs (Arseblog, AVFC Blog), carving out their own niche (101 Great Goals) or run by online marketers (EPL Talk, Soccerlens). And none of these sites make the sort of money to make you drool with anticipation (I’ve covered this in more detail here). [...]