How I made my first million bucks
A Short History of Blogging, 2000 - 2020
I am not going to exaggerate about how I made my fortune with hard work, sweat and tears. I have to confess it happened by chance. I was wise enough to understand my luck when I met with Ray, who has great ideas but lack of know-how to market them. We were both bloggers. (Read more)
I was working in a communication service group and trying to manage a column in an ad magazine. I was wondering how to increase awareness about my column and come up with an idea to start a blog. Blogs were improved versions of internet sites. Their growth rate was impressive. According to Technorati, a search engine that monitored blogs, a new blog was created every 7.4 seconds in 2005.
Wharton marketing professor Peter Fader said that "It is rare to see something take off like this when commercial prospects are so minimal. Blogging is really driven by interests and desires, not commercial activity".1 Most blogs were essentially amateur diaries, but mine was really something interesting. The other authors wrote about what they ate for breakfast, their dates, or even little details of their sex lives. All of these blogs have their own readers. I was sure if I could generate a buzz around my column, I could increase readers’ favorability.
In the beginning, the blog world consists of people who just want to share ideas and comments. The web became a place for learning new things- the newest gadget, hottest pair of shoes, who wore what on the red carpet. In this simple world, the consumers trust other consumers’ opinions more than they trust ads or the government. This trust differentiated blogs from the traditional media and was replacing the centralized, controlled content done by professionals. As traditional media started to lose its power, it draged marketing and advertising with itself. It was that good old times, you were in the cover of an ad magazine when you air a discussed commercial backed up with print, direct-marketing and outdoors. Investing money in celebrities was enough to create the needed buzz.
Until blogs, the media was powered by the big giants and their will. There was a competition within the brands but it was an oligopoly. Markets were dominated by a small number of sellers who were aware of the actions of the others. To enter the game you had to play by their rules. To be a top or number two brands were important. If you ranked below fourth, top consulting companies were advising to close the business or move to another area. Average 6-pack Joe couldn’t replace these moguls. They were the sole power.
The powerful media mogul, my dearest friend, Rupert Murdoch, of course, was neither aware nor afraid of my blog. Comparing with his style, my blogs were never motivated by power or control. My gimmick was the simplicity. People, for the most part, don’t want to spend time at blogs announcing big changes in the world or the onset of world peace. I was aware that people always love good stories well told and it always finds its audience, whether sitting around the fire, or the shift to modern-day radio and television. I sparked the 20th century storytelling. The storyteller and the listeners were same, only the medium was evolving.
By blogs peak, Yahoo and Google led the way in integrating television and other devices with the internet to offer a more customized experience. Others followed their lead, though not because we knew what they were doing, but because, like theatre owners facing the birth of television, we did not want to be left behind.
At this shift from writing-reading format to recording-playing format, blogs faced the same fate as fax machines. They became very trendy once, hit the mainstream and then replaced. After we started to post blogs via our emails, IMS, cell phones, and Ipods, which made us ‘real-time’, we were ready for instant communication with the whole world. To record and publish wherever we wanted was not an easy request. You had to carry a camera, own a PC, and have access to a high speed internet connection. New producers appeared in the market who combined these in a single device and let bloggers record and publish instantly. Thanks to them, now we all must look perfect, beautiful and well-dressed constantly. Who knows what I will post today. As Andy Warhol predicted everybody will be famous but for no more than 15 minutes.
Currently Americans spends more than 4 hours at watching and updating posts instead of watching TV as its average was more than 4 and a half hours daily(2). Consumers now have the chance to reach lots of information over the world in seconds. Oligopoly rules have broken. We are not going to malls to shop between millions of brands and products. The tables turned a long time ago. Consumers get the ultimate power. Now brands are finding their consumers through consumers’ posts and offering their products. Latest softwares, acting like George Orwell’s Big Brothers, enable tracking consumer’s foot steps and collecting their personal info and shopping behavior depending on their needs.
Brand managers or producers, or whoever you are, now all must know their consumer. I don’t mean big fancy marketing concepts or presentations involving targeting, positioning, or advertising. I mean REALLY know who she is, what she wants, why she wants, why she cant sleep at night, what is on her mind, what is her problem, is it her curly hairs or status of her college application..
You have to listen to her to understand her. Meanwhile, she has neither any interest nor any attention to listen to you. And the worst part she doesn’t trust marketers. You have to earn her trust, entertain her at this monotonous life while communicating your message, whether it’s about latest single of an artist, electronics or toothpaste. She? She is the decision maker to accept or refuse your brand. Or maybe she can give it a try. All depends on your storytelling.
And the million bucks? Of course I married a rich guy whom I met at my blog.
Reference:
1- http://news.com.com/The+future+of+blogging/2030-1069_3-5654288.html
2 -http://reviews.cnet.com/4531-10921_7-6342922.html
I am not going to exaggerate about how I made my fortune with hard work, sweat and tears. I have to confess it happened by chance. I was wise enough to understand my luck when I met with Ray, who has great ideas but lack of know-how to market them. We were both bloggers. (Read more)
I was working in a communication service group and trying to manage a column in an ad magazine. I was wondering how to increase awareness about my column and come up with an idea to start a blog. Blogs were improved versions of internet sites. Their growth rate was impressive. According to Technorati, a search engine that monitored blogs, a new blog was created every 7.4 seconds in 2005.
Wharton marketing professor Peter Fader said that "It is rare to see something take off like this when commercial prospects are so minimal. Blogging is really driven by interests and desires, not commercial activity".1 Most blogs were essentially amateur diaries, but mine was really something interesting. The other authors wrote about what they ate for breakfast, their dates, or even little details of their sex lives. All of these blogs have their own readers. I was sure if I could generate a buzz around my column, I could increase readers’ favorability.
In the beginning, the blog world consists of people who just want to share ideas and comments. The web became a place for learning new things- the newest gadget, hottest pair of shoes, who wore what on the red carpet. In this simple world, the consumers trust other consumers’ opinions more than they trust ads or the government. This trust differentiated blogs from the traditional media and was replacing the centralized, controlled content done by professionals. As traditional media started to lose its power, it draged marketing and advertising with itself. It was that good old times, you were in the cover of an ad magazine when you air a discussed commercial backed up with print, direct-marketing and outdoors. Investing money in celebrities was enough to create the needed buzz.
Until blogs, the media was powered by the big giants and their will. There was a competition within the brands but it was an oligopoly. Markets were dominated by a small number of sellers who were aware of the actions of the others. To enter the game you had to play by their rules. To be a top or number two brands were important. If you ranked below fourth, top consulting companies were advising to close the business or move to another area. Average 6-pack Joe couldn’t replace these moguls. They were the sole power.
The powerful media mogul, my dearest friend, Rupert Murdoch, of course, was neither aware nor afraid of my blog. Comparing with his style, my blogs were never motivated by power or control. My gimmick was the simplicity. People, for the most part, don’t want to spend time at blogs announcing big changes in the world or the onset of world peace. I was aware that people always love good stories well told and it always finds its audience, whether sitting around the fire, or the shift to modern-day radio and television. I sparked the 20th century storytelling. The storyteller and the listeners were same, only the medium was evolving.
By blogs peak, Yahoo and Google led the way in integrating television and other devices with the internet to offer a more customized experience. Others followed their lead, though not because we knew what they were doing, but because, like theatre owners facing the birth of television, we did not want to be left behind.
At this shift from writing-reading format to recording-playing format, blogs faced the same fate as fax machines. They became very trendy once, hit the mainstream and then replaced. After we started to post blogs via our emails, IMS, cell phones, and Ipods, which made us ‘real-time’, we were ready for instant communication with the whole world. To record and publish wherever we wanted was not an easy request. You had to carry a camera, own a PC, and have access to a high speed internet connection. New producers appeared in the market who combined these in a single device and let bloggers record and publish instantly. Thanks to them, now we all must look perfect, beautiful and well-dressed constantly. Who knows what I will post today. As Andy Warhol predicted everybody will be famous but for no more than 15 minutes.
Currently Americans spends more than 4 hours at watching and updating posts instead of watching TV as its average was more than 4 and a half hours daily(2). Consumers now have the chance to reach lots of information over the world in seconds. Oligopoly rules have broken. We are not going to malls to shop between millions of brands and products. The tables turned a long time ago. Consumers get the ultimate power. Now brands are finding their consumers through consumers’ posts and offering their products. Latest softwares, acting like George Orwell’s Big Brothers, enable tracking consumer’s foot steps and collecting their personal info and shopping behavior depending on their needs.
Brand managers or producers, or whoever you are, now all must know their consumer. I don’t mean big fancy marketing concepts or presentations involving targeting, positioning, or advertising. I mean REALLY know who she is, what she wants, why she wants, why she cant sleep at night, what is on her mind, what is her problem, is it her curly hairs or status of her college application..
You have to listen to her to understand her. Meanwhile, she has neither any interest nor any attention to listen to you. And the worst part she doesn’t trust marketers. You have to earn her trust, entertain her at this monotonous life while communicating your message, whether it’s about latest single of an artist, electronics or toothpaste. She? She is the decision maker to accept or refuse your brand. Or maybe she can give it a try. All depends on your storytelling.
And the million bucks? Of course I married a rich guy whom I met at my blog.
Reference:
1- http://news.com.com/The+future+of+blogging/2030-1069_3-5654288.html
2 -http://reviews.cnet.com/4531-10921_7-6342922.html
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